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<\/a>Photographer Adriane Ohanesian \u201908 pictured in the field. Photo courtesy Adriane Ohanesian.<\/p><\/div>\n
In January, stock markets around the world plunged amid fears of a U.S. recession. In November, the son of a Kenyan farmer, Barack Hussein Obama, was elected as the 44th<\/sup> president of the United States \u2013 the first African-American to do so.<\/p>\n In Darfur, a western region of the Northern African country of Sudan, a major civil war had been going on for five years. By 2008, the United Nations estimates that between 200,000-300,000 people had been killed in the conflict, and 2.7 million displaced from their homes. Half of those people were children, with 700,000 under the age of five having grown up knowing no life but that affected by the conflict.<\/p>\n Adriane Ohanesian \u201908<\/b> arrived in the Sudan in August of 2010. This is her story.<\/p>\n A native of upstate New York, Ohanesian majored in anthropology at Colorado College. Her senior thesis, \u201cWomen, Ritual, and the Reproduction of Culture in Bali, Indonesia,\u201d visually documented Balinese families during times of grief and ritual. Using this work as a portfolio, Ohanesian applied to the International Center of Photography in New York City. She graduated a year later, in 2010, with an advanced certificate in photojournalism and documentary photography.<\/p>\n Adam Abdel, age 7, was badly burned when a Sudanese government\u2019s Antonov plane dropped a bomb next to his family\u2019s home on February 12, 2015 in Burgu, Central Darfur, Sudan. Photo taken February 27, 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cI knew I wanted to do documentary photography, right from the start,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m lucky, I\u2019ve been able to stick with that and make a career out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDocumentary photography is, for me, about creating documents,\u201d Ohanesian explains. \u201cI want the photos I take to be trusted and recognized as documents. I try not to manipulate the viewer with my work; I try to tell the truth \u2013 an undisturbed version of what I see when taking the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n Finishing photography school, Ohanesian joined forces with a friend in applying for a National Geographic Young Explorers grant. They got the grant, and by August they were on the ground in Sudan, documenting the unfolding conflict.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all happened so quickly,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew there was a referendum happening in the south of the country to decide on their independence. It was interesting and newsworthy, so I went.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea what I was doing! I had no contacts beyond the friends of friends, and I arrived with the wrong permit. I stayed for nearly three years.\u201d<\/p>\n Ohanesian began as a freelancer by knocking on the doors of major non-governmental organizations, even the UN, to find some interest in her work. Constantly taking photos, it \u201ctook awhile before anyone really recognized what I was doing,\u201d she remembers.<\/p>\n Farida, 7, takes down dried clothes hanging on the outer fence of the United Nations Protection of Civilians Site that currently houses over 30,000 displaced people in Wau, South Sudan. July 29, 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n As a freelancer who has worked with Reuters, Getty, The<\/i> Wall Street Journal<\/i>, the New Yorker<\/i>, National Geographic<\/i>, TIME<\/i>, VICE News, and Al Jazeera to name a few, Ohanesian\u2019s livelihood depends on her craft, which in turn depends on her location. Photography is, by its nature, a situational form of journalism. You have to be in the right place, \u201cIt\u2019s extremely frustrating work,\u201d Ohanesian admits. \u201cAt the same time, though, it\u2019s kept me sane to a certain extent because I\u2019m constantly learning my place as a photographer.<\/p>\n \u201cVery quickly, you learn to understand that your role is to document situations in the most honest way possible, and then to distribute that information to audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n There are limitations to journalism, though, and not every picture brings a policy change.<\/p>\n \u201cWould it be ideal if my photos sparked a greater reaction, a debate about policy, or even a policy change? Yeah, that\u2019s the ideal \u2013 but that\u2019s a rare bonus. The main role I have is to get the information, to have a record of what has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Rebel soldiers from the Sudan Liberation Army leave their camp to find water in the middle of a sand storm in North Darfur, Sudan. Feb. 24, 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n One of Ohanesian\u2019s most recent stories, for VICE News, speaks to this greater reaction, this impact, that the work of journalism can have. A Somali refugee, a boy named Mohamed, has until very recently been living in Nairobi. Separated from his mother who now lives in the U.S., Mohamed has been in the horrific limbo that hundreds of thousands of refugees around the world find themselves in \u2013 torn from their homes, their families, but with seemingly no place to go. In collaboration with journalists Nick Miriello and Julia Steers, Ohanesian\u2019s story provoked a stunning response.