Huck #67

An all-woman documentary photo special

Huck’s annual celebration of visual storytelling returns, focusing on incredible women photographers who have broken new ground or disrupted the status quo.

Photography is sold as a vehicle for truth,” writes photographer Daniella Zalcman, in the lead essay for Huck’s sixth annual Documentary Photography Special.

“It is meant to be a mirror, an indisputable depiction of whatever the camera captures. But the reality is that there’s a galaxy of decisions that any photographer can make in the creation of an image – consciously or otherwise – that reflect more on the photographer and their experiences than what surrounds them.

“Roughly 85 per cent of working photojournalists today are men. That means that a disproportionate amount of the news imagery we consume, whether it’s of war or sports or politics or fashion, is framed and filtered through the masculine experience.

“There are many reasons why this is dangerous. Photographs don’t just tell us stories, they tell us how to see. So when representations of womanhood, the female body or femininity are largely constructed by men, it’s not just that they define us, they teach us how to see ourselves.

“What, then, happens when society’s mirrors are overwhelmingly wielded by one demographic? How do you subvert generations of misogyny and sexism that have been quietly embedded into our visual DNA? And what does it mean to reclaim ownership of our own image?”

These issues are something we feel strongly about. And so to help address this imbalance, our new issue celebrates exciting voices of change within photography – from emerging talent to established pioneers – who have broken new ground or disrupted the status quo in their own way.