Claire Magazine. Her work has been exhibited in several institutions such as the Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit, Michigan, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African- American Art + Culture based in Charlotte, NC, the Aperture Foundation of New York, and the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at State University of New York at New Paltz. Look forward to more work from Endia Beal as she bridges the gaps and increases our social awareness.

Project: The series “Am I What You’re Looking For?” focuses on young women of color who are transitioning from the academic world to the corporate setting, capturing their struggles and uncertainties on how to best present themselves in the professional workspace. As the young women pose in front of an office backdrop in their homes, they recall conversations during interviews. The women explain how employers would tell that their natural hair was unprofessional or their name was too difficult to pronounce, suggesting they alter themselves for the job. This project provides an in- depth investigation into the experiences and fears of being a woman of color in corporate America.

With Video:
Title: 9 to 5, 3min http://endiabeal.com/#!/videos

Thomas Dworzak

Born in 1972 and growing up in the small town of Cham in the Bavarian Forest, Thomas Dworzak very early decided to become a photographer. Early on, in high school he traveled to Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine and the disintegrating Yugoslavia.

Immediately after graduating from Robert-Schuman Gymnasium, Cham (specializing in English, French and history ) he left Germany, always combining his travels and attempts to become a photographer with studying languages. Spanish in Avila, Czech in Prague, Russian in Moscow. In 1993 he ended up in Tbilisi, Georgia. Staying on until 1998.

At this time he began to discover the Caucasus, it’s conflicts (Chechnya, Karabakh, Abkhazia), people and culture which resulted in the publishing of his book, “Kavkaz” in 2010. The album combines pictures with excerpts of classic 19th century Russian literature (Tolstoy, Pushkin, Lermontov).

Affiliated with the Paris photographic agency Wostok Press, he began to cover news, especially the Kosovo crisis in 1999, mostly on assignment for US News and World report.

Based again in Moscow since 2000 Dworzak returned to Chechnya. His dramatic pictures of the Fall of Grozny were widely published and received several awards. He also continued his exploration of the North Caucasus. Dworzak became a Magnum nominee in 2000 and a full member in 2004.

He spent the years following the 9/11 attacks covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as their impact on the US. During a several-months assignment in Afghanistan for The New Yorker, he discovered studio portraits of the Taliban. This became his first book, “Taliban”. Images taken during his many assignments in Iraq, most of which were shot for TIME Magazine, were used to create his next book: “M*A*S*H* IRAQ”.

From 2005 to 2008, as a TIME Magazine contract photographer Dworzak covered many major international news stories: Macedonia, Pakistan, Chechnya, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Lebanon, Haiti, Chad, C.A.R., the London Attacks, Ethiopia, Iran, US presidential campaigns, Hurricane Katrina, and the revolutions in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.

During breaks from conflict areas and war zones he regularly photographed Fashion Weeks in major cities.

In 2006 Thomas photographed the New York Marathon while participating himself.

Thomas remained in Georgia after the 2008 war with Russia. This would lead to the Magnum Group project “Georgian Spring” which was a starting point for a new, several- year long engagement with the “New Georgia” under President M. Saakashvili. In 2012, Thomas photographed Nowrooz celebrations in Georgia.

Dworzak spent 2009-2010 in Afghanistan, documenting the deployment of ISAF troops and their return home. In 2009 he also visited Iran to photograph Ashura.

A National Geographic assignment on the Sochi Olympics became later the book “Beyond Sochi”.

In 2013, a commission for the Bruges Museum led him to photograph the memory of WWI. This has since become an ongoing project concerning the legacy of the First World War around the world, which he plans to finish in 2018, 100 years after the end of the conflict.

Always an avid collector, Thomas started gathering Instagram screen shots of a variety of subjects and has been grouping them together into ever-growing collections of #instagram artist scrap books.

Besides his personal stories, Thomas Dworzak continues to cover international stories, such as the DMZ in Korea, Cuba, Colombia, China, Liberia, Arab spring in Egypt, the war in Libya and most recently, the refugee crisis in Europe the November, 2015 Paris terror attacks, and 2016 US Presidential elections. Covering the heightened migration crisis in Europe since 2015 lead him to initiate the “Europa” guide for refugees.

Dworzak has also been teaching a number of workshops (Magnum, Hong Kong, Rio, Shanghai, Open Society Documentary Project, La Caixa Fotopress…).

Project: “The Guide for Refugees Europa”

“The Guide for Refugees Europa” is a collaborative and independent book, instigated by Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak, is the first of its kind – intended for practical use by migrants and refugees, and as an educational tool to inform, engage, and facilitate community exchange. Written in four languages, (Arabic, Farsi, English, and French) the book offers and introduction to the motivations behind the creation of the European Union, how it developed, its current ethos, and the relevant debates that will determine its future. In the spirit of a travel guide, the book also offers “Practical Information.” This chapter highlights the major destination countries, providing basic information about the different political systems, geography, demographics, traditions, as well as typical foods and drinks, films and books of interest, and a list of institutions and organizations that provide information and service to migrants and refugees.

EUROPA is an independent non-profit project which is not available for purchase. The book has been created specifically for newly arrived migrants and refugees and the people who work with them. A print version of the book is being distributed, for free, to NGOs and people working with migrants and refugees.