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) gives Mohamed his refugee status in Kenya,\u201d Ohanesian explains, \u201ca human rights organization has offered to step in, buy him supplies, and pay for his plane ticket to reunite with his mother in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n The outcome hangs in the balance, but the signs of hope, of that greater reaction toward positive change, are there.<\/p>\n That role has limitations, both personal and professional, and Ohanesian doesn\u2019t shy away from that. \u201cIn many cases, I know I\u2019ve disappointed people,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of my work is done in incredibly rural locations. In Darfur, they\u2019d not seen any foreigners for years. So, when I show up on location, people are hoping I\u2019m a doctor, bringing supplies. I know that\u2019s been a letdown for people, my not being able to help with their more immediate problems of sickness, sexual violence, and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) climbs toward the front lines in the last rebel-held territory in Central Darfur, Sudan. March 4, 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n In the sensitive situations that Ohanesian often finds herself in, \u201cclarity,\u201d she says, \u201cis the key to everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI make sure to explain to people what I\u2019m doing, about the limitations of my work and my role. I don\u2019t want to give people false hope, so discussions are really important \u2013 I try to be really honest about what I do. You have to be very clear about your work, your intentions, and most importantly, your limitations.\u201d<\/p>\n Those limitations, of agency and ability, can be brought into sharp relief at any moment. Working in active conflict zones such as Darfur, Myanmar, Burundi, and Somalia, Ohanesian is often reminded of her foreignness \u2013 sometimes a blessing, other times a burden.<\/p>\n \u201cIn certain situations, my being an international journalist works to my advantage. In South Sudan, I\u2019ve been able to cover both the government and rebel sides because it\u2019s an ethnic war \u2013 nobody questions if I take sides with one group or another.\u201d<\/p>\n Women and children pile into the back of a truck that will take them from Jamam refugee camp to Yusuf Batil refugee camp in Upper Nile, South Sudan. July 2, 2012.<\/p><\/div>\n As regularly as her status as a white, foreign journalist opens doors, it could as easily bring about captivity, she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere it\u2019s not to my advantage is somewhere like Somalia,\u201d she says. \u201cAn American in Somalia is With dangers such as being held hostage a very real possibility, and seeing the conflicts and horrors that she has, it would surprise nobody if Ohanesian were hardened and jaded to the world around her.<\/p>\n That, happily, couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, you help when you can and where you can,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing, before you even think about helping, is understanding your role. People have asked me before, \u2018Are you a human first, or a photographer first?\u2019 I get frustrated with that question, because it\u2019s so much more complicated than that! Everything is circumstantial, especially in more dangerous areas. You have to be aware of who\u2019s around you, what their affiliations are. It\u2019s not as easy as just marching into a place and thinking you can make a decision for people or that you know better than the people who\u2019re living that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s safe for you, and the people around you, then of course you help. The thing is, a lot of the time it\u2019s not safe, and you have to take that into consideration. Good intentions can easily be skewed or seen the wrong way. It\u2019s vital that you understand the situation and the repercussions of the help you give.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor instance,\u201d she continues, \u201ca lot of the settings I find myself in are incredibly fragile. If you\u2019re caught in the capital, in South Sudan, with someone of a certain tribe you can get that person killed. As an international they might not go after me, but they will absolutely go after the South Sudanese person in my car \u2013 the person I was simply giving a ride to.\u201d<\/p>\n With the clarity of focus that shows so clearly in her photography, she advises, \u201cYou have to be really, really careful, and try not to leave a place worse than you found it.\u201d<\/p>\n What keeps someone going, though, amid such constant instability, risk, and struggle? How do you keep your head, your eye?<\/p>\n For Ohanesian, showing her roots as a scholar of anthropology, that hope lies in people.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people that I meet are always hopeful,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we forget here, particularly in the U.S., just how much power we have. There are so many people in the world who don\u2019t have any of these things, have so little access or agency, and yet they still have an unbelievable amount of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>
\nat the right time, to tell the right story.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
\na prime target. Not to brag, but I\u2019d be worth quite a lot of money to a terrorist group like Al-Shabaab!\u201d<\/p>\n