Bénédicte Kurzen

Bénédicte Kurzen is based in Johannesburg. She holds a master's degree with Excellence in Contemporary History from the Sorbonne, Paris. She also studied semiology for one year, and wrote her final essay about the "myth of the war photographer". In 2003, she moved to Israel and took up photography, covering hard news in the Gaza Strip, later working in Iraq, and Lebanon. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Time, The New Yorker, Newsweek, Stern and Paris Match, among others. Encouraged by Stanley Greene to contribute to a "Violence Against Women" project, Benedicte changed from news to documentary photography, covering the situation of widows in the Gaza Strip, which was screened in Visa pour l'image, 2005. The same year, with five others, she founded EVE Photographers, whose projects have been exhibited in various festival and veues. She moved to South Africa traveling across Africa from there, since then. She was awarded Second Place at the BOP in 2009 for her portrait of Congolese warlord General Nkunda. She was part of the Joop Swart Masterclass 2009 and joined the VII Network last year.
View Kurzen's reporting as part of COURRiER Japon's "This Day of Change" project.