OnAsia Press Release

ONASIA PHOTOGRAPHER MASARU GOTO WINS GRAND PRIZE AT ‘PHOTO CITY SAGAMIHARA’ FESTIVAL

SAGAMIHARA, Japan – September 16, 2005 – OnAsia photographer Masaru Goto has won the prestigious Grand Prize at this year’s 5th ‘Photo City Sagamihara’ General Photography Festival. The award was given for Masaru’s photo essay entitled ‘Smile in Despair – Stories from a Cambodian AIDS Ward.’

One of Japan’s leading photojournalists, Masaru has previously won the 2002 Fifty Crows documentary photography award for his coverage of human rights issues in Columbia. His work places heavy emphasis on highlighting pressing human rights and social issues.

Having covered Cambodia’s civil war in the late 1990s, Masaru later turned his attention to the plight of Cambodia’s AIDS victims in early 2001.

His images are a powerful testament to the silent ravages of AIDS, which has exploded among Cambodia’s impoverished population. Masaru’s photographs, taken mainly in Battambang Referral Hospital, emphasize the lonely suffering of many AIDS victims who receive only basic care in wards which contain little more than rickety beds to lie on.

Masaru’s AIDS work can seen by clicking on the following link: http://www.onasia.com/content/story.aspx?storyID=52&page=2

“All I can do is to take pictures of the patients and their families. They are voiceless, and I hope that many people will see their photos and hear their stories. I want people to think about this problem together. I believe that it will be one step on the road to changing the severe and present condition of AIDS patients in Cambodia,” explains Masaru.

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