ZEKE: Fall 2015

ZEKE 

THE MAGAZINE OF GLOBAL AWARENESS 

Published by Social Documentary Network 

FALL 2015 VOL.1/NO.2 

FEATURED ARTICLES 

SYRIAUNHINGED 

Photographs by Maryam Ashrafi, 

Nish Nalbandian, Yusuke Suzuki 

GENDERNEUTRALITY 

Photographs by Mariette Pathy Allen, 

Miguel Candela, Nima Taradji 

FORCEDMIGRATION 

Photographs by Milos Bicanski, 

Albertina d’Urso, Tom Szustek

A Global Network for Documentary Photography 

Photos by Matthew Lomanno 

Above. 2012 exhibition 

organized by SDN at power- 

House Arena, Brooklyn, NY 

featuring six winners from 

call for entries on global 

awareness 

2015 SDN Exhibition at the 

Bronx Documentary Center 

on the theme of Visual 

Stories Exploring Global 

Themes. 

We strongly believe in the power of visual 

storytelling to help us understand and 

appreciate the complex ities, nuances, 

wonders, and contradictions that abound 

in the world today. 

SDN is not just for photographers 

SDN is also for editors, curators, 

students, journalists, and others who 

look to SDN as a showcase for talent 

and a source of visual information 

about a complex and continually 

changing world. 

SDN is more than a website 

Today we have grown beyond the boundaries 

of a computer screen and are engaged in exhibitions, 

educational programs, publications, 

call for entries, and providing opportunities for 

photographers. 

Michael Kamber (left), director 

of the Bronx Documentary 

Center, and Glenn Ruga (right) 

SDN director, at opening 

reception for SDN exhibition at 

the Bronx Documentary Center. 

Exhibits: SDN has presented six major 

exhibitions showcasing the work of 

dozens of photographers in New York, 

Chicago, Boston, Portland, Maine, Milan 

and other cities across the world. 

Spotlight: Our monthly email Spotlight 

reaches more than 8,500 global contacts 

that include editors, curators, photographers, 

educators, students, and journalists. 

ZEKE Magazine: Turn the pages of this 

magazine to see SDN’s newest initiative. 

assignmentLINK: Need a photographer 

in Niger, Uzbekistan, or another hard-toreach 

location? We can find one for you 

fast. 

Education: SDN organizes and participates 

in panel discussions, conferences, 

portfolio reviews, and photography 

festivals. 

Photo Fellowship: SDN has partnered 

with Management Sciences for Health to 

offer six Photo Fellowships, providing a 

$4,000 stipend to a photographer to 

document MSH’s public health work in 

Africa and South America. 

Special Issue and Interviews: SDN 

publishes online Special Issues exploring 

in greater depth themes presented by 

SDN photographers. 

Photograph by 

Adriaan Devillé from 

A Sogdian Wedding, 

Tajikistan, on SDN. 

Join us! And become part of the 

Social Documentary Network 

www.SocialDocumentary.net




Dear ZEKE readers: 

As the second issue of ZEKE gets ready for press, there 

is no issue facing the world today more pressing than 

the plight of millions of refugees fleeing Syria. They are 

taking boats and rafts across dangerous seas, buses 

and trains through transit nations, climbing over and 

under fences, stowing away under trucks and atop trains. Many 

die en route or pay a life savings for a chance to resettle in a more 

prosperous and secure central and northern Europe. 

As a community of photographers, we should be proud that a 

photograph by Turkish photographer Nilufer Demir has changed 

world opinion overnight. It is tragic that it took the death of young 

Aylan Kurdi, laying face down on a beach in Turkey, to do this. 

Finally there is an understanding that citizens and governments 

throughout Europe, North America, and the Gulf can no longer 

ignore this tragedy. If we are unable or unwilling to end the war 

in Syria, than at least we should open our borders, and even our 

homes, to those fleeing the horrors of war. As I write this letter, Pope 

Francis just asked parishes throughout Europe to host one family 

each. That is the magnitude of aid that is needed. The US should not 

look at this as a European problem. The US campaign of bombing 

ISIS and our limited support for the few moderate rebels we can find 

is doing little to bring an end to the war but is certainly adding to the 

violence experienced by civilian victims. 

This issue of ZEKE has feature articles both on Syria and on 

migration. The former is no doubt a catalyst to the latter. We hope 

these photos and accompanying text give you greater insight into the 

complexity and human consequences of these issues. It has become 

increasingly evident these past few months that we should stop using 

the term “migrant,” as that implies seeking better economic opportunity, 

and call it what it is. The crisis that Europe is experiencing is 

clearly that of refugees. For the most part, European nations have 

been resisting international law and the responsibility they have to 

provide asylum to those fleeing well-founded fear of violence and 

persecution. 

The third issue featured in this issue of ZEKE, gender, is fast becoming 

the next terrain of identity. With same sex marriage now the law 

of the land in the US and Ireland, and becoming more accepted 

throughout Europe, there is now greater understanding and concern 

for the complex issues of gender identity. We hope this feature article 

on transgender people will help to shed light on this terrain. 

Glenn Ruga 

Executive Editor 

CONTENTS 

GENDERNEUTRALITY 


Miguel Candela, Nima Taradji..............................2 


Photographs by Milos Bicanski, 

Albertina d’Urso, Tom Szustek.............................16 

SYRIAUNHINGED 


Nish Nalbandian, Yusuke Suzuki.........................28 

What’s New 

FALL 2015 VOL.1/NO.2 

$8.00 US 

Trending photographers on SDN........................ 40 

Interview: Alice Gabriner.......................... 41 

Interview: Marcus Bleasdale...................... 42 

The Newest Americans...................... 46 

2015 Featured Photographers 

of the Month.......................................... 48 

Text essays accompanying feature articles by Paula Sokolska. 

Cover: By Yusuke Suzuki from Faces of the Free Syrian Army 

ZEKE FALL 2015/ 1

GENDER/NEUTRAL 


Miguel Candela, Nima Taradji 

Transgender people have played critical though 

disenfranchised roles in culture and society since antiquity. 

Although revered in religious ceremonies, hijra — India’s 

transgender community —- are often condemned to 

lives of poverty and prostitution, documented here in 

photographs by Miguel Candela. The hijra have made 

political gains — the Indian government now officially 

recognizes this “third gender”--but achieving equality 

within the eyes of the law is only among the first 

steps in effacing decades of insulting stereotypes and 

intolerance. Over the course of four trips, photographer 

Mariette Pathy Allen documented the lives of Cuban 

transgender women who, despite their country’s 

progressive legislative stand on transgender rights, 

remain in many ways marginalized. In these images, 

we see that no matter how developed the country 

or liberal the culture, the transition process is 

unimaginably difficult. Nima Taradji’s work heightens 

our understanding of this journey as we get to know 

David Murray K., who at the age of 54 began 

transitioning to life as Delia Marie, and, in doing 

so, chose to live life authentically and honestly no 

matter the repercussions. 

In India, hijra like Kanak Harshita, pictured 

here, are often manipulated by pimps. “I 

offer them protection and in return, they pay 

me part of what they earn,” says Sanjana 

who controls Kanak’s profits. “I think it is 

just.” It is unclear how many hijra turn to prostitution 

but in India’s 2014 census, the first to 

include the third gender, nearly half a million 

Indians identified as trans. Activists claim the 

real number is six to seven times higher. 

Photograph by Miguel Candela 

2 / ZEKE APRIL FALL 2015

ITY 


A transvestite waits for clients to approach. 

When the British came to power in India, 

the colonists passed laws criminalizing all 

hijra (India’s transgender minority), introducing 

a culture of disgust and discrimination 

for the once respected group. In April of 

2014, India officially recognized this third 

gender following similar legislation in 

Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. 

Photograph by Miguel Candela 


ZEKE APRIL FALL 2015/ 5

Delia (Dee) is one of the estimated 

700,000 Americans who identify as 

transgender. The National Gay and 

Lesbian Task Force estimates that transgender 

people are 17 times more likely to be 

targeted for hate violence than those who 

identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. At 

this time only 15 states and the District of 

Columbia have laws against crimes based 

on gender identity and sexual orientation. 

Photograph by Nima Taradji 

6 / ZEKE FALL 2015

A man fills his plastic buckets with water. 

In Myanmar’s Dala township, where an 

unforgiving dry season evaporates most 

inland natural water sources. A decadelong 

population boom has stressed the few 

resources that remain, so a ration system 

allows people to gather two buckets full of 

water once per day. 

Photograph by Daniel Roca 


Dee remains close friends with her fourth 

wife Penny — a trusted confidant and fashion 

advisor. Friends and family members 

are important allies in the fight against 

discrimination. Of those who personally 

know a transgender person, 66 percent 

would vote for measures supporting equality, 

according to a survey by the Human 

Rights Campaign. 

