Adriane Ohanesian

Adriane Ohanesian is an American photojournalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. “At times the journalist’s reflection of war is most telling. Courage is not only standing amid gunfire in battle, but possessing the emotional courage it takes to immerse your own heart in bearing witness to the anguish of those most vulnerable in any conflict, and portraying them with honesty and dignity. We loved reflecting upon her work. Adriane approaches storytelling with remarkable skill and an ability to capture the emotional resonance of difficult moments. We very much look forward to seeing what she will do in years to come.” —Award Jury In 2012, Ohanesian began covering the news in South Sudan for Reuters. She has photographed the Sudanese refugees living in South Sudan, the fighting in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan, and the border demarcation and fight over oil between Sudan and South Sudan. She has continued to document the civil war in South Sudan, fighting in Somalia, clashes in Burundi,and, most recently, the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. Ohanesian’s ongoing focus has been on the impact that conflict has on isolated civilian populations. She strives to cover all aspects of conflict, often exploring the isolation and desperation of people who have no other choice but to endure the reality of life within a war zone. Ohanesian attended the Eddie Adams workshop in 2014, where she received an award from National Geographic. She has also been recognized as one of Magnum Photo’s top ‘30 under 30’ and received LensCulture’s Emerging Talent award for her photographs of women soldiers in rebel-controlled Kachin, Myanmar. In 2015, she was selected as one of Getty Images Emerging Photographers, and in 2016, she won a World Press Photo award for her work in Darfur. Ohanesian’s photographs have been published by Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, the New Yorker, and TIME. Ohanesian received her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology and conflict resolution from Colorado College in 2008 and graduated from the International Center of Photography’s photojournalism and documentary photography program in 2010. Upon the completion of her degree, she moved to Sudan and has been photographing mainly in Africa ever since. “At the end of the day it’s not about me; it’s about the lives of the people in the pictures. My photographs document what I’ve seen in isolated areas of the world. I hope the people I photograph feel that these photos communicate their circumstances to the outside world. It takes a massive amount of trust on the part of my subjects to know that I’m accurately representing them and their story.” — Adriane Ohanesian

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