Kristen Ashburn


Kristen Ashburn is an American photojournalist. In 2001, she began photographing the impact of AIDS in southern Africa, and since then has produced stories on the spread of tuberculosis in the Russian penal system, Jewish settlers and suicide bombers in Israel’s Occupied Territories, the aftermath of the tsunami in Sri Lanka and of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Her work has appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, and Life. She lives in New York City.
In addition to her humanitarian photography, Ashburn is one of the directors of Through the Eyes of Children: The Rwanda Project, a charity that teaches photography to orphans of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and supports them through the sale of their images.

Awards

In 2007, Ashburn worked as a consulting producer on the documentary film I Am Because We Are, which was produced and written by Madonna. A book of images bearing the same title is being published by powerHouse Books in December 2008.