Moises Saman Explained

Moises Saman (born 1974) is a Spanish-Peruvian photographer, based in Tokyo. He is considered "one of the leading conflict photographers of his generation"^{[1] [2]} and is a full member of Magnum Photos.^[3] Saman is best known for his photographs from Iraq. His book Discordia (2016) is about the revolution in Egypt and the broader Arab Spring.^[4] Glad Tidings of Benevolence (2023) is about the Iraq War.

Saman has won multiple awards from World Press Photo and Pictures of the Year International, and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Life and work

Saman was born Lima, Peru. His father is Peruvian and his mother is Spanish. At the age of one, his family relocated from Peru to Barcelona, Spain, where Moises spent most of his youth. He is considered "one of the leading conflict photographers of his generation." He worked as a photojournalist in the Middle East from 2011 to 2014.^{[5] [6]} He is best known for his photographs from the wars in Iraq: the Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the Iraqi Civil War but has also worked in Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, and Syria including in rebel-held areas there.^[7] He covered the Arab Spring and the Syrian Civil War for The New Yorker^[8] and has worked for Human Rights Watch. It was during this period in the Middle East that he made Discordia (2016), a book of personal work about the revolution in Egypt and the broader Arab Spring.

In 2010 Saman was invited to join Magnum Photos as a nominee and became a full member in 2014.

Publications

Publications by Saman

• Discordia. Self-published, 2016. Photographs and short essays by Saman. Edited and with collages by Daria Birang.
• Glad Tidings of Benevolence. London: Gost, 2023. . With a preface by Sinan Antoon.^[9]

Publications with contributions by Saman

• Home. Tokyo: Magnum Photos Tokyo, 2018. .

Awards

• 2007: Third prize, stories, Daily Life category, World Press Photo Awards, World Press Photo, Amsterdam.^[10]
• 2007: Third prize, stories, General News category, World Press Photo Awards, World Press Photo, Amsterdam.^[11]
• 2008: Citation, The Olivier Rebbot Award, 2007 Overseas Press Club awards, New York City.^[12]
• 2008: Third Place, Magazine Photographer of the Year, Sixty Fifth Pictures of the Year International Competition, Pictures of the Year International.^[13]
• 2014: Second prize, singles, General News category, World Press Photo Awards, World Press Photo, Amsterdam.^[14]
• 2014: W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund fellowship for Discordia.^[15]
• 2015: Second Place, Spot News, Seventy Second Pictures of the Year International Competition, Pictures of the Year International. For "Tragedy on Mount Sinjar".^[16]
• 2015: Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.^{[17] [18]}
• 2016: Winner, The Anamorphosis Prize ($10,000), for Discordia.^[19]

External links

• • Saman's profile at Magnum Photos
• "A Western Photographer in Hama, Syria" – interview with Saman in The New York Times on 19 July 2011 about photographing in the Syrian city of Hama during the Syrian Civil War

Notes and References

1. Web site: Moises Saman on Iraq’s civil war. 31 March 2016 . 2 February 2017 . Tom . Seymour . . Apptitude Media .
2. Web site: Conflict Photographer’s Best Pictures Are Some of Humanity’s Worst Moments. 16 September 2013 . 3 February 2017 . Pete . Brook . . .
3. Web site: Moises Saman: Spanish, American. b. 1974: Biography. 2 February 2017 . .
4. Web site: Moises Saman's Stunning Photos of Humanity in Conflict Zones. 7 February 2014 . 4 February 2017 . Bruno . Bayley . .
5. News: In Conversation: Photographer Moises Saman On His Journey Documenting the Arab Spring. 28 February 2016 . 2 February 2017 . Naina . Bajekal . .
6. Web site: Five Years Later, a Photographer Revisits the Arab Spring. https://web.archive.org/web/20160528213358/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2016/05/moises-saman-discordia . dead . May 28, 2016 . 12 May 2016 . 16 March 2016 . Jehan . Jillani . .
7. Moises Saman: Photographs from Rebel-Held Syria. 21 August 2012 . 3 February 2017 . Jon . Lee Anderson. Jon Lee Anderson . .
8. News: Moises Saman’s Return to Iraq. 18 April 2014 . 2 February 2017 . Dexter . Filkins . .
9. Web site: Megan. Williams. 2023-08-05. Moises Saman documents the "competing narratives" of the Iraq war. 24 March 2023. Creative Review.
10. Web site: Daily Life, third prize stories. 2 February 2017 . World Press Photo.
11. Web site: General News, third prize stories. 2 February 2017 . World Press Photo.
12. Web site: 2007 OPC Award Winners. 5 February 2017 . Overseas Press Club.
13. Web site: Winners of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Pictures of the Year International Competition Judged February 16 through March 7, 2008. 2 February 2017 . .
14. Web site: General News, second prize singles. 2 February 2017 . World Press Photo.
15. Web site: Joseph Sywenkyj Receives $30,000 Grant from W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund in Humanistic Photography for Verses from a Nation in Transition. 15 October 2014 . 3 February 2017 . W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.
16. Web site: Winners of the Seventy-Second Annual Pictures of the Year International Competition Judged February 2 - 20, 2015. 2 February 2017 . .
17. Web site: Moises Saman. 2 February 2017 . .
18. News: Photojournalist Moises Saman Receives Guggenheim Fellowship. 9 April 2015 . 2 February 2017 . Myles . Little . .
19. Web site: Discordia – Moises Saman. 4 February 2017 . www.anamorphosisprize.com .