Photograph by Nima Taradji 












Malu stands with her parents and sister in 

front of their home. Mariela Castro, sexologist 

and daughter to President Raul Castro, 

has been a passionate advocate for Cuba’s 

LGBT community. She heads the National 

Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) 

which offers counseling and health services 

in addition to its public education efforts. 

Photograph by Mariette Pathy Allen 


What is the cost of the clothes on your back? For most 

consumers the answer is a simple dollar figure, but for 

the millions of low-income workers fueling the global 

garment industry the cost is often much more: education, 

health, safety, and even lives. 

As globalization shrinks the world, consumers become 

increasingly distanced from their goods’ origins and 

subsequently from the woeful realities of garment 

workers, a labor force subjected to long days for 

low pay in hazardous conditions. By capturing their 

deplorable realities, photographers bring consumers 

face-to-face with the beginning of the global assembly 

line, prompting viewers to question their roles 

as conscious consumers. 

As rising demands of the middle class stress the 

garment industry, factory owners compromise 

worker safety for profit. Never were the consequences 

of this trade-off more clear than the 

April 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, 

the deadliest accident in the history of the garment 

industry, documented here by K.M. Asad. 

Reflecting on its aftermath, Suvri Kanti Das’s 

poignant images chronicle survivors’ recoveries, 

exposing the true cost of cheap apparel. 

ZEKE APRIL 2015/ 11


Laura at home in Havana. In 2008 the Cuban 

parliament approved measures providing 

transgender people with reassignment surgery, 

hormone replacement therapy, and new identification 

documents free of charge. Despite 

such generous and progressive policies, public 

antipathy toward trans individuals remains 

rampant. 

Photograph by Mariette Pathy Allen 


Photo by Rich Nahmias. From Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited, 

SDN. “All of humanity is afraid of death—100% of us. This is a preparation for 

death. More than anything, it’s about not being afraid to know there will be something 

after my spiritual release.” Yajahira, a transsexual sex worker, began both 

praying to Santisima Muerte and prostituting herself at the age of twelve. 

for people whose gender 

identity and expression does 

not conform to the norms and 

expectations traditionally associated 

with the sex assigned 

to them at birth.” The definition 

employs two terms, “sex” and 

“gender,” often and incorrectly 

used interchangeably. 

Traditionally the biological 

and anatomical characteristics 

someone exhibits at birth determine 

sex. Only in the last fifty 

years have researchers begun 

to define and study gender — 

behaviors, roles, expectations, 

and activities associated with 

masculinity and femininity. 

While a person’s sex does 

not change across the world, 

what it means to be a woman 

or a man varies from culture to 

culture. 

comfortable lives. 

It’s important to note that 

transgender issues are independent 

of matters of sexual orientation, 

although there is overlap 

between and a historical alliance 

with the lesbian, gay, and 

bisexual (LGB) community. 

“These communities sort 

of clung together throughout 

their history,” says Alison Gill, 

senior legislative council at 

the Human Rights Campaign 

(HRC). “People viewed them 

as outsiders. They were criticized 

together and because of 

the overlap in community and 

issues, it’s mutually beneficial 

for them to be aligned.” 

However, because of their 

overlapping history, people 

often conflate their definitions 

as well. Asked what the 

GENDER NEUTRALITY 

TRANSGENDER ISSUES ARE INDEPENDENT OF MATTERS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION 

Sexual orientation is 

who I want to go to bed 

with, while gender 

identity is who I want to 

go to bed as. 

—Nick Adams, 

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against 

Defamation 

In a scene re-enacted over 

350,000 times each day, 

parents cradle chubbycheeked 

newborns swaddled 

in powdery pink or 

robin’s egg blue blankets. Such 

color-identification is standard 

in most hospitals — crocheted 

beanies or ruffled socks distinguishing 

the arrival of a baby 

boy or girl. But fast forward 

a couple of years and the 

hospital’s characterization will 

be wrong two to five percent 

of the time due to the estimated 

number of individuals who 

identify as transgender today. 

The World Health 

Organization defines transgender 

as an “umbrella term 

While most people conform 

their gender with their 

sex (a state referred to as 

cisgender), transgender — or 

trans — people deviate from 

the traditional gender binary in 

varying ways. Some undergo 

gender reassignment surgery 

and hormone replacement 

therapy, but the desire, or 

lack thereof, to receive such 

treatments does not necessarily 

determine whether someone is 

transgender. Others cross-dress 

and go by a different name. 

No matter the degree to which 

a person strays from society’s 

expected norms, they do so 

in a highly personal effort to 

live genuine, authentic, and 

biggest misconception about 

transgender people is, several 

advocates, including those 

cited in this article, replied 

that most people think that 

someone who is transgender is 

just “really, really gay.” 

“People still do not understand 

that being transgender is 

about your gender identity not 

matching the body you’re born 

with. Your gender identity is 

your internal sense of yourself 

as a man or a woman — or 

perhaps something other than 

those two choices,” says Nick 

Adams, director of programs 

for transgender media at the 

Gay and Lesbian Alliance 

Against Defamation. “Your 


55 percent of trans responders 

lost a job due to bias, 

another 51 percent suffered 

harassment or bullying at 

school, and over half were 

victims of physical or sexual 

assault. 

—National Center for 

Transgender Equality 

sexual orientation is who you 

are attracted to. This can be 

simplified as sexual orientation 

is who I want to go to bed 

with, while gender identity is 

who I want to go to bed as.” 

Differences exist not only 

in the two groups’ definitions, 

but in their status in the world 

today. While the LGB community 

has made vast gains 

in acceptance both politically 

and in the public eye, the 

transgender population continues 

to be misunderstood and 

marginalized at disproportionately 

high rates. Although data 

about transgender people 

isn’t entirely comprehensive 

— challenges include a small 

population size in addition 

to stigma and discrimination 

— the available statistics are 

striking. A nationwide survey 

found that violence against 

trans people accounted for 

20 percent of all murders and 

40 percent of police-initiated 

violence in the United States 

between 1985 and 1998. 

This alarming trend is true to 

this day. In another survey, 

Photo by Keiko Hiromi. From Drag Queen, SDN. 

Mizery, a drag queen at the backstage of Jacques 

Cabaret in Boston, Mass. 

conducted by the National 

Center for Transgender 

Equality, 55 percent of trans 

responders lost a job due 

to bias, another 51 percent 

suffered harassment or bullying 

at school, and over half were 

victims of physical or sexual 

assault. 

“Hate-motivated violence 

against LGBT people is 

widespread and brutal, but 

transgender people shoulder 

much of the burden” says Gill. 

“It all comes from a place of 

misunderstanding and fear 

which results in structural and 

systematic inequalities.” 

In countries across the 

globe, personal choices as 

seemingly inconsequential as 

the clothes they wear condemn 

transgender people to 

lives of discrimination. Some 

countries criminalize crossdressing, 

a practice encroaching 

on freedom of expression, 

while others refuse amendments 

matching gender expression 

to identity documents — a 

threat to voting rights. 

Deprivation from such basic 

human rights — not to mention 

the respect and understanding 

everyone deserves — sentences 

transgender people to 

a multitude of vulnerabilities. 

Often, trans women and men 

must enter sex work, with low 

pay and no legal protection, 

as their only attainable source 

of income, increasing their 

exposure to violence and 

disease. Transgender people 

report among the 

highest rates of substance 

use, sexual 

abuse, assault, 

depression, and 

suicide. 

Such continued 

attacks fuel 

advocacy groups’ 

continued efforts to 

secure equality for 

all, regardless of 

Photo by Gemma Taylor. From I am Rachel, SDN. “I don’t know what happiness 

is. But I am happy.” Rachel. 

gender expression. Their progress 

is undeniable. Nepal, in 

2007, ended the barring of 

teshro linki (third gender) individuals 

from access to basic 

citizenship rights and de-criminalized 

cross-dressing. Several 

countries have followed suit 

also establishing official “third 

gender” status. In the last four 

years, another 14 countries 

have instilled or bolstered hate 

crime laws. 

We’re parents, we have 

friends and jobs. People 

need to see that we’re just 

human. 

—Alison Gill, 

Senior legislative council at the Human 

Rights Campaign 

Activists agree exposure 

is key to securing equal 

rights. While nine out of ten 

Americans personally know 

someone lesbian, gay, or 

bisexual, in 2015 only 22 

percent personally knew 

someone who identifies as 

transgender and those who do 

are much more likely to support 

equality legislation. 

