GroundTruth’s “A New Light” is all about seeing the world through a different perspective.
Somalia’s arid landscape as seen from inside a decaying colonial building in the Somaliland town of Sheikh on April 12, 2016.
Somalia has never been a forgiving place. A land of extreme temperatures and little rain, the country has faced cyclical droughts and periodic famines throughout the past century. But decades of civil war, coupled with the effects of climate change, have set the country on a path to environmental disaster. Home to a bloody Islamist insurgency that is arguably the world’s first climate war, Somalia is grappling with rapid desertification, increasingly erratic rainfall, and the destruction of coastal waters by foreign fishing fleets. “With this weather pattern, Somalia or Somalis will not survive,” says Fatima Jibrell, a Somali-American environmental activist. “Maybe the land, a piece of desert called Somalia, will exist on the map of the world, but Somalis cannot survive.”
Marilyn Martin, left, assists her nephew, Lee Eric Evans, as he hangs a U.S. flag outside of Maritn’s home on Davis Street in Jackson, Miss. Tuesday, July 3, 2018. (Photo by Eric J. Shelton/GroundTruth)
Afghan Lt. Nasrullah Sharif shows off his American-made bomb disposal equipment and some Taliban IED components he has found locally. Nasrullah is one of six US-trained bomb techs in the Afghan military. With the drawdown in full swing, US troops were not patrolling regularly from Combat Outpost Ahmadkhan – they relied heavily on surveillance blimps like the one in the background, and Afghan forces like Nasrullah to protect their base.
Kaylee and her father, Todd, share a moment during their family vacation to Hershey Park in November 2018.
“The orphanage has children between the ages of three to twelve. The legal age to start working is twelve. So, many of the children’s uncles or family members start asking for the children to live back with them, to contribute financially to the family.”
Horses lead a protest march of 700 protestors north along Hwy 1806 in Morton County, ND on Friday. September 9th, 2016. The march covered the 2 miles between the Oceti Sakowin Camp and a sacred burial site which is slated to be destroyed by the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Photo by Angus Mordant/Groundtruth)
A glass of wine was raised during the centennial celebration of a decorated WWII veteran Semyon Krasilschikov in the Orange Grill Restaurant.Though the collapse of the USSR in 1991 changed Russia significantly and stimulated a series of rapid modernization, Brighton Beach neighborhood savors the past and is living museum of Soviet nostalgia. A life ensconced in traditions, values and the iconology of the old world beliefs, this close-knit insular world of Soviet émigrés lives a cloistered existence in the shadow of New York City.
From left, Wilmer Garcia, Bryan Quintana-Salazar, 13, Lourdes Salazar Bautista and Tania Garcia Ortega prayed that Bautista would not face deportation the next morning, on Sunday, July 30, 2017 at Bautista’s former home in Ann Arbor, Mich. Bautista gathered around the table with her friends, family and anti-deportation campaign leaders the night before Bautista met with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and confirmed her deportation order.
Here in Palma Sola local community members welcome the Virgin of Guadalupe of Ostula to their town with a syncretist religious procession that mixes both indigneous and European Catholic elements. These traditions are part of the culture and the history that they are protecting with their social movement.
Juan Neira, Chavi Leon, Marco Vasquez and Edwin Amaro running on an afternoon free of school, 10 Apr 2016, Mott Haven, Bronx. All four boys attend different schools but live on the same block.
The Zion Neologic Synagogue sets empty beside the Crisul Repede River, in Oradea, Romania on March 13, 2013. Built in 1878, the one-thousand-seat Synagogue was the hub of the Neologic Jewish population of Oradea. During the Holocaust, much of the over thirty thousand Jews from Oradea and its surrounding areas were sent to either forced labor camps or death camps.
Ground Truth Project: Bronx Millennials
October 2015
Destiny Frasqueri, is a popular Puerto Rican musician known as Princess Nokia who recently released her debut album “Metallic Butterfly.” Here she poses for a portrait in a traditional Taina otufit at the Indigenous Day Celebration on Randall’s Island in New York City.
Marie-Berthe Paquette, 105 years old, Montreal,
“I personally find myself beautiful, and when I don’t, I do my best anyways!! I like to have my hair neatly styled and wear dresses, jewellery and other accessories. I’ve always paid attention to my appearance. In fact, I’m known as ‘la fraîche’ (the trendy lady)”.
October 2015. Thousands of Nigerian law graduates were called to bar in Abuja. Ginika one of the young lawyers to be on her way to the big ceremony.
Francisco Espinoza,19 years old snapped a selfie while 15 year old Elisa Yamileth and her 12 year old cousin Nayda Espinoza on the, left posed for the picture during a carriage ride through the neighborhood. They were headed towards church to celebrate ElisaÕs Quinceaera the rite of passage when a young girl becomes a woman.
Awal Mohammed reunited with his son after one year apart. Haruna is five years old and lives with Mohammed’s parents in Tamale. He attends school next door and he often has to go to the hospital for poor health.
In a few minutes the sun will burn the dawn fog from this small section of the Great Marsh in Ipswich, Mass. At more than 20,000 acres, this ecosystem of uplands, barrier beaches, tidal creeks, and mudflats serves a host of purposes from flood protection for homeowners to a nursery for fish and shellfish that the local seafood industry depends on.
Women harvest potatoes which are one of the major staple crops in the Sacred Valley.
Trenton Carson relaxes in his apartment as light filters in through the blinds. Carson doesn’t let micro aggressions bother him because he says, “People who aren’t black don’t see what we go through… because people don’t want to.” He goes on to say. “We’re all uncomfortable in this world… only thing that’s different it where we come from.”
Boys filter into the streets of Qayyara Jaddah camp after school gets out for the afternoon. (Photo by Alex Potter/GroundTruth)
Sonya, now 13, stood on her street in Carbondale, which was a coal mining town in in Southeastern Ohio. The mines have all been closed years ago.
Taking a picture has never been easier. Almost everyone carries a phone with a camera capable of capturing high quality images. But despite the proliferation of technology, it still takes a great eye and persistence to be an exceptional visual storyteller.
For the past five years, GroundTruth has provided a space to showcase the work of talented photographers from around the world who are relatively new to the craft.
In celebration of our five year anniversary, our photo editor Richard Sennott curated some of the most impactful and memorable images we have featured in this space. This selection highlights the width and depth of these photographers’ perspectives’ and how they approach the challenges, fears and wonders of our times.
