Nuk Nimny; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Feb. 18, 2009Copyright: Marissa Roth
Photographer Marissa Roth chronicles the lives of women who have survived conflicts, from World War II to Afghanistan and the Balkans.
December 20, 2009
Story and photos by Marissa Roth
Los Angeles Times (California, USA)
My parents were Holocaust refugees; my mother from Budapest, Hungary, and my father from Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. They met on the Queen Mary in November 1938, on one of its last Atlantic crossings before being requisitioned as a troop carrier. My mother's parents were hidden by Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest and survived the war. My father's parents and other family members were killed on the doorstep of their home in Novi Sad in January 1942. The tragedies that befell both sides of my family during World War II made me deeply interested in the effect of war on ordinary people.
While working on assignment as a Times photographer in Pakistan in 1988, I was drawn to tell the story of the Afghan war widows, who at the time numbered about 100,000 after 10 years of war between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. I went into Afghan refugee camps in Thal and Peshawar and photographed women and children, for what I considered to be an underreported story of that war.
My experiences in Pakistan inspired me to continue photographing other women affected by other wars, a photo essay that has turned into a 20-year personal project dedicated to documenting the lives of women who have been directly affected by armed conflicts.
Men traditionally fight the wars. But it is the women who are left behind to pick up the pieces.
These are some of the women I have met, photographed and interviewed in 10 countries and three continents for a body of work titled "One Person Crying: Women and War."
Marissa Roth is a freelance photojournalist who has had three books of her photography published.
Nuk Nimny
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Feb. 18, 2009
Nuk Nimny was born in 1972 in Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia. Several members of her family were killed during the brutal Cambodian revolution of the Khmer Rouge, which was in power from 1975 to 1979. An estimated 1.5 million people were executed or died of disease or starvation related to the brutal policies of Pol Pot, who headed the government.
"My father worked in the local government as a secretary. He was killed in 1976. My two older sisters were killed in 1977. My mother and I hid in the jungle with other family members. I live with my mother who is now 78 years old. I don't remember that much because I was very young. . . . Don't forget about us."
December 20, 2009
Story and photos by Marissa Roth
Los Angeles Times (California, USA)
My parents were Holocaust refugees; my mother from Budapest, Hungary, and my father from Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. They met on the Queen Mary in November 1938, on one of its last Atlantic crossings before being requisitioned as a troop carrier. My mother's parents were hidden by Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest and survived the war. My father's parents and other family members were killed on the doorstep of their home in Novi Sad in January 1942. The tragedies that befell both sides of my family during World War II made me deeply interested in the effect of war on ordinary people.
While working on assignment as a Times photographer in Pakistan in 1988, I was drawn to tell the story of the Afghan war widows, who at the time numbered about 100,000 after 10 years of war between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. I went into Afghan refugee camps in Thal and Peshawar and photographed women and children, for what I considered to be an underreported story of that war.
My experiences in Pakistan inspired me to continue photographing other women affected by other wars, a photo essay that has turned into a 20-year personal project dedicated to documenting the lives of women who have been directly affected by armed conflicts.
Men traditionally fight the wars. But it is the women who are left behind to pick up the pieces.
These are some of the women I have met, photographed and interviewed in 10 countries and three continents for a body of work titled "One Person Crying: Women and War."
Marissa Roth is a freelance photojournalist who has had three books of her photography published.
Nuk Nimny
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Feb. 18, 2009
Nuk Nimny was born in 1972 in Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia. Several members of her family were killed during the brutal Cambodian revolution of the Khmer Rouge, which was in power from 1975 to 1979. An estimated 1.5 million people were executed or died of disease or starvation related to the brutal policies of Pol Pot, who headed the government.
"My father worked in the local government as a secretary. He was killed in 1976. My two older sisters were killed in 1977. My mother and I hid in the jungle with other family members. I live with my mother who is now 78 years old. I don't remember that much because I was very young. . . . Don't forget about us."
