Zana Briski

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Zana Briski  is an English artist (photographer, filmmaker) and activist. Briski's interest in photography began at age 10. After earning a master's degree at the University of Cambridge, Briski studied documentary photography at International Center of Photography in New York. In 1995, she made her first trip to India, producing a story on female infanticide. In 1997, Briski returned to India and began her project on the prostitutes of Calcutta's red-light district, which led to her work with the children of prostitutes. Briski has won numerous awards and fellowships including George Soros' Open Society Institute Fellowship, an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 2000 to research and photograph in the Brothels of India, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and the Howard Chapnick Grant for the Advancement of Photojournalism. Briski and co-director Ross Kauffman were awarded grants from the Sundance Institute, the Jerome Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts for Born into Brothels. Born into Brothels was the winner of the Best Documentary Feature at the 77th Academy Awards in 2005. Briski is the founder of the non-profit organisation Kids With Cameras. ​