“The vast majority of 

Americans, everything they 

know about transgender 

people, they are learning from 

the media,” says Adams. As 

transgender celebrities like 

Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne 

Cox publicize their stories, 

they build awareness around 

transgender issues, educating 

and encouraging acceptance 

within the public. 

“As trans people use media 

to tell their own stories, in their 

own words, even people who 

think they don’t personally 

know someone who’s transgender 

will hopefully begin to 

see that we need to make the 

world a safer place for trans 

people to be their authentic 

selves,” Adams continued. 

“We’re parents, we have 

friends and jobs,” says Gill. 

“People need to see that we’re 

just human.” 

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

National Center for 

Transgender Equality: 

www.transequality.org 

Gay and Lesbian Alliance 

Against Discrimination: 

www.glaad.org 

Human Rights Campaign: 

www.hrc.org 

Human Rights Watch, LGBT 

Rights: www.hrw.org/topic/ 

lgbt-rights 


FORCED 

MIGRATION 

Photographs by Milos Bicanski, Albertina d’Urso, Tom Szustek 

Nearly 90 percent of illegal immigrants entering the 

European Union do so through Greece with waves 

of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and 

Somalia crossing the 128-mile border from Turkey, 

photographed here by Milos Bicanski. Tom Szustek, 

a Polish photographer based in Dublin, documents 

Morocco’s illegal migrants who, ostracized by the local 

community and shunned even from mosques, often lose 

not only their homes but also their faiths, turning instead 

to alcohol and drugs. Those who make it to European 

ground are welcomed in detention centers, like the one 

seen here in images by Albertina d’Urso, an Italian 

photographer. 


In Hal Far Detention Centre, a Somalian 

girl sits in an area designated for the sick 

and infectious. The center is one of three in 

Malta. In the last decade, nearly 20,000 

undocumented migrants, the majority from 

sub-Saharan Africa, arrived on the island 

Overlooking nation. The the country’s remnants annual of Volongo migration 

wharf influx where represents millions the of African highest proportion slaves first of 

stepped asylum foot seekers on Brazilian to the national soil, Providencia population in 

Hill the is of EU, particularly according significant to Human historical Rights Watch. 

importance. The origin of Afro-Brazilian 

Photograph by Albertina d’Urso 

culture, the area’s diversity gave way to rich 

musical, dance, and religious traditions. 

Photograph by Dario De Dominicis 


Unexpectedly derailed on their way to Italy, 

106 migrants were rescued at sea by the 

Armed Forces of Malta. The journey to asylum 

is not without risks. In the last 15 years, over 

22,000 migrants have lost their lives trying to 

reach Europe, according to the International 

Organization for Migration. In the past year 

alone, over 2,200 have died crossing the 

Mediterranean Sea. 

Photograph by Albertina d’Urso 


Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion 

whose origins go back to the first days 

of Brazil’s slave trade, mixes Roman 

Catholic and indigenous African ideologies. 

Meaning “dance in honor of the 

gods,” Candomblé’s customs heavily 

incorporate music and choreographed 

dances. 

Photograph by Dario De Dominicis 


A police officer patrols part of the 128-mile border 

between Greece and Turkey. Of the 124,000 

migrants who’ve entered Greece in the first half of 

2015, nine out of ten are Syrians and Afghans traveling 

from Turkey, according to Frontex. The route 

has gained popularity, likely in response to government 

crackdowns on Libyan smuggling networks. 

Photograph by Milos Bicanski 




The Filakio Detention Center, designed to 

hold 350, at times houses over a thousand. 

Overcrowding, lack of resources, allegations of 

rape, and unaccompanied minors are just some 

of the appalling conditions that have earned 

Filakio its nickname: the “Greek Guantanamo.” 

Photograph by Milos Bicanski 

Cleyde washes her younger sister’s hair. 

Unfortunately, the training program has faced 

financial setbacks: the salon’s rent was two 

months behind when this photograph was 

taken, and no funding had been secured to 

provide students additional training in business 

management. 

Photograph by Tiana Markova-Gold 



A man surveils a port security station, a crucial 

spot for those planning A man to fills leave his plastic Morocco buckets on a with water. 

ferry, hidden in the In Myanmar’s undercarriage Dala of township, a truck.Illegal where an 

immigrants are called unforgiving harraga, dry in season Arabic evaporates meaning most 

“those who burn,” inland a reference natural to water their sources. practice A of decadelong 

population when captured. boom has stressed the few 

destroying documentation 

Photograph by resources Tom Szustek/ that remain, so a ration system 

Uspecto Images allows people to gather two buckets full of 




Photo by Yusuke Suzuki. From Journey to a New Life, SDN. A mother holding 

her 14-day-old child takes off her life jacket after the boat safely arrives at a northern 

shore of the Greek island of Lesbos, August 14, 2015. 

per person for the trip, 

according to the International 

Organization for Migration. 

On larger ships, those who 

can’t afford splurging for 

a seat on the top deck get 

locked in the ship’s hold guaranteeing 

their death should the 

ship sink. It is unlikely that the 

migrants will have a guide. 

Rather than take on the risk of 

capture, it is a common practice 

for smugglers to provide 

travelers with a compass or 

GPS. 

For the majority of passengers, 

the journey marks 

their first time at sea. In the first 

half of 2015, an estimated 

137,000 migrants crossed 

the Mediterranean, according 

to the United Nations, an 

83 percent increase from the 

Arriving in a foreign 

country, no matter the circumstances, 

exposes migrants to 

vulnerabilities unimaginable 

if not experienced firsthand. 

Unfamiliar languages and 

social customs, lack of human 

and financial capital, and 

highly bureaucratic naturalization 

processes await travelers 

in countries where aggression 

and hostility toward “others” is 

commonplace. 

Europe is now facing the 

greatest refugee crisis since 

WWII, with nearly a million 

refugees traveling through 

Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, 

Hungary, Austria, with final 

destinations of Germany, 

England, and Scandinavia. 

The European Union (EU) 

is failing to forge a unified 


WAR, FAMINE, AND RISE OF ISIS ENCOURAGE REFUGEES TO TAKE INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS ROUTES 

While the EU budget allocated 

€700 million between 

2007 and 2013 for asylum 

services and conditions, 

nearly three times that, 

€2 billion, was spent to 

expand surveillance systems 

and fortify borders, according 

to the report. 

—The Human Cost of Fortress Europe by 

Amnesty International 

To reach the coast of 

Africa or Turkey, migrants 

must travel like secret 

cargo, crossing the continent’s 

mountains and dusty 

deserts along well established 

smuggling routes. But that is 

just the first leg of an arduous 

journey. The final sprint to 

cross the Mediterranean, while 

the shortest, is often the most 

dangerous where many have 

perished. 

Those who complete the 

land journey buy a one-way 

ticket aboard a makeshift 

vessel, sometimes nothing 

more than an overcrowded 

rubber dinghy. Smugglers 

charge from $400 to $4,000 

same time the previous year. 

And as the tide of refugees 

rises, so has the death toll in 

a growing humanitarian crisis 

the United Nations has called 

“a moral failure of the first 

order” and “total chaos.” As 

of publication, over 2,200 

migrants have died in 2015, 

engulfed by the depths of the 

Mediterranean Sea. 

“They’re incredibly desperate,” 

says Flavio Di Giacomo, 

a spokesperson for the 

International Organization 

of Migration. “One man 

who had successfully made 

it to Italy told me, ‘We are 

between hell and the deep 

blue sea.” 

response and the refugee crisis 

has become the greatest test 

of unity since the EU experiment 

began. 

No matter how difficult 

adjusting to life in a new 

country is for newly arriving 

refugees, it is much more 

favorable in comparison to 

the consequences of staying 

in homes ravaged by poverty 

and war, where life is at best 

difficult, and at worst perilous. 

The “push factor” for migrants 

far outweighs the “pull” of host 

countries. 

The majority of asylum 

seekers today originate from 

west Africa, the horn of Africa, 

and Syria. They flee from 

upheaval and instability in 


Frontex is a disproportionate 

measure to fight an enemy 

that’s not a real enemy. 

—Nicolas Beger, 

Director, Amnesty International’s 

European Institutions Office 

their homes—-like clan warfare 

in Somalia and both civil war 

and ISIS in Syria-—with the 

promise of safety and help in 

developed countries. In part 

these assumptions are true. In 

London, for example, once 

asylum seekers are screened, 

processed, and granted refugee 

status they receive housing 

and a weekly stipend in 

addition to health care, mental 

health, and legal services. 

Nine out of 10 developed 

countries have integration policies 

in place, having the funds 

to maintain such expensive 

services. 

