“I do my job simply to report people’s courage with my camera and with my heart,” Anja Niedringhaus said in 2005.
The acclaimed German photojournalist, known best for her work covering conflict for The Associated Press in the Middle East and Afghanistan, was killed 10 years ago, on April 4, 2014, while on assignment covering Afghanistan’s elections. An Afghan policeman shot her as she sat in a car with close friend and colleague Kathy Gannon, AP’s longtime senior correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan, who was also shot and survived the attack with severe wounds.
On Thursday, the Bronx Documentary Center in New York City is launching a new book and exhibition of Niedringhaus’ work, co-curated by Gannon. A ceremony at the center will honor Palestinian freelance photojournalist Samar Abu Elouf with the Anja Niedringhaus Courage In Photojournalism Award, given by the International Women’s Media Foundation.
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Niedringhaus’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “work helped define the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya,” AP photo editors Jacqueline Larma and Enric Marti write. “And despite her reputation as a war photographer, very often she found beauty and joy on assignment — even in those difficult places where she spent so much time. And especially in the place where she ultimately lost her life.”
Niedringhaus’ images show glimpses of daily life, tenderness, humor and tragedy. “She wasn’t covering a war. She wasn’t covering a country. She was covering a people,” Gannon tells CNN.
“I could have stayed out of trouble most of my life,” Niedringhaus said in 2005, “but always have been drawn to the people, no matter where, who suffer in difficult situations.”
Here is a selection of Anja Niedringhaus’ work — indelible images that continue to resonate today.
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