Tracy Edser is a South African

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

and documentary producer.

Biography

Tracy Edser is from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa. She trained in a program called "Photojournalism and Documentary Photography" at the

Market Photo Workshop The Market Photo Workshop is a school of photography, a gallery, and a project space in Johannesburg, South Africa, founded in 1989 by David Goldblatt. It offers training in visual literacy for neglected and marginalized parts of South African soc ...

. Following this training she was awarded the Tierney Fellowship Grant (2008), to photograph a documentary titled ''Amelioration''. This documentary was exhibited internationally and as a solo exhibition in Johannesburg and won her acclaim. This lead her to get involved with more collaborative assignments. "''Window Rwanda''" is a photo documentary project created while volunteering with "Operation Smile", a non profit organization. Edser was moved by the culture and politics of Rwanda, where violence was a common feature in the country's history. During her second visit to Rwanda, and during the team's daily routine of travelling between

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

and hospitals on the outskirts of the city, she took split-second photographs through the windows of the moving vehicle in which she was traveling. These pictures later became a series published through Damien Poulain for international viewing under the title "Window Rwanda". This series consisted of black and white pictures of villagers engaged in their daily chores, children playing on the road side, women with fruit baskets on their head, and people engaged in group discussions, but there was no accompanying explanatory text. In producing this series she noted:"...what began as an informal technical challenge for myself - composing, exposing and manually focusing at 60km and hour - the exercise became one of removed, sheltered observation and humble appreciation. This was a place that I could not access intimately. I would never be able to name the people I passed or know what they had seen and lived through. The series is one of glances, split-second moments, and I look with warmth at every one of them, because being there was a privilege." Point of View (POV) Female project established in 2010 Damien Poulain, a London-based graphic designer and art director, selected Edser's photographic series "''Window Rwanda''" for a group book launch held in Johannesburg in 2013. Edser is presently teaching at the renowned Johannesburg photographic institution, The Market Photo Workshop.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edser, Tracy Living people 1982 births South African women photographers People from Johannesburg