A misconception, however, 

is that wealthy countries service 

the bulk of those most in 

need. According to the United 

Nations, over 90 percent of 

the world’s refugees end up 

in developing regions, places 

like Jordan, Palestine, Pakistan, 

Lebanon and Iran. 

“It’s a different picture in 

the developing world,” says 

Michel Gabaudan, president 

of Refugees International. 

“There, refugees create a 

major challenge in terms of 

stress on the host country’s 

services.” 

Just as they lack the funds 

to offer integration services to 

migrants, developing countries 

lack the resources to secure 

their borders. The opposite is 

true for the European Union 

where a fear of “invasion” 

by poor immigrants--a threat 

to national and cultural 

identity--has resulted in a 

security-oriented approach to 

migration policy. Exclusionary 

practices like restrictive visa 

policies, reinforcement of walls 

and fences, militarized border 

control, and forced returns to 

countries of origin suggest a 

higher placed value on economic 

and security concerns 

over human rights. 

“We have to find the 

proper mix in responding to 

the needs of these people and 

protecting the rights of these 

countries,” says Gabaudan. 

“Right now we have a Band- 

Aid, but to truly address the 

challenges [that] refugees and 

migrants impose there needs 

to be much more development 

assistance.” 

While the EU budget allocated 

€700 million between 

Photo by Giovanni Cipriano. From Limbo, SDN. A Tunisian migrant climbs 

on a Tunisian boat used by other migrants to reach Lampedusa. The boat was 

seized by the Italian Coast Guard on April 2, 2011 in Lampedusa, Italy. 

2007 and 2013 for asylum 

services and conditions, 

nearly three times that, €2 

billion, was spent to expand 

surveillance systems and fortify 

borders, according to the 

report “The Human Cost of 

Fortress Europe” by Amnesty 

International. In 2014, the 

European Asylum Support 

Office, which provides 

assistance to asylum seekers, 

received €15.6 million 

There are limited legal pathways 

to migrate to Europe, 

so smuggling becomes very 

profitable. 

—Flavio Di Giacomo, 

International Organization of Migration 

compared to Frontex, the EU’s 

border protection agency, 

which received €90 million. 

“Frontex is a disproportionate 

measure to fight an enemy 

that’s not a real enemy,” 

says Nicolas Beger, director 

for Amnesty International’s 

European Institutions Office. 

“It’s an abysmal response to 

the plight of refugees and 

asylum seekers on Europe’s 

doorsteps.” 

Such harsh exclusionary 

policies encourage migrants 

to take increasingly dangerous, 

roundabout routes. 

From Africa, the shortest 

path to Europe is across the 

Mediterranean Sea. In 2014, 

over 80 percent of those 

traveling to Europe embark 

from the Libyan coast where 

abandoned border posts and 

a vastly unguarded coastline 

have earned the country a 

reputation as an “open door.” 

“There is an unprecedented 

movement across the sea 

and across borders” says Di 

Giacomo. “There are limited 

legal pathways to migrate to 

Europe so smuggling becomes 

very profitable.” 

Photo by Marco Sacco. From Second Reception, SDN. A migrant changing in a 

bathroom. 


Amnesty International: 

www.amnesty.org 

International Organization 

for Migration: 

www.iom.org 

Refugees International: 

refugeesinternational.org 


SYRIA 

UNHINGED 


Nish Nalbandian,Yusuke Suzuki 

Daily, Syria finds its place in the headlines: a 

higher death count, a new rebel group, the 

continual destruction of national treasures and 

the use of chemical weapons. A civil war is 

threatening to erase one of the world’s oldest 

civilizations. As informed citizens of the world, it’s 

our challenge and responsibility to find empathy 

and connection within the carnage. The featured 

photographers in this issue of ZEKE helps us do 

exactly that. 

Editorial photographer Nish Nalbandian has 

documented the Syrian war since its beginning. 

As the conflict unwaveringly escalates, his 

photographs tell a story of the war on a human, 

rather than political level. Yusuke Suzuki, a 

freelancer based in New York, transports viewers 

to the war’s frontline with photographs offering 

a glimpse at the chaos and shortages of food 

and medicine in Aleppo witnessed through a 

humanizing lens. Maryam Ashrafi’s powerful 

photographs of Kurdish women fighters honor 

their courage while left to bury the fighters and 

pick up the pieces of the war-torn country. 


At a cemetery in Kobané, Syria, members 

of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) 

mourn at a ceremony for Ageri, a fellow 

fighter slain during clashes with the Islamic 

State. Started in 2012, the YPJ is the 

female brigade of the Kurdish YPG forces. 

Most recent estimates suggest over 10,000 

volunteer fighters make up the group. 

Photograph by Maryam Ashrafi 


A sniper with the Free Syrian 

Army (FSA) takes aim near Aleppo 

International Airport. Formed in August 

2011 by a handful of army deserters, 

the FSA employs guerrilla tactics and 

aims to weaken government control 

rather than enforce its own power. 

Its pro-democratic stance has earned 

it favor from Libya, Turkey, Kuwait, 

Britain, and the United States. 

Photograph by Yusuke Suzuki 













A fighter with the People’s Protection 

Units (YPG) sprints across an intersection 

to avoid Syrian Government Army 

sniper fire. The YPG — formed to 

protect Kurdish areas — collaborates 

with the FSA against Islamic State in 

Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces. 

Photograph by Nish Nalbandian 











A Syrian family displaced by fighting in 

Aleppo stands inside the courtyard of a 

building. A local relief group provided 

them with shelter. They are among the 

estimated 11 million Syrians, half the 

country’s pre-war population, displaced 

since the start of the civil war. 

Photograph by Nish Nalbandian 












Portraits of FSA fighters. The U.S. recently 

began training rebel troops who fight in 

hopes of a democratic state for Syria. 

Photograph by Yusuke Suzuki 



The Syrian Civil War — 

a four-year conflict that 

has, to date, claimed 

over 200,000 lives and 

displaced over 11 million 

— was started by a couple of 

pranksters, kids aged 13 to 

15 years old. In the southern 

city of Daraa they snuck out 

one cold night. “The people 

want to topple the regime,” 

they scrawled on the walls of 

their school. “No teaching, 

no school, until the end of 

Bashar’s rule,” another wrote. 

Such antics were common 

in a country silenced for 

decades by threats of violence 

and ubiquitous surveillance. 

You couldn’t even buy 

spray paint without an ID in 

Daraa. And while most would 

consider the act itself nothing 

more than a case of teenage 

rebellion, with the backdrop 

of the Arab Spring, the Syrian 

state interpreted it as an antigovernment 

demonstration 

and responded accordingly. 

The boys were arrested and 

tortured. 

Parents inquired to authorities 

about their sons. “Forget 

your children,” one official 

reportedly said. “If you really 

want your children, you should 

make more children. If you 

don’t know how to make more 

children, we’ll show you how to 

al-Assad who has held his 

post since 2000, following his 

father’s 30-year rule. That same 

month the Free Syrian Army, 

formal fighting units begun by 

a handful of defected soldiers, 

was formed. Now, four years 

later, Syria burns. 

What began as a rural 

and provincial-driven uprising, 

tapped into the deep-seated 

political and economic issues 

that have plagued the country 

for much of its history. The 

cradle of Middle East agriculture 

and cattle breeding, Syria 

was once the battleground 

for empires — the Hittites, 

Egyptians, Babylonians, and 

Phoenicians each had at one 

Photo by Maryam Ashrafi. From Mourning Kobané. SDN. At a cemetery in 

do it,” CNN reported. point called it theirs—before 

Kobané, Syria, on April 2, 2015, Kurdish people sit by the grave as they mourn 

their loved one, a YPG fighter (Kurdish People’s Protection Unit), who was killed Outraged and offended, decades of colonization, political 

during clashes with the Islamic State in one of the front lines of Kobané, Syria. Daraa’s residents took to 

unrest, and brutal dictator- 

SYRIA UNHINGED 

RAVAGES OF WAR IN SYRIA LEAD TO LARGEST REFUGEE EXODUS SINCE WORLD WAR II 

What began as a rural and 

provincial-driven uprising, 

quickly tapped into the 

deep-seated political and 

economic issues that have 

plagued the country for 

much of its history. 

the streets. “What they did 

in Daraa was unheard of, 

protesting day after day. It 

sparked a revolution,” said 

Mohamed Masalmeh, a 

Syrian activist. 

Their unprecedented 

displays of solidarity weren’t 

without a price. Security forces 

opened fire on demonstrators, 

killing several and igniting further 

furor. As outcries grew in 

strength, the regime’s response 

grew in brutality. 

In July 2011, only a few 

months after the boys snuck 

out that cold night, hundred 

of thousands were protesting 

nationwide, calling for the 

resignation of President Bashar 

ship. It wasn’t surprising that, 

following similar examples of 

revolution in the Arab Spring, 

Daraa’s cries of rebellion were 

soon echoed by the entire 

country and Syria descended 

into a merciless civil war. 

