Ziyah Gafic

Ziyah Gafić (1980) was born in Sarajevo, where he graduated in Comparative literature, in 2014 he became TED fellow.
In 2001, his reportage won “Ian Parry – The Sunday Times Magazine scholarship”. Same year he also won the Second prize at prestigious “World Press Photo” contest, while a year later his photo essays won both the First and the second Prize at prestigious photojournalism contest “World Press Photo”. In 2001 he also received “Joop Swart Masterclass” grant. Following year he won “Kodak annual award for young reporters” at Visa pour l'image festival and the “Special Mention by the HSBC foundation for photography”. In 2003 Photo District News included him among 30 emerging world photographers and he won „Grand Prix Discovery of the Year“ at Rencontres du photographie Arles. In 2005, his work won “Giacomelli Memorial Fund award” and, in 2006, he was nominated for UNICEF' Photographer of the Year. In 2007 he received Getty images grant for editorial photography for his project „Troubled Islam“, same year he was awarded at Photo District News annual contest. Gafić's works are also included in American Photography Annual in 2007. Same year he was finalist for Hasselblad Masters award.
In 2010 his project Quest for Identity won award in personal category at Photo District News annual contest.
He contributes to some of the worlds leading publications such as Amica, La repubblica, The Telegraph Magazine, Tank, L'Espresso, Newsweek, Le Monde., GEO. As photographer he covered events in over forty countries. His photo essay on the aftermath of Bosnian war was published in the book „Tales from Globalizing World“ by Thames & Hudson, “Quest for Identity” by De.MO and “Troubled Islam” by War Photo LTD while selection of his photographs are included in overviews of contemporary photography: „Photography as Contemporary Art“ by Thames & Hudson.
His main topics are societies in transition; from Bosnia to Rwanda, from Chechnya to Iraq.