Center for Collaborative Investigative JournalismCenter for Collaborative Investigative JournalismJoin us on Friday, June 18 at 4 PM Nigerian Time/11 AM US Eastern Time for our second training in our new photography conversation series. We’re excited to have Nengi Nelson and Bénédicte Kurzen who will speak about their work as documentary photographers in Nigeria and the successes and challenges of being an aspiring photographer. This dynamic session will include tips for both beginner and experienced photographers.
Friday, June 18, 2021
4 PM Nigerian Time / 11 AM US Eastern Time
Virtual via Zoom
Link will be emailed prior to event
Free
https://www.noorimages.com/benedicte-kurzen
Bénédicte Kurzen (France) is a photographer and a member of NOOR agency since 2012. Her work is shaped by long term comitment, rules of ethics to the question of post colonial representation of war, violence, and socio-economic changes in Africa and more specifically in Nigeria.
For the fast few years, she has developed a collaborative process with her subjects, but also other photographers and artists to disperse the overpowering figure of the western gaze and its mechanisms. This is particularly obvious in her two last bodies of work – “Lake Chad Chronicles” and “Land of Ibeji”.
She is represented by TJ Boulting gallery (London, UK). She holds a master’s degree in Contemporary History with Excellence (La Sorbonne, Paris). Among few disctinctions, she was part of the prestigious World Press Joop Swart Masterclass (2008), a Pulitzer Center and European Journalism Center grantee (2012, 2017), nominated for the Visa d’Or for her work about ethnico religious violence in Nigeria (“A nation Lost to god, 2012). More recently, she won with her collaborator, Sanne De Wilde, the first Prize in the portrait category of the World Press Photo (2019) along with other prizes.
In 2015, became an adjunct lecturer at the American University of Nigeria, and has guest lecturer in various institutions.
More recently she became a contributing photographer to National Geographic and a member of the Photographic Society.
Nengi Nelson is a Visual artist who uses photography and film as a means to relate her observations. Recurring themes in her work are Identity, choice, Vulnerability and social issues.
For her, Identity serves a means to introspect and question “being”, beyond social norms especially in African Spaces. She explores choice and how humans decide on who they become, exploring the factors that permit Identity in individuals. To further understand self, she explores the role of the community as either an oppressor or liberator of ones Identity. She draws inspiration from personal and external experiences.
Her works have shown at Lagos Photo festival, Alliance Francaise, Dance Gathering, Forme Femmine, ZineXGucci, ATLAS.