Canon UK Press Release

Mexican photographer Claudia Guadarrama has become the fifth woman to win the Canon Female Photojournalist Award, for her project on illegal migrants at the South Mexican border. The award, which includes a Canon grant of €8000, was given by the French Association of Women Journalists (AFJ) at the 17th International Festival of Photojournalism Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan, France, in September 2005.

The Canon Female Photojournalist Award was initiated in 2001 by the AFJ and Guy Bourreau, Marketing Director of Canon Communication & Image in France. It aims to support and highlight the work of female photographers around the world. “With women making up only 11% of the world’s photojournalists, the original objective of the award was to address the under-representation of women in this field,” explained Bourreau. “Now in its fifth year, the award has also proven to be a valuable way to discover new talent.” In winning the award, Claudia Guadarrama’s work has been presented publicly for the first time.

Funding for the future
The €8000 grant Guadarrama received from Canon enables her to pursue a year-long documentary photography project – she will continue her award winning work on illegal immigrants in the south of Mexico. Guadarrama will be given the opportunity to present her completed project at next year’s Visa pour l’Image.

Claudia Guadarrama
Claudia Guadarrama was born in 1976 in Mexico City, and has studied Political Science and photography. In 2001 she began to work on extensive photographic essays of critical political and social issues in Mexico and Central America. Largely funding the project herself, Guadarrama has been living with illegal immigrants from Central America who enter at the South Mexican border, bound for the US. She records and reports on the harsh and violent conditions the immigrants face there.

Photo Credit:
Trip at the freight train.
Mexico, Los Toros, Chiapas. January 2003.
© Claudia Guadarrama