At its inception, the conflict 

was between those for or 

against President Assad. The 

story today is much more 

complicated having evolved 

to include the interests of 

neighboring countries, the 

influence of world powers, 

and, perhaps most alarmingly, 

the rise of jihadist groups like 

The Islamic State of Iraq and 

the Levant (ISIL). 

ISIL, an extremist group 


The level of violence faced 

by Syrians has been surprising 

even to those used to 

working in these situations. 

—Michel Gabaudan, 

President of Refugees International 

evolved out of al-Qaeda, has 

employed brutal tactics to command 

territories across Syria 

and neighboring Iraq. The 

group considers itself a “caliphate,” 

meaning it is governed in 

accordance with Islamic law, 

and has demanded the sworn 

allegiance of Muslims throughout 

the world. 

Islamist and jihadist groups 

such as ISIL now outnumber 

secular forces in the conflict, 

their involvement turning the 

Syrian Civil War into a “war 

within a war.” Not only are 

rebel groups, deeply divided 

themselves by political allegiances, 

fighting President 

Assad’s government forces but 

they are fighting jihadist ones 

as well. 

“You have so many conflicting 

interests and players 

struggling for dominance,” 

says Jean-Marie Guehenno, 

director of the Center for 

International Conflict Resolution 

at Columbia University 

and former United Nations 

Under Secretary General for 

Peacekeeping Operations, 

”and the groups are becoming 

increasingly fragmented 

and radicalized...The great 

fear is of the conflict spilling 

over to other countries, starting 

regional wars and redrawing 

the map. It would be a 

catastrophic event with killing 

on an even bigger scale.” 

It’s difficult to imagine 

violence of even greater proportions. 

The United Nations 

has repeatedly investigated 

alleged human rights violations 

concluding that war crimes 

— mass murders, torture, 

rape, public executions, and 

disappearances — are being 

conspicuously committed by 

all sides. No incident demonstrates 

the war’s savagery more 

clearly than that of August 

2013 when rockets filled with 

sarin, a nerve agent and certified 

weapon of mass destruction, 

descended on several 

largely civilian districts around 

Damascus. The Western 

world, outraged, demanded 

the destruction of the country’s 

chemical munitions arsenal. 

It has since been dismantled 

but use of toxic chemicals, like 

chlorine and ammonia, has 

been documented since. 

Such horrific conditions 

have unsurprisingly resulted 

in the largest refugee exodus 

Photo by Yusuke Suzuki. From City of Chaos, Aleppo, Syria. SDN. A soldier of 

the Free Syrian Army who has had military service teaches a young soldier how to 

assemble an AK-47 in Aleppo, Syria. 

Photo by Nish Nalbandian. From The Syrian’s War. SDN. April 5, 2014, Idlib, 

Syria: Abu Taha, 45, talks with his daughter. Abu fights part time with the Free 

Syrian Army. His son defected from the Syrian Army and also fights with the FSA. 

The great fear is of the 

conflict spilling over to other 

countries, starting regional 

wars and redrawing the map. 

—Jean-Marie Guehenno, 

Director of the Center for 

International Conflict Resolution at 

Columbia University 

since World War II. Over 

11 million people, or half the 

country’s pre-war population, 

has been forced to leave 

their homes. An estimated 4 

million have fled Syria entirely 

to neighboring countries like 

Turkey and Lebanon which, 

without adequate international 

support, struggle to provide 

refugees with even basic 

resources. 

“I hate to make comparisons 

about who’s suffered 

more,” says Michel 

Gabaudan, president of 

Refugees International, “but 

the level of violence faced by 

Syrians has been surprising 

even to those used to working 

in these situations.” 

According to a report by 

the United Nations, total economic 

loss to the region since 

the start of the conflict equals 

over $200 billion. Syria’s 

education, health, and welfare 

systems are now nonexistent. 

And an end to the fighting is 

nowhere in sight, threatening 

to destroy one the oldest 

civilizations on Earth. 

“A whole generation of 

Syrians has been killed or 

robbed of productive futures,” 

says Andrew Gardner, Amnesty 

International’s researcher for 

Turkey. “Even if a settlement was 

reached, most refugees don’t 

show a willingness to return 

and it would take a tremendous 

amount of time for conditions of 

the settlement to translate into 

conditions for return.” 

Yusuke Suzuki,a ZEKE 

featured photographer, quotes 

in his artist’s statement that 

the fighters say, “We only 

have time to think how we 

can win the battle.” But as the 

country they bleed and die 

for crumbles in eruptions of 

violence, do they ever think: 

will there be a future for Syria 

left to fight for? 


Center for International 

Conflict Resolution: 

www.cicr-columbia.org 

Refugees International: 

refugeesinternational.org 

Syrian American Medical 

Society: 

www.sams-usa.net 

Syrian Observatory for 

Human Rights: 

www.syriahr.com 


WHAT’S NEW! 

attention. 

TRENDING 

PHOTOGRAPHERS 

ON SDN 

Of the hundreds of exhibits submitted 

to SDN each year, these four stand out 

as exemplary and deserving further 

Luis Barreto: Farming Seaweed from Sun to Sun (Indonesia). This essay is 

about seaweed farming on the Island of Lembongan, southeast of Bali. 

Seaweed is usually planted every 35 days. After the harvest, farmers 

dry the seaweed under the sun for two to three days. During the rainy 

season, drying can take a week. The farmers have recently been negatively 

affected by the tourist boom. The younger generations prefer to 

work in the tourist industry where they can earn more money. 

Saud A. Faisal: The Nandi Brothers (Bangladesh). Clockmakers are 

losing their skills because of digital technology and the majority of 

clocks today are made in factories. Instead they now mostly repair 

clocks or watches. This story by Saud A. Faisal is about the Nandi 

brothers in Bangladesh who are one of the last generations in their 

family still carrying on with this profession. 

Alvaro Laiz: Wonderland: The strange inhabitants of the Orinoco Delta 

(Venezuela). For 8,000 years one of the last native South American 

people, the Warao, have taken shelter inside mangrove forests. The 

existence of ancient animistic rites and the acceptance of transgenders 

could be the last remains of pre-Columbian traditions and never 

photographed before. But there is a fundamental fact that is strongly 

complicating their survival: a few independent investigations indicate 

that 40% – 80% of the Warao tribe are infected with HIV. 

Liza Van der Stock: Sex Workers in Tanzania. Liza Van der Stock is 

interested in studying gender issues, disadvantaged groups, and social 

taboos at the intersection of sociology and photography. When 

she had to pick a subject for her Sociology Master thesis research, 

she chose to focus on the issue of sex work in Tanzania where she 

investigated the social strategies adopted by male and female sex 

workers to deal with violence in their daily lives. 


Interview 

WITH ALICE GABRINER 

International Photo Editor, 

TIME Magazine 

by Paula Sokolska 

TIME Magazine, as the largest circulated 

weekly in the world, shapes 

international conversation, engaging millions 

of readers in current affairs. A key 

composer of the publication’s voice is 

Alice Gabriner who in September 2014 

became its international photo editor. 

She’s a familiar face at the publication. 

Gabriner had spent 10 years there 

as a photo editor, first of the magazine’s 

National section and then International 

until 2009, before accepting positions 

as the White House Deputy Director of 

photography and senior photo editor at 

National Geographic. In her career, she 

has managed coverage of the Iraq War, 

expanded President Barack Obama’s 

historical archive, and worked with 

countless talented photographers. Again 

an International Photo Editor at TIME, 

Alice Gabriner illustrates stories for the 

print magazine, is involved with online 

coverage at time.com, and develops the 

publication’s LightBox photo blog. 

We spoke with Gabriner to discuss 

photography’s evolving landscape, 

lessons learned as a photo editor, and 

the importance of challenging yourself in 

photography. 

Paula Sokolska: You’ve been back at 

TIME for just about a year now. How are 

things different since you last worked there? 

Alice Gabriner: It’s been a really interesting, 

fascinating year in terms of changes in 

the industry. In many ways the job’s completely 

different. The media landscape, as 

we all know, has completely changed but 

so has the number of new photographers 

that are out there and how they operate. I 

tended to rely a lot on agencies and that 

system seems to have all but disappeared. 

More photographers are reaching out to 

me and my colleagues — representing 

themselves. People are cycling in and 

cycling out much faster than they used to. 

PS: With those new photographers reaching 

out to you, what do you look for? 

AG: We’re always looking for great stories 

and for a strong aesthetic. People who 

have both, their work stands out. In terms 

of new photographers, we see a lot who 

can create good imagery but not necessarily 

know how to tell a story. 

What is concerning, however, is that 

we need to be really careful about how 

people are getting the access that they get 

and whether they understand what really 

good journalistic ethics are. It can be challenging 

to ensure this with photographers 

that we don’t necessarily know or have not 

met. We don’t have the kind of long-term 

relationships we used to have so we need 

to be really vigilant and careful about that. 

We want to be extra careful that they 

can produce work with the rigor that TIME 

Magazine expects. 

PS: You mention that some photographers 

struggle to tell a good story. Do you have 

any advice for them? 

AG: I think when you’re going to a place 

you need to really educate yourself about 

what’s happening. A news story reacts to 

what has happened, but if you’re creating 

a feature, you really need to educate yourself 

as much as possible and to understand 

local customs, local ways. That’s how you 

can get good access. 

But also you need to understand, if 

you’re not getting the access, in what ways 

can you still tell the story? What other kinds 

of details are relevant? I find that sometimes 

people create scenes that aren’t necessarily 

related to the story so when you’re 

really looking at the work and reading the 

captions it all falls apart. The scenes that 

they’re creating don’t help tell the story. 

PS: Would you say there’s an advantage in 

gaining access and having that understanding 

when a photographer covers their own 

culture or community? Or is there added 

value in having an outside perspective? 

AG: I don’t think we can say one way or 

the other. I see both. Sometimes people 

working within their own culture don’t see 

what’s interesting, and it instead takes 

somebody coming in from outside to look 

at details in a new way. That was true with 

my experience at the White House where 

I was a new eye in that world as opposed 

to somebody that’s been covering politics 

for years and years and years. But then 

there are examples of photographers covering 

their own stories, their own places, 

with incredible understanding. 

PS: What sort of lessons have helped you 

grow as an editor? 

AG: I remember Christopher Morris, the 

famous war photographer, saying that on 

the first day of his workshop he teaches 

the rules and on the second day we break 

them. I very much follow that same type 

of mindset. It’s very important to know the 

rules but also important to think beyond the 

knee-jerk reaction of what is interesting. We 

need to constantly challenge ourselves to 

think differently and in a new way, to break 

the rules. I’m still learning. I’m learning 

every single day. You don’t ever stop learning. 

You constantly need to question and 

challenge yourself. 

PS: Can you speak a bit more personally 

about that? 

AG: When I was at TIME before, I felt very 

confident about doing my job as a photo 

editor. I knew this stuff. If something’s happening 

in Beirut, I knew who to call. It felt 

very easy to do the job. Then I left TIME to 

go to the White House and from the White 

House to go to National Geographic. 

Each of those experiences actually made 

me feel insecure in my abilities in some 

ways. I had to learn new skills and learn to 

see in a new way. 

That was especially true at National 

Geographic where you’re editing with 

the photographer. The photo editor looks 

at every frame, the photographer looks at 

every frame, and you sit together and talk. 

To be able to do that is an incredible privilege. 

In that process I would learn, almost 

on every story, how wrong I was. The 

photographer would pull out pictures that 

Continue on page 47. 


Interview 

WITH MARCUS BLEASDALE 

by Caterina Clerici 

Marcus Bleasdale is a documentary 

photographer and human rights activist 

who has spent the last 15 years covering 

conflict zones and human rights abuses, 

all around the world and in Central 

Africa in particular. In 2015, his body of 

work documenting the war in the Central 

African Republic was awarded the 

illustrious Robert Capa Gold Medal from 

the Overseas Press Club of America, as 

well as the FotoEvidence book award. 

We spoke to Marcus about the power of 

photography to influence policy-making, 

and the tensions — if any — between 

the ethics of journalism and the necessity 

to stand up and fight for a cause. 

Caterina Clerici: Let’s start form the beginning: 

how did you get into photography? 

Marcus Bleasdale: I was an investment 

banker before I became a photographer. 

When I started in photography, I began 

looking at issues that were very much 

human rights based. I wanted to focus 

on how conflict was financed, and that’s 

where the economics in my background 

comes in. Instead of going to the frontline 

saying, ‘this is what war looks like, isn’t 

that bad?’ I went into the countries where 

conflict was happening to find out where 

the money was coming from – the money 

that in every conflict finances both the 

weapons and the fragility, the insecurity. 

Insecurity isn’t something that happens, it’s 

paid for. 

CC: You say you’re a photographer who 

uses his work to influence policy makers 

— what are the examples? What are the 

ways in which photography can actually 

bring about change? 

MB: In 2002/2003, I was documenting 

the conflict in the Ituri region of East 

Congo, where the Hema and the Landu 

were fighting over access to gold. There 

were lots of tribal issues that were part of 

the foundations of the conflict, as well as 

many land issues, and these two groups 

were financing their engagement through 

extracting gold — between 100 and 150 

million dollars worth ever year in total — 

and smuggling it illegally into Uganda. 

I documented the mines, the rebels, 

the price that the population was paying 

— high child-mortality rates, extraordinary 

insecurity and very compromised healthcare 

which led to an enormous death 

toll. When I came out of there I met with 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and showed 

them the images I had. They were just 

about to publish a report called The Curse 

of Gold and it ended up running with my 

photographs. 

HRW and I also exhibited the report 

and the photographs around the world: 

in Switzerland, where one of the principal 

buyers of gold was based; Metalor 

Technologies, in Toronto; in front of the 

offices of AngloGold Ashanti; and in New 

York, right in front of the New York Stock 

Exchange, the building where the old gold 

reserve used to be in the early twentieth 

century. The impact was huge. The organizations 

engaged in buying gold extracted 

by the rebels in East Congo pulled out 

— hundreds of millions of dollars worth of 

financing to the rebel groups stopped overnight 

— and that put a halt on the conflict 

for a period of time. 

CC: What about a frustrating example — 

a situation where despite the attention, 

you never felt that your work contributed to 

changing things? 

MB: Darfur. I worked there independently, 

but in collaboration with Human Rights 

Watch we published a report called Darfur 

in Flames and then several others came out, 

some with my work, others with a great 

friend of mine, Tim Hetherington’s, and we 

pushed, pushed for some level of impact in 

Darfur. But although we achieved a lot of 

awareness, we didn’t get much change. 

CC: Do you consider yourself a journalist? 

MB: In some cases I consider myself a 

journalist and in others I consider myself a 

human rights activist. But before all of that 

I consider myself a human being. I look 

at morality in life, at what is wrong and 

what is right, and I try to report on that. 

Reporters are usually individuals with an 

extraordinary passion about things that 

they see, and, whether I’m doing a report 

for National Geographic or for Human 

Rights Watch, I’m going to approach the 

issue in the same way. 

It doesn’t make much difference who 

my client is or what the ultimate use of the 

material is: the production side of the process 

is the same. The difference lies in how 

it’s used: National Geographic will put 

the work in the magazine and create an 

awareness that is unprecedented. When 

I work with Human Rights Watch, on the 

other hand, we think very specifically 

A member of the Christian population on the outskirts of Bangui runs through looted and burning 

homes of the Muslims who have fled after the Seleka President Michel Djotodia resigned and left the 

country in disarray. Photograph © Marcus Bleasdale; VII. 


Christians attack Muslim property on the outskirts of Bangui after the Muslim Seleka government fell 

and the Muslims in the area fled. The Christian community is taking revenge for the months of harsh 

Muslim Seleka rule, trying to destroy and loot everything in the Muslim districts. 

Photograph © Marcus Bleasdale; VII. 

about who our target audience is — and 

sometimes all we want is to reach a handful 

of people, or just one person. 

The most recent example is the work 

in the Central African Republic: for one 

month, it was almost exclusively targeting 

the Minister of Defense in France, because 

we wanted him to send the French peacekeeping 

troops into the region to stop 

the conflict. We were aiming our whole 

reporting at him and at the UN. That was 

in November 2013; the French came into 

the country in December 2013 and the 

UN in September 2014. 

CC: You introduce yourself as both a 

National Geographic and a Human 

Rights Watch photographer — having no 

problem crossing what many still wearily 

perceive as a ‘line’ between editorial and 

NGO work. Do you see any conflict in 

working for both worlds? 

MB: For me, there are no conflicts in working 

between these two sides. I understand 

that some publications won’t use some of 

the work I create because of my affiliation 

with organizations like Human Rights 

Watch or others and I’m fine with that. But, 

frankly, these are human rights organizations 

that don’t take money from self-interest 

groups, oil groups or oligarchs or any 

major part of society that is benefiting from 

resource extraction. Comparing that with 

the funding that goes into the newspaper 

and the magazine industry, I question the 

reservations of this esteemed journalistic 

pyramid. 

