The Visa d’or prize in the magazine category was awarded on September 7, 2012, to Stephanie Sinclair for her work “Ces petites filles que l’on marie” (Child Brides). This series will be on display at the Couvent des Minimes in Perpignan through September 21.
Stephanie Sinclair’s first encounter with child marriage occurred in 2003 while doing a story on self-immolation in Afghanistan. All the victims she met had been married very young, some only 9 years old, and to much older men. Meigon in Herat told how her drug addict father sold her into marriage when she was 11, and detailed the rape by her husband. That was when Stephanie decided to devote herself to the subject, covering Afghanistan, Nepal, Ethiopia, India and Yemen. She was determined that her images would have an effect on people’s understanding of the issue, highlighting the urgent need to work within these communities for change.
Stephanie Sinclair
Stephanie Sinclair [b.1973] is an American photojournalist known for gaining unique access to sensitive gender and human rights issues around the world. After university, Sinclair worked for the Chicago Tribune, which sent her to cover the lead up to the war in Iraq. She later moved to the Middle East covering the region for six years as a freelance photographer. A regular contributor to National Geographic and The New York Times Magazine, Sinclair is the recipient of numerous awards including the CARE International Award for Humanitarian Reportage, the Overseas Press Club’s Olivier Rebbot Award, a Pulitzer Prize, two Visa D’Ors, and three World Press Photo awards. In 2010, Sinclair’s photographs of self-immolation in Afghanistan were exhibited as part of the Whitney Biennial in New York. She is a member of VII Photo Agency in NY.
