With a rising number of women throughout the world picking up their cameras and capturing their surroundings, this book explores the work of 100 women and the experiences behind their greatest images.
Traditionally a male-dominated field, street photography is increasingly becoming the domain of women. This fantastic collection of images reflects that shift, showcasing 100 contemporary women street photographers working around the world today, accompanied by personal statements about their work. Variously joyful, unsettling and unexpected, the photographs capture a wide range of extraordinary moments. The volume is curated by Gulnara Samoilova, founder of the Women Street Photographers project: a website, social media platform and annual exhibition. Photographer Melissa Breyer’s introductory essay explores how the genre has intersected with gender throughout history, looking at how cultural changes in gender roles have overlapped with technological developments in the camera to allow key historical figures to emerge. Her text is complemented by a foreword by renowned photojournalist Ami Vitale, whose career as a war photographer and, later, global travels with National Geographic have allowed a unique insight into the realities of working as a woman photographer in different countries. In turns intimate and candid, the photographs featured in this book offer a kaleidoscopic glimpse of what happens when women across the world are behind the camera.
Biography
Gulnara Lyabib Samoilova
Gulnara Lyabib Samoilova is an American photographer, author, curator, and founder of Women Street Photographers, a global community connecting women and non-binary photographers through exhibitions, an annual festival, an artist residency, and online platforms. Her photographs of September 11, 2001, received international recognition, including a World Press Photo Award, and her work is held in the collections of the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Public Library, the New-York Historical Society, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Melissa Breyer
Melissa Breyer is a photographer and writer specializing in street photography. Breyer’s photography has been exhibited across the globe and has featured in national and international publications, including National Geographic and The New York Times.