I actually believe that working for a 

human rights organization has an enormous 

amount of validity: I’m in the field 

with human rights lawyers who can get 

their facts straight sufficiently enough to 

stand up in the International Criminal Court 

to indict people and put them in jail. So 

both the strength of the reporting and the 

financing are unquestionable. And on top 

of that, media organizations have lost an 

enormous amount of funding and can’t 

even afford traveling to these places anymore, 

so they have to rely on human rights 

organizations. 

CC: If it’s the outcome that drives the process, 

then how about citizen journalism? 

Do we still need a filter, a “journalist” who 

supposedly knows more about the issue? 

Or is a good picture enough? 

MB: I think there is space for all kinds of 

creative production within our world. The 

more people are excited by taking images, 

the better the world is. Twenty years ago, 

very few people were taking images, 

maybe a couple had a Polaroid here and 

there, but they ended up in boxes under 

people’s beds. 

At the same time, there is a difference 

between that and having someone who 

has 15 years of experience in a particular 

conflict or region going to that particular 

region and using that expertise to 

document the conflict and align the visual 

production with an organization like HRW 

or The New York Times. But there is room 

for all of them. 

CC: And what about photojournalism 

versus documentary photography – which 

is more ‘impactful’ in your experience? 

MB: If a body of work can stop a war, I 

mean, that’s the best result you can ever 

have, no matter whether it’s documentary 

photography or news. In terms of how the 

industry is spelled out between the two, I 

think we need all of it. 

It’s not that frequently that a documentary 

photographer is in a country when 

something flares off — but there will be a 

wire photographer there, these guys are 

running from one place to another to make 

sure that people see what’s going on. And 

then there are people like me, who go to a 

region and then spend their career in that 

region. That doesn’t mean to say that one 

is better than the other, it’s just that we do 

different things. 

It’s like reading the front page and the 

comments section — and both sides of the 

equation give the information that we need 

as citizens to hopefully be more educated 

and understanding of how society around 

us works. 

CC: You’re about to cross yet another line – 

this time back into the world of academia, 

doing a Masters in International Relations 

at the University of Cambridge with a 

thesis on how states fail and how state 

fragility is maintained, using the Central 

African Republic as an example. How did 

this come about — and why now? 

MB: I think that within our industry as photographers 

we need to think smartly about 

a way to make ourselves relevant to the 

conversation. 

I get really tired of the photography 

community moaning and lamenting the 

years gone by and how the photo industry 

is dying and the role of the photojournalism 

is becoming irrelevant. 

I disagree. I couldn’t be more excited 

about what photography could do and 

how impactful photography and photographers 

can be than I am right now. The 

challenge is that individual photographers 

have to engage and educate themselves. 

And for me this is part of the process. 

I think photographers should be more 

on the frontline with advocacy, instead of 

just being the ones supplying the tools to 

others. We should engage and educate 

and cement the relevance of our art. 

On a different note, I’m getting old. I’m 

48 now, and I’m not sure I can be running 

Continue on page 47. 


Photo by Rudi Dundas 

‘‘GOD IS CHANGING OUR RIVER’’ 

Help the Kara fight the Gibe III Dam 

www.internationalrivers.org 





ZEKE. The world explored through photographs, ideas, and words, by 

leading documentary photographers from across the globe, featuring 

projects published on the Social Documentary Network (SDN) website. 

My issue of ZEKE arrived on Friday and I dived into it this weekend. It was so 

inspiring and confirmed for me that there is a place for still photography. I can’t 

wait to have a collection of ZEKE issues for the coffee table! They will certainly 

inspire conversation and awareness. Thank you for your work! 

— ZEKE subscriber 

Fall 2015 Issue 

Print edition: $8.00 + postage & handling 

52 pages, 8.5 x 11, full color, perfect bound. 

Digital edition: Free 

To order: www.zekemagazine.com 

CHARTER WEEKS 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

National & 

International 

Subjects 

Stock or 

Assignment 

www.charterweeks.com 603 664-7654 


NEWEST AMERICANS 

A pioneering new media concept by VII, Talking Eyes Media, and Rutgers University/Newark 

By Glenn Ruga 

The implosion of the media economy 

was caused by a confluence of 

many factors including the rise of the 

internet, the ubiquity of digital media 

production, a global economy taking 

root, and finally the Great Recession starting 

in 2008. In its wake are legions of 

talented photographers, writers, illustrators, 

production artists, editors, and publishers 

all trying to figure out where the future for 

sustainable media is and how to tell important 

stories in this new economy. 

Rising to the challenge is the Newest 

Americans (www.newestamericans.com). 

Referred to as a “collaboratory” on its 

website, called a digital magazine by 

Executive Producer Julie Winokur, and 

referred to as a “research, documentary, 

and storytelling project” by Tim Raphael, 

the Collaborator-in-Chief, the Newest 

Americans is making heads turn in the digital 

and media landscape. Regardless of 

what it is called, it is a remarkable initiative 

in multimedia storytelling. Funded almost 

entirely by Rutgers University/Newark, 

the project is a collaboration between VII 

(a for-profit photo collective), Talking Eyes 

Media (a non-profit multimedia studio), and 

the Center for Migration and the Global 

City at Rutgers. The stories of the Newest 

Americans focus on Newark, New Jersey, 

or more specifically, stories emanating from 

Rutgers University/Newark and the rich, 

diverse, and often untold stories of a great 

American city often lost in the shadow of its 

more famous neighbor across the Hudson 

River. 

The Newest Americans is the brainchild 

of Raphael, a theatre director/producer 

turned oral historian and now Associate 

Professor of Arts, Culture and Media at 

Rutgers/Newark. The campus has been 

called the most diverse college campus 

in America and a microcosm of what the 

demographics of America will be in fifty 

years. Challenging the stereotype that 

Newark is infamous for riots, urban blight, 

and failing school systems, the Newest 

Americans creates a new narrative of 

a city reinventing itself with a motivated 

demographics largely founded on recent 

We Came and Stayed: Coyt Jones/Ras Baraka, with visuals by Ashley Gilbertson, Ed Kashi and Julie Winokur, is one of 

eight multimedia pieces featured in the first issue of the Newest Americans. 

immigrant communities. One visible sign is 

that a new generation of college students 

are now staying in this city after receiving 

an education at one of four major institutions 

of higher education — something 

unheard of ten years ago. 

Hearing Raphael talk about the genesis 

of the Newest Americans sounds like the 

familiar story behind all great American 

ventures — he cooked it up in his garage 

in Montclair, New Jersey with his neighbors 

and close friends Julie Winokur 

(founder of Talking Eyes Media), and Ed 

Kashi (VII president.) 

The first “issue” of the Newest 

Americans was launched earlier this year 

featuring nine multimedia projects diverse 

in both form and content. We Came 

and Stayed: Coyt Jones/Ras Baraka is a 

multimedia documentary focusing on the 

Jones (aka Baraka) family from Newark 

starting out with the family patriarch Coyt 

Jones, his son and well-known intellectual, 

activist, poet, and educator Amiri Baraka, 

and Coyt’s grandson, now the mayor of 

Newark, Ras Baraka. Visuals are provided 

by Ashley Gilberston, Ed Kashi, 

Julie Winokur, and as with most work on 

the Newest Americans, final editing and 

production is done by Talking Eyes Media 

in collaboration with students from the 

journalism department and other academic 

programs at Rutgers. Four of the remaining 

eight projects in the first issue include: 

American Sueño: Meet Marisol 

Visuals by Ron Haviv 

A continuing series investigating how different 

immigration statuses are producing life 

options and limits within a single Mexican- 

American family. 

From Where I Stand 

Audio essays created by students in a 

Narrative Journalism class in response to 

the prompt “From Where I Stand...” 

Notes For My Homeland 

Visuals by Ed Kashi, Julie Winokur 

A Syrian-American composer responds 

to the tragedies instigated by the Assad 

regime by composing music in support of 

the Syrian Revolution, and performing it at 

great personal risk. 

Maid in the USA 

Shana Russell’s provocation to think with 

her about the domestic labor, scholarship 

and questions that get left on the cutting 

room floor. 

If there is a lesson here for other media 

professionals, it is to look beyond traditional 

sources for revenue. In the Newest 

Americans, VII photographers are earning 

a day rate for their work; Talking Eyes 

is earning something less; Tim Raphael 

earns a salary with his faculty appointment 

at Rutgers, and students at Rutgers, a 

state university, receive real-life practice in 

media production with some of the leading 


journalists working today. The sustainability 

of the Newest Americans, according to 

Raphael, is ongoing funding from Rutgers 

and developing curricula that can be 

licensed or sold to other educational institutions. 

