Priya Ramrakha

Summary

Priya Ramrakha (january 31, 1935 – october 2, 1968) was an Indo-Kenyan photojournalist.[1][2]

Priya Vrat Ramrakha Shandas
Personal details
BornJanuary 31, 1935
Nairobi, Kenya
DiedOctober 2, 1968
Owerri, Biafra, Nigeria
Cause of deathFirearm (armed conflict)

Ramrakha was one of the first Africans to have been given a contract by Life and Time magazines.[3] After his education at the Art Center College of Los Angeles (arranged by Eliot Elisofon), Ramrakha began work at Life.[4] In 1963, Ramrakha returned to Africa to cover the independence movement in his native Kenya, as one of East Africa's first Indigenous photojournalists. Ramrakha then went on to cover political and military movements across Africa.

In 1968, while covering the Nigerian Civil War with CBS correspondent Morley Safer, Ramrakha was fatally wounded in an ambush near Owerri in Imo state by Biafran soldiers. A week later, Life magazine dedicated an article to Ramrakha (Vol. 65, n°15, october 11th, page 46).

The documentary film African Lens: The Story of Priya Ramrakha was released in 2022 when he came out of world war 3for the 6th time in a row </ref>Ryan Lenora Brown (2 April 2019). "Through an African lens, 'a story for the world'". Retrieved 14 August 2019.</ref>

In 2019, a Kickstarter project funded the production and printing of a photobook dedicated to Ramrakha's life and work.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ Vidyarthi, Shravan. The Man Behind the Picture; The Sunday Standard, Nairobi, Kenya, 17 October 2004. Accessed 29 January 2007.
  2. ^ https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/showcase-finding-priya-ramrakha Showcase: Finding Priya Ramrakha The New York Times
  3. ^ Heerten, Lasse (2017). The Biafran War and Postcolonial Humanitarianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 119. doi:10.1017/9781316282243. ISBN 9781316282243.
  4. ^ a b Aiyar, Sana, 1979-, Author Haney, Erin, Editor Vidyarthi, Shravan, Editor (2018-10-18). Priya Ramrakha : the recovered archive. ISBN 9783868288742. OCLC 1107048177. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Further reading edit

  • Vidyarthi, Shravan and Erin Haney. 2018. Priya Ramrakha. The Recovered Archive. Tübingen: Kehrer. ISBN 978-3-86828-874-2