Ed Kashi (born November 16, 1957) is an American photojournalist and member of VII Photo based in the Greater New York area. Kashi's award-winning work spans from high-end print photojournalism to experimental film. He is most noted for documenting contemporary sociopolitical issues.
Ed Kashi's work on the plight of the Kurdish people and the impact of the oil industry upon the impoverished Niger Delta has provided extensive photojournalistic reporting of these global issues. In addition, he is known for his coverage of religious strife both in America and abroad. Most notable would be his work documenting the Protestant community in Northern Ireland, the lives of Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and the strife between the Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq.
Kashi and his wife, Julie Winokur, are co-founders of a non-profit multimedia company called Talking Eyes Media. Talking Eyes Media was created in 2002 to deliver issue-orientated stories to the general public. Some of the stories covered by Talking Eyes Media/Ed Kashi are: Aging in America, Denied: The Crisis of America's Uninsured and The Sandwich Generation. Aging in America was further the subject of a book published by powerHouse books and named by American Photo Magazine as one of the best photo books of 2003. Aging in America also received an award from Pictures of the Year, World Press Photo and two Freddie Awards(2005).
"Curse of the Black Gold, Hope and Betrayal in the Niger Delta”, published in National Geographic Magazine, February 2007, chronicled the negative impact of oil development on the impoverished Niger Delta. This article led to a collaborative photographic and editorial essay book published by powerHouse books in May 2008, Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta.
A leading pioneer of multimedia storytelling, Kashi uses stills along with video and audio, putting him on the cutting edge of new media. His work appears on Mediastorm and msnbc.com. Kashi's innovative approach to photography and filmmaking produced the Iraqi Kurdistan Flipbook which premiered on msnbc.com in December 2006. The Flipbook utilizes thousands of stills in a moving image format, layered with music to create a symphonic documentary. The Flipbook has been part of many film festivals across the world including Silverdocs (2007) and the Tiburon International Film Festival (2008).
Kashi has worked closely with National Geographic Society since 1990 and holds a degree in photojournalism from Syracuse University. His clients include: The New York Times Magazine, Time, Mediastorm, Ford Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, GEO, Newsweek and msnbc.com. Photojournalisms, his latest book is a compilation of journal writings to his wife, done over a nearly 20-year period, from various locations around the world. It was published in March 2012, by JGS/Nazraeli Press and was recently highlighted during an interview with Kashi for the New York Times Lens Blog * . Kashi continues to teach and lecture extensively.
Read more about Ed Kashi: Bibliography