Anja Niedringhaus
Thursday
Apr 4, 2024 | 6:30pm
Opening Reception Schedule: Thursday, April 4, 2024
• 6:30-9PM: 'Anja Niedringhaus' Opening Reception (BDC, 614 Courtlandt Ave.)
• 7:30PM: International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) Ceremony (BDC Annex, 364 E. 151st St.)
Introduction by co-curator Kathy Gannon, followed by words from Associated Press Senior Vice President, Jessica Bruce, co-curator Ami Beckmann, Anja's sister Elke Niedringhaus-Haasper, Christine Longiere, and BDC Founder/Creative Director, Mike Kamber. The IWMF will then announce the winner of the 2024 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award. Q&A to follow with co-curator/photographer Muhammed Muheisen and the awardee.
“I do my job simply to report people’s courage with my camera and with my heart.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Anja Niedringhaus died on April 4, 2014, killed by an Afghan police commander, who emptied his AK-47 rifle into the car in which she was sitting. It occurred in eastern Afghanistan on the eve of a critical vote for president, an event Anja knew would test the courage of Afghans. She was ready with her camera and with her heart.
A collection of Anja’s powerful images from Afghanistan and Pakistan will be on display at the Bronx Documentary Center from April 4, 2024, 10 years to the day since her death. They will also be featured in a book accompanying the exhibition.
In the course of her work, Anja traveled through some of the most difficult years of the protracted Afghan war, reaching deep into the soul of Afghans, her pictures often serving to remind us of our own humanity. The exhibition offers rare glimpses into lives seen by few, such as pictures taken during a first-ever embed with the Pakistan army in the freezing Hindu Kush Mountain peaks on the border with Afghanistan.
Among the images to be displayed is a simple, yet powerful reminder of the innocence of children, even as war surrounds them. In the photograph, children play amid mesh-encased blast-proof Hesco bags, designed to protect them from feared terrorist attacks against an election commission office in the eastern Afghanistan town of Khost. The picture was taken the day before Anja died.
The exhibition and the book serve to remind us of the extraordinary sacrifices journalists make to keep us all informed. This is a particularly powerful lesson at a time when journalists are dying, suffering life-changing injuries, being targeted, or being imprisoned at an alarming rate.
Anja received the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) Courage in Journalism award in 2005. After her death, through a generous grant from the Howard G Buffett Foundation, the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Journalism Award was established and is awarded annually to an extraordinary woman photojournalist, whose images reflect Anja’s commitment to reporting the courage of others.
The exhibition is curated by Ami Beckmann, Kathy Gannon, and Muhammed Muheisen.
The exhibition will travel on May 9 to the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics, and Public Policy, co-sponsored by the Nieman Foundation at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge MA, and in June to the National Press Club in Washington DC.
ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS COURAGE IN PHOTOJOURNALISM AWARD
The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) has helped keep Anja's legacy alive with the annual Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award given to women photojournalists who, like Anja, report the courage of others with their camera and their heart. Following the 6:30 p.m. exhibition opening, the IWMF will celebrate the 2024 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Awards at a ceremony at 7:30PM at the Bronx Documentary Center; recognized photography will be on display. This award celebrates courageous women photojournalists like Anja and recognizes the importance of visual journalism that helps us better understand our complicated world.
The book and exhibitions have been made possible through the kind support of The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, The Associated Press, and the Bronx Documentary Center.
On View: April 4 - May 5, 2024
Gallery Hours: Thur-Fri 3-7PM, Sat-Sun 1-5PM
Free and open to the public.
Location: Bronx Documentary Center, 614 Courtlandt Ave, Bronx, NY 10451
IMAGE: An Afghan nomad kisses his young daughter while watching his herd in Marjah, Helmand province, October 20, 2012. © AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus