Volume FOUR, ISSUE 9 Join ZUMA Press   About ZUMA Press   Search ZUMA Press  e-Newsletter Archive     
 

Giving a Voice to Those Who Have None


Apr. 18, 2006 - With their images, many photographers are able to give a voice to those who have no voice. One such photojournalist is Florida-based Benjamin Rusnak. "ZUMA is honored to add award-winning Benjamin Rusnak to its team. With simple, yet evocative compositions, he captures the intensity and gravity of situations in the third world," said ZUMA Press Director Scott Mc Kiernan. "I have been following his career for a while, and I'm looking forward to seeing his continued growth, as he has already matured into a strong storyteller and concerned journalist."  

For the past six years, Rusnak has been documenting heart-stopping hunger and poverty in the Caribbean and Latin America for a leading NGO: Food for the Poor (FFP), an international relief and development agency. FFP's mission is to not only offer aid directly to the people through food, housing, spirituality and medicine but to teach recipients the skills they need to break the cycle of poverty themselves, much like this age-old adage: Give a man a fish and you feed him today. Teach him to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.  

It is Rusnak's deep interest in religion, faith and spirituality that allows him to sympathize with what gives people the strength to endure their suffering. His images of Haiti are a particularly good example that his longtime commitment to documenting humanity is sustained by respect and dignity. For decades, much attention has been focused on Haiti's volatile political situation, with its dictatorial government, coups and foreign interventions, while  Haiti's poor suffered silently. Even in more peaceful periods, the quiet desperation of the deprived is evident in the eyes of those patiently waiting for hours at feeding centers, for what will most likely be their only meal for the day.   

Rusnak's decade of photojournalism experience with newspapers gave him the dexterity necessary to be able to enter these poverty-stricken societies and communicate to the rest of the world the deplorable living conditions to which much of the population is subjected. His work has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International, Best of Photojournalism, the Gordon Parks Photo Competition and the Alexia Foundation. Last year, he held a solo exhibition at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre.  

Rusnak is currently living in South Florida, where he is particularly well positioned to cover the Caribbean and Central and South America. Having already traveling to Haiti, Jamaica and Guatemala this year, he is currently planning his next trip to Honduras and Guatemala in April and Nicaragua in July.

To book Benjamin Rusnak for select assignments, please contact Trish Murphy at 949.481.3747 projects, visit ZUMApress.com

To see Rusnak's vision in depth, go to his first zReportage story: Swamp Survival. Rusnak's poignant picture essay portrays a tidal swamp in the suburbs of Haiti's capital, which is home to thousands of impoverished Haitians who have relocated from the countryside in search of a better life. The children of these slums crawl and claw their way through the mangroves in search of fish, shrimp and crabs, all of which must be caught by hand. Haiti, a former french colony, is the most impoverished nation in the western hemisphere. Benjamin Rusnak's graceful and moving images give these people of the Haitian swamps a much needed voice that might never be heard otherwise.


Photo captions from the top down:
 All Images: © BENJAMIN RUSNAK/Food For The Poor/ZUMA Press

Mar 30, 2004 - Dominican Republic - Only three days after one of her children died of complications from malnutrition, RAMONA BERNARDO, 26, grieves over the loss and worries about her other three children.

Feb 23, 2000; Chinandega, NICARAGUA; Difficult Conditions - Unable to roam free outdoors because there are not enough staff to look after the children, Dionis Sevilla, 10, spends much of his day at a home...

Mar 09, 2005; Cap Haitien, HAITI; A gauzy curtain keeps dust out a family's shack but only partially obscures the dirty reality of life in the swamp.

Sep 07, 2005 - Cap Haitien, HAITI - With the explosive energy of a predator, a young boy emerges from the reeds with a wading bird that he caught by hand in the swamp near Cap Haitien, Haiti.



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