Vanessa Vick

Location: Washington, DC

Vanessa Vick has worked around the world, in recent years focusing on Africa, where she has become known for her compelling portraits of life on the continent in stories ranging from brutal rebel insurgencies to public health campaigns.

Vanessa began her career studying commercial photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York and soon after began shooting feature photos and environmental portraits. She worked for several years as a photo editor at the legendary photo agency Sygma and later at U.S. News & World Report in New York City.

After receiving a master’s degree in photojournalism from Ohio University in 2001, Vanessa moved to Uganda on a Fulbright scholarship to document how AIDS had ravaged the lives of individual Africans. A regular contributor to The New York Times, Vanessa has worked on such stories as the disintegration of the Zimbabwean economy, the inner workings of the Ogaden rebel group in Ethiopia and immunization campaigns in Nigeria. She has also worked for such major news outlets as Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report and The Boston Globe as well as Essence, The Guardian and The Discovery Channel. She also shoots regularly for humanitarian organizations including the World Food Program, The United Nations, Doctors Without Borders and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Vanessa is currently based in Washington D.C.

website: http://www.vanessavick.com
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Vanessa Vick: Slideshow | Grid View
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  • Friends of Halima Kada, 13 years old, help her to prepare for her marriage. The young girls begin the seven day ceremony by painting Kada with henna, preparing food, dancing and spending the day with her. All of the girls are 12 years old and have already been promised for marriage next year. Maradi, Niger. February 2008. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Halima Kada, 13 years old, feasts with her friends while preparing for her marriage. The celebratin takes seven days. Maradi, Niger. February 2008. ©Vanessa Vick
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  • Lake Victoria, the second largest body of fresh water in the world, is known for its spectacular natural beauty, amazing fish and bird life, and diversity of people. Now the lake and the 30 million people who depend on it for survival face an uncertain future. Since 2003 water levels have plummeted over two meters and the shoreline in some places has retreated by half a kilometer, bringing the lake to its shallowest in 80 years.
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  • Massese landing site in Jinja Uganda. March 30, 2009. ©Vanessa Vick
  • The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) began armed resistance against the government of Ethiopia in 1994 creating a separatist war pitting impoverished nomads against one of the biggest armies in Africa. Here ONLF troops move through the region on parol. May 2007. ©Vanessa Vick
  • The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) began armed resistance against the government of Ethiopia in 1994 creating a separatist war pitting impoverished nomads against one of the biggest armies in Africa. Here ONLF troops move through the region on parol. May 2007. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Akol Regina is a withcrafter who can speak to spirits and also has abilities to heal people. She inherited this gift from her mother who also was able to speak to spirits. In her village Apetawoi in Moroto, Uganda she is highly respected. July, 2008. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Lokol makes a traditional grass thatched hut for her husband to celebrate with his friends. It is tradition for the bride to make the hut for their wedding night. Lokol is about to celebrate her dowry ceremony in the Matheniko village of Nabokat in Moroto, Uganda. The groom Lowot is making a pre wedding payment of goats and sheep to Lomila Angorekori the father of the bride. Wedding ceremonies are one of the most important celebrations in Karamajong culture and cannot take place unless the groom has enough cows and gifts to satisfy the family of the bride. The Karamajong culture and way of life is under threat due to climate change. The rainfall has become erratic and the region is becoming drier causing chronic food insecurity. December 2007. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Life is still very traditional in the Karamoja region of Uganda. Here four men from the Matheniko tribe are initiated in Moroto each must bring a bull to slaughter for the ceremony. Having performed this ceremony their stature and respect in the community will increase. The Karamajong culture and way of life is under threat due to climate change. The rainfall has become erratic and the region is becoming drier causing chronic food insecurity. December 2007. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Life is still very traditional in the Karamoja region of Uganda. In Moroto the Topeth tribe has a kraal where they keep their animals so that they are closer to grazing areas. The Karamajong culture and way of life is under threat due to climate change. The rainfall has become erratic and the region is becoming drier causing chronic food insecurity. December 2007. ©Vanessa Vick
  • A Karamajong herdsman in Moroto, Uganda brings his animals back from grazing. The increase in cattle rustling and violence associated with it are contributing factors to the lack of development and poverty among the Karamajong people. The Uganda People’s Defense Forces have been conducting a highly controversial disarmament exercise to reduce the amount of weapons in the region and have designated specific areas as protected kraals for the herdsmen to bring their animals at night. July, 2008. ©Vanessa Vick
  • A portrait of Bassir Naswgi, 10 years old, during his circimcision ceremony in Kitabazi, Uganda. For the Bugisu, the dominant tribe in Eastern Uganda, circumcision is required for a young man to progress to adulthood. The boys are circumcised without anesthesia, if they move or cry out during the cutting they are viewed as a coward and shame their parents and ancestors and will never be viewed as an adult. Recent studies indicate that male circumcision can reduce HIV transmission by as much as 60 percent. August 2008. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Namugali, 12 years, Numugali John, 11 years, Wameyo Geofery, 15 years, and Wameyo Bosco, 14 years, visit homes in their community hoping to get gifts on the day they are to be circumcised in Namakandwa Bukeka, Uganda. For the Bagisu, the dominant tribe in Eastern Uganda, circumcision is required for a young man to progress to adulthood. The boys are circumcised without anesthesia, if they move or cry out during the cutting they are viewed as a coward and shame their parents and ancestors and will never be viewed as an adult. Recent studies indicate that male circumcision can reduce HIV transmission by as much as 60 percent. December 20, 2008. ©Vanessa Vick
  • A boat operator prepares to bring tourists out to see dolphins on the Island of Zanzibar in Tanzania. January 20, 2007©Vanessa Vick
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  • Women from Pader district in northern Uganda have formed a cooperative to sell organic shea nuts for making oil, which is then sold in the west. Women from Barjobi pose for a portrait. April 22, 2007. ©Vanessa Vick
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  • Acayo Winny, 4, lives in an abandon train in Lira with other internally displaced people. Her family decided to move here after their village in Pader was attacked by rebels and several people were killed. Over 16 people in Winny’s family have been killed in rebel attacks over the past few years. 6/2004 ©Vanessa Vick
  • The brutal civil war in northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the government of Uganda has gone on for over 20 years making it one of the longest running conflicts in Africa. The violence has forced close to two million people to leave their homes and live in displaced peoples camps often under horrible conditions. The Lord’s Resistance Army is known for targeting children and has abducted approximately 40,000 children during the conflict and over 100,000 people have been killed. The current peace talks in Juba Southern Sudan has meant northern Uganda has been peaceful giving people living in the IDP camps confidence to return to their villages. In Amio, Lira District Ekit Scovia, 28 years, returned home to her village with her husband Bua Denis, 28 year old, and their children in March. She is shown holding her son Owera Pius, one year nine months, and daughter Acen Violet, 4 years, at their home. 10/8/2007 ©Vanessa Vick
  • The brutal civil war in northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the government of Uganda has gone on for over 20 years making it one of the longest running conflicts in Africa. The violence has forced close to two million people to leave their homes and live in displaced peoples camps often under horrible conditions. The Lord’s Resistance Army is known for targeting children and has abducted approximately 40,000 children during the conflict and over 100,000 people have been killed. The current peace talks in Juba Southern Sudan has meant northern Uganda has been peaceful giving people living in the IDP camps confidence to return to their villages. In Amio, Lira District Lucy Auma, 70 years, returned to her home with her son and his family. She now cares for three of her grandchildren Akello Stella, 6 years, Atim Colin, 11 years, and Okello Bonny, 13 years, all left orphaned after rebels killed her daughter and one of her grandchildren.10/8/2007 ©Vanessa Vick
  • Women in the village of Apetawoi in Moroto, Uganda conduct a ceremony to pray for rain. The region is already showing the effects of climate change with rainfall becoming more erratic and the region becoming drier and more prone to drought. In recent years the crop yields been very poor or failed making over one million people dependent on food distributions by the World Food Program for their survival. July, 2008. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Violent confrontations between police and residents at an informal settlement in Durban South Africa called Foreman road led to 45 people being arrested and several people being injured on Monday. This incident is part of an emerging trend spreading in South Africa where underprivileged communities are demanding better services from their local governments. Residents say the clash was the culmination of weeks of tension between the Foreman road informal settlement residents and the Ethekwini municipality. Several thousand people from the Foremen Road settlement who live in squalor next to up market residential areas were promised proper houses a few years ago. Attempts to get permission for a protest march through the city to highlight their plight were unsuccessful. Shoes rest on one of the tin roofs of the Foreman road settlement to dry. Thursday November 17, 2005. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Violent confrontations between police and residents at an informal settlement in Durban South Africa called Foreman road led to 45 people being arrested and several people being injured on Monday. This incident is part of an emerging trend spreading in South Africa where underprivileged communities are demanding better services from their local governments. Residents say the clash was the culmination of weeks of tension between the Foreman road informal settlement residents and the Ethekwini municipality. Several thousand people from the Foremen Road settlement who live in squalor next to up market residential areas were promised proper houses a few years ago. Attempts to get permission for a protest march through the city to highlight their plight were unsuccessful. Children play near the Foreman road settlement. Thursday November 17, 2005. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Joyce Mumba, 37, was forced to marry at age 10. Her husband Anxelwishe Mbisa is not sure of his age but is between 80 and 90 years old. Joyce’s father a poor man accepted nine cows in lobola or dowry from Mr. Mbisa in exchange for his young daughter. Joyce’s children fetch water at their home in Kasantha northern Malawi . October 26, 2005. ©Vanessa Vick
  • Arrow boy - Wera, Uganda