While some of their finished projects 

are licensed to other media, the fee is 

minimal and covers just a fraction of the 

production costs. 

Challenges remain, for sure. How do 

you make a sustainable media project out 

of a digital magazine that focuses on one 

university in mid-sized city in a state that is 

often the brunt of late night comedy? (Full 

disclosure. I grew up in New Jersey and 

attended Rutgers/Newark for a semester). 

The Newest Americans have had some 

success getting these stories out to a larger 

audience. Notes from My Homeland was 

featured on the National Geographic 

Proof website, and We Came and Stayed 

was featured on The Atlantic website. But 

when they approached The New York 

Times, the response was that it was a 

local New Jersey story. Tim Raphael and 

his team are adamant that the problems, 

challenges, and stories coming out of 

Newark today are the stories of America 

— stories of immigrants making lives, 

communities, cities, culture and politics — 

as Raphael says, “the stories are hyperlocal 

but transnational.” The stories on the 

Newest Americans have connected with 

other groups of people across the country 

and around the world. The Dream Act 

movement, a very well-organized activist 

organization fighting for immigrant justice 

and a path to citizenship, has been very 

interested in the work. And later this year, 

the Newest Americans will be going to 

Mexico City to produce a story about 

immigration from both sides of the border. 

The next issue is due out in the fall and 

will focus on the one neighborhood in 

Newark — University Heights — which is 

emblematic of the rebirth of Newark. 

Newest Americans 

www.newestamericans.com 

Alice Gabriner Interview 

Continued from page 41. 

I had seen and missed. That [experience] 

showed me photo editing is a very subjective 

process and so I would often rely on the 

photographer. 

A lot of photo editors say, and it’s 

almost a cliche, that photographers aren’t 

their best editors. I often find that good 

photographers are good at editing and 

you have to listen to them and be open to 

their point of view. 

PS: It sounds like you find a lot of value in 

a collaborative process. 

AG: Yes, that’s the best in any situation. I’ve 

been doing this for many, many years now 

and it is still exciting when somebody shows 

you something that you haven’t seen before. 

They open a door for you to see and appreciate 

something in a different way. 

PS: You mentioned individual perspective 

which brings up the aspect of having a 

uniqueness to your work. Do you have 

any advice as to how photographers can 

cultivate their voice? 

AG: You have to be confident and you 

become confident through experience. You 

also need to be aware of the work that’s 

already out there and of the photographers 

doing work in a subject you’re interested 

in. You need to be aware of the landscape 

that already exists. 

I’m always kind of surprised when 

people come in with portfolios and they’re 

not aware of all the work that’s already out 

about that subject. It’s especially shocking 

since we’re in a time when all that’s accessible. 

You can easily find it and doing so 

will help you know how your work relates 

to the playing field. 

PS: Is there a global issue that needs more 

coverage? Or something swept under the 

rug? 

AG: Now you can find work in all 

regions. What’s more of a challenge is 

that I work for a publication where there 

are certain regions that we tend to cover 

more because that’s where our reader 

interest seems to be. Ultimately, we publish 

so few stories that we want to do what’s 

most important. So if there should be one 

story from Africa this month, what will that 

story be? 

But you don’t want it to be a polite 

story, you want it to have significance, 

be relevant, and give voice to people 

who need their story told. [At the same 

time,] the stories from Africa tend to be 

stories about people in the most challenging 

circumstances which gives a skewed 

understanding of what that whole continent 

is. That’s a challenge that we’re facing. 

The frustration is that we don’t publish 

more. There are so many stories that don’t 

get told just because of the limited space. 

PS: We began the interview reflecting on 

how things have changed. Where do you 

see the future of this business going? 

AG: Well, there’s so much pressure now 

with video. Publications push video 

because it’s growing so fast and it’s also 

where ad sales and ad money is coming 

from. I think there are a lot of photographers 

transitioning to video, and that’s a 

whole other type of storytelling. It’s interesting. 

A few weeks ago we were meeting 

with photographers and they all had 

video, multimedia presentations, as well as 

still photography. There’s going to be more 

distribution models for video, and often a 

couple-minute piece is a better way of telling 

a story, but I don’t think video replaces 

still photography. 

Still photography has evolved an aesthetic 

expression that is less literal than it 

used to be. I think maybe literal storytelling 

is where video will be more relevant but 

there will always be a need for still photography 

that is more metaphorical, symbolic, 

and emotional. 

Marcus Bleasdale Interview 

Continued from page 43. 

around conflict zones when I’m 68—but 

I still want to be as effective on a policy 

level then, with twenty more years of experience, 

as I am trying to be now. 

CC: Next projects? 

MB: I will keep on working in the Central 

African Republic. Just like Congo went on 

for 15 years of my life, I feel maybe the 

Central African Republic still has a few 

more years left of attention. 


SDN FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE MONTH 

January – July, 2015 

JANUARY 

FEBRUARY 

Nadia Sablin: Aunties (Russia). Sablin’s series follows the 

everyday trials of Alevtina and Ludmila, two unmarried sisters in 

their seventies who, in their golden years, subsist by chopping 

firewood, hauling water from a well, and harvesting vegetables. 

Aake Ericson: Racism Against Roma People (Czech Republic, 

France, Kosovo, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden). A long-term 

project, Ericson’s graphic photographs thoughtfully and respectfully 

depict Europe’s Roma, a people continuously plagued by 

institutional racism. 

MARCH 

MAY 

Lianne Milton: Right Side of the Wrong Life: Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). 

Milton’s images of the 2016 Olympic host city capture both the 

vibrancy and violence of Rio de Janeiro. Her images offer an unfiltered 

glimpse at a city in fervent growth, begging the question: 

At whose expense? 

Claudia Wiens: Women’s Football in Germany, Palestine, Turkey, 

and Greece (Germany, Greece, Palestine, Turkey). Male players 

dominate attention in sports, though fervent energy and spirit are 

found across gender lines, a fact highlighted in Wiens’ series on 

Arab and Muslim female footballers. 

JUNE 

JULY 

Stephen Speranza: Wilmerding, Pennsylvania (United States). 

Speranza revisits his hometown -- the former home of the 

Westinghouse Air Brake Company -- now an aging industrial 

center to document its people and the city’s shifting economic 

landscape. 

Brian Driscoll: Urban Asylum Seekers (Thailand). This series by 

Brian Driscoll is a photographic record of people who strive to 

live a life of freedom, but who are currently in a statelessness 

chapter of time in their lives. 





Fall 2015 Vol. 1/No. 2 

ZEKE is published by Social Documentary Network (SDN), an 

organization promoting visual storytelling about global themes. 

Started as a website in 2008, today SDN works with nearly a 

thousand photographers around the world to tell important stories 

through the visual medium of photography and multimedia. Since 

2008, SDN has featured more than 2,000 exhibits on its website 

and has had gallery exhibitions in major cities around the 

world. All the work featured in ZEKE first appeared on the SDN 

website, www.socialdocumentary.net. 

ZEKE Staff 

Executive Editor: Glenn Ruga 

Writer: Paula Sokolska 

Copy Editor: Barbara Ayotte 

Social Documentary 

Network Advisory 

Committee 

Barbara Ayotte, Medford, MA 

Director of Strategic 

Communications 

Management Sciences for Health 

Kristen Bernard, Salem, MA 

Marketing Web Director 

EBSCO Information Services 

Lori Grinker, New York, NY 

Independent Photographer and 

Educator 

Steve Horn, Lopez Island, WA 

Independent Photographer 

Ed Kashi, Monclair, NJ 

Member of VII photo agency 

Photographer, Filmmaker, Educator 

Reza, Paris, France 

Photographer and Humanist 

Jeffrey D. Smith, New York NY 

Director, Contact Press Images 

Steve Walker, New York, NY 

Consultant and educator 

Frank Ward, Williamsburg, MA 

Photographer and Educator 

Jamie Wellford, Brooklyn, NY 

Photo Editor, Curator 

ZEKE is published twice a year by 


Copyright © 2015 


ISSN 2381-1390 

ZEKE does not accept unsolicited 

submissions. To be considered for 

publication in ZEKE, submit your 

work to the SDN website either as 

a standard exhibit or a submission 

to a Call for Entries. Contributing 

photographers can choose to pay 

a fee for their work to be exhibted 

on SDN for a year or they can 

choose a free trial. Free trials have 

the same opportunity to be published 

in ZEKE as paid exhibits. 

Advertising Inquiries: 

glenn@socialdocumentary.net 

61 Potter Street 

Concord, MA 01742 USA 

617-417-5981 

info@socialdocumentary.net 

www.socialdocumentary.net 

www.zekemagazine.com 

@socdoctweets 


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