Bénédicte Kurzen (born 1980), is a French photographer and
photojournalist
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...
. She is based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Biography
Kurzen was born in
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. She graduated with a master's degree in
contemporary history
Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...
from
Sorbonne University
Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...
in Paris. She also studied
semiology
Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter.
Semiosis is a ...
for one year. She devoted her thesis to the "war photographer's myth", a subject that inspired her to become herself a visual storyteller.
Her work has been published in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
,'' ''
Paris Match
''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly gossip magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. ''Paris Match'' has been considered "one of the world's best outlets for photojournalism". ...
,'' ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
,'' ''Le Monde Magazine'' and ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
.''
Works
In 2003, Kurzen moved to
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, where she covered as a
freelancer
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
journalist the conflicts emanating from the
Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
,
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and
Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
. It was at this time that she seriously began her photography.
In 2004, her photographic work turned to a more documentary style. She focused on the lives of
suicide bombers
A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...
and widows from the Gaza Strip. With this work, she contributed to the international project of the group Violence Against Women. in collaboration with
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
/
Kurzen moved to
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
in 2005, where she co-founded Eve Photographers, a collective of six women photographers whose main themes were "women", and in particular on issues related to
motherhood
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case ...
. She reported on HIV/AIDS and on childbirth in Africa.
Awarded for her portrait of Congolese rebel leader
Laurent Nkunda
Laurent Nkunda Mihigo (born Laurent Nkundabatware; February 2, 1967) is a Congolese former military officer and warlord who operated in the North Kivu Province during the Kivu conflict.
Nkunda, who is a Congolese Tutsi, initially fought as a re ...
(
Tutsi
The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...
rebel officer of the army of the
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
and ruthless warlord) in 2009, Kurzen then decided to focus on the situation in Nigeria.
For nearly ten years, Kurzen has been following conflicts and socio-economic changes in Africa. In South Africa, where she is based, she explores the social challenges of the post-apartheid society, producing ''Next of Kin,'' ''The Boers Last Stand'' and ''Amaqabane,'' about the lives of anti-apartheid veterans. The Amaqabane project was produced as part of
World Press Photo
World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization holds the annual World Press Photo Contest for press photography. Since 2011, World Press Photo has orga ...
's Joop Swart Masterclass in 2008.
In 2011, she won a
Pulitzer Center
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is an American news media organization established in 2006 that sponsors independent reporting on global issues that other media outlets are less willing or able to undertake on their own. The center's goal ...
grant, which allowed her to produce a work on Nigeria, ''A Nation Lost to Gods.''. The photographs are presented to
Visa pour l'Image and the photographer is nominated for the Visa d'Or 2012
After becoming a full member of the
NOOR photo agency
NOOR is an international photo agency and foundation owned and directed by the member photographers under a cooperative model. It is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with photographers based worldwide.
The agency is known for producing ...
in 2012, she chose to move to
Lagos
Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...
, where she continued her coverage of Africa and Nigeria. In 2015, her investigative work led to the exhibition ''Shine Ur Eye,'' in collaboration with Robin Maddock and
Cristina de Middel. The project was presented at the
Lagos Photo Festival and
.
Kurzen became a senior lecturer in journalism for the American University of Nigeria.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurzen, Bénédicte
1980 births
Living people
Artists from Lyon
French women photographers
French photojournalists
French war photographers
Women photojournalists