Smita Sharma

Smita Sharma is a photojournalist and visual storyteller who focuses on human rights, gender, crime and social issues. Born and raised in Shillong, India, she graduated from the International Centre of Photography with a degree in photojournalism and documentary photography and has a postgraduate diploma in journalism from the University of Pune, India. Her photography has a distinctly global outlook, and has been exhibited internationally, including at the UN Headquarters in New York.

 Featuring in publications such as National Geographic, BBC World, and TIME Magazine, her diverse body of work examines a myriad of difficult and sensitive issues including child marriage in Nepal, teenage pregnancy in Kenya, and sexual slavery in Central African Republic. Despite the scale of these issues, her work has an emphatically human quality, capturing tender moments of intimacy and striking portraits which honour the individual experiences of her subjects.

 By Katherine Riley