1 403 Forbidden Lauren DeCicca – Pictures of the Year Asia

Third Place

Lauren DeCicca

Independent
USA/Thailand
A Thai elementary school student wears a face mask and sits at a desk with a social distancing screen during class at the Wat Khlong Toey School on July 2, 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. In the beginning of July The Wat Khlong Toey School reopened its doors to its approximately 250 students following the relaxation of lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the school was forced to shutter its doors in mid March due to Thailand’s emergency decree and lockdown, the administration and teachers prepared measures to ensure a safe reopening including installing sinks and soap dispensers outside of each classroom, creating social distancing screens in classrooms and lunch areas and installing hand sanitizer and temperature scanners at the entry.
Lauren DeCicca, b. 1989, is a documentary photographer from New York who is now based in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to moving to Thailand, Lauren spent three years (2013 – 2016) based in Yangon, Myanmar documenting the country at the beginning of its transition to democracy. She’s met people dealing with PTSD, drug addiction, displacement and disease, and is struck by the similarity in spirit between these people, despite the obvious divides. It has been a goal of hers to realize and mend this schism through photography, be it mental, physical or geographical in nature. Documenting the lives of people around the world will help those who have no access to such situations understand that the subjects of her photographs could easily be their parent, sibling or partner. Despite differences in language, skin color, religion or way of life, everyone has the same basic needs for empathy, understanding and acceptance. Her work has been published by Getty Images, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME.com, The Washington Post, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The Guardian, CNN, USA Today, amongst others. Lauren was member of the Getty Reportage 2015-2016 Emerging Talent roster and selected as one of Photo Boite’s 30 Under 30 Women Photographers of 2017. She has received hostile environment and emergency first aid training through IWMF.

[ COVID-19 ] A single photograph, candid and un-staged, that reflects the news or human experience of the impact of COVID-19. The image must be documentary and may be related to news, sports, daily life or lifestyle. Each participant is allowed to enter up to 10 images. The images must be taken in 2019 or 2020.

Judges for COVID-19
Anshika Varma
Jiro Ose
Suejin Shin
Khalil Hamra
Rena Effendi