I traveled to Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia for UN Women to profile a selection of female role-models for their “25 Women” storytelling project, part of the Generation Equality campaign and released on this year’s International Women’s Day. Below is a selection of photos I took of these inspiring women who embody the 12 critical areas of concern for Beijing+25. Nona, an entrepreneur from Tbilisi who is helping a conflict-affected village in Georgia become sustainable; Elena, a disabled woman who won an election in Moldova so she could effect change for a village in need; Yaroslava, a theatre director staging plays that take on gender violence in Ukraine; Ana, a twenty-year-old peace activist who is fighting for the rights of her village caught in a border dispute between Georgia, Russia and the breakaway region of South Ossetia and Anastasia, a transgender woman who became an activist after fighting for her own right to transition with dignity. In addition to taking still photos, I also shot and edited video and conducted interviews that I used to write profile pieces for UN Women’s website and social media.
Portraits of novice brothers at the Xavier Learning Community (XLC) in northern Thailand. XLC is an alternative form of higher education that caters to the needs of the underprivileged who live near the northern borders of the country. Many of the students and the novice brothers are indigenous ethnic minorities from the hill country, some are from Myanmar and many have no legal status in Thailand.
The 22 novitiates at XLC will spend a year intensively studying English, after which they will study theology and further their education for eight more years before ordaining as Catholic priests.
Images from a photo and film project on a community of Assyrian refugees living in the Yedikule Kapısı neighborhood in Fatih, Istanbul. Assyrians, or Syriacs, are Christians who claim descent from Assyria, one of the oldest civilizations in the world. The community living in Yedikule Kapısı are fleeing the war in Syria as well as ethnic and religious persecution, and they live side-by-side with their Muslim brothers and sisters from Syria as they all try and help each other to adapt and survive in Turkey. An Istanbul-based organization called Qnushyo is dedicated to providing an education for the children of this community, as well as helping the parents with skills development, employment opportunities and integration.
Photos taken by Tara Milutis for UNICEF, as part of a multimedia advocacy kit Milutis Film + Media created on their work with children and adolescents in Azerbaijan. Taken throughout the country of UNICEF programmes that help to protect and empower the most vulnerable children, especially those with disabilities and those living in poverty. Photos include images of a national youth paralympics team, early detection and treatment centres for children with disabilities, inclusive education classes (where children with and without disabilities learn side-by-side), early learning centres for children in poor rural areas, youth houses to equip adolescents with skills to succeed, and an all-girl’s soccer team fighting gender bias.
Photos of Khmer migrant day laborers in Aranyaphathet, Thailand, taken while researching a film I made for UN Women on female migrant workers in Southeast Asia. The women cross the border from Cambodia to Thailand every day, some of them traveling for hours, to do menial labor that may only earn them a few dollars. But despite this difficult life all of them were cheerful and had a great sense of humor, as well as a strong sense of solidarity within their group of women workers. As they said "We may not be related, but we are family, and we look out for each other."
A selection of photos taken while working as a media and communications consultant at UNFPA headquarters in New York from 2018 to present. Photos include coverage of the UN General Assembly, with panels and events that include Claiming Bodily Autonomy to Achieve Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights, a high-level discussion on bodily autonomy and sexual and reproductive health and rights; Women and children on the move: A call to protect, which focused on the rights violations suffered by refugee and migrant women and girls; and the SheDecides side-event highlighting work to promote and protect the fundamental rights of every girl and woman. Also, coverage of UN headquarters conference on Rights, Safety and Dignity for Women in South Sudan, images of high-level MOU signings that included UNFPA joining with UN Women and the Korean government to accelerate gender equality, as well as with the Chinese government to commit to improving women’s health in Sierra Leone. Some prominent subjects in the photos include UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem; HRH Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark; and Ulla Tørnæs, Minister for Development Cooperation of Denmark.
