74.

• Prize
• Photographer
  Christian Werner/laif, Germany

The Yezidi religion is one of the oldest. Since its founding years
74 genocides committed against them. The youngest and most
systematic done by the IS terrorist militia. The Yazidis are more
persecuted than other religious communities,

because they are regarded as devil worshipers. