ICP alum Smita Sharma joins James Estrin, a photographer and writer for The New York Times, for a conversation celebrating the release of Sharma’s first photobook We Cry In Silence (FotoEvidence) which documents cross-border trafficking of underage girls in South Asia.
This program is being offered both in person at ICP, located on NYC's Lower East Side, and online.
About We Cry In Silence
We Cry In Silence is Smita Sharma's seven-year long investigation on cross-border trafficking of minor girls across India, Bangladesh and Nepal for sex work and also a chapter on the under-reported issue of trafficking of indigenous girls for domestic servitude. The project focuses on the highly organized trafficking network, unveils the vulnerability of these girls and highlights the reasons of what makes them easy prey to the designs of the traffickers. The project aims to understand this complex issue and open a dialogue to galvanize people to work towards solutions. The multi-lingual photo book published by FotoEvidence also includes illustrations, resources and other material that is aimed to educate people about this global complex crime.
Smita Sharma is Delhi based award winning photojournalist who has documented social justice, sexual crimes, human trafficking and environmental issues in the Global South through long-form visual narratives. Smita is a TED fellow, TED Speaker and an IWMF reporting fellow. For Stolen Lives, her in-depth work documenting minor sex trafficking in India and Bangladesh for National Geographic Magazine, she received the Amnesty International Media award for photojournalism and the Fetisov Journalism Award for Outstanding Investigative Reporting. Smita also received the Indian Of The Year award 2017, Exceptional Women of Excellence award 2018, Las Fotos Advocacy 2021 award and One World Media UK award for her short film Rebels with a Cause. Her work has been published in various places like National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, BBC World, WSJ, TIME amongst many others. Smita is actively engaged in public speaking, victim advocacy and international public education and her work has been exhibited and shown globally, including at the UN Headquarters in New York. Smita recently published her first photo book We Cry In Silence documenting cross-border trafficking of underage girls in South Asia published by FotoEvidence.
James Estrin is a staff photographer who also writes frequently for The New York Times. He was hired in 1992 and was part of a Pulitzer Prize winning team in 2001 for “How Race Is Lived in America.” He writes extensively about photography and was the co-founder and co-editor of The Times's photography blog, Lens, from 2009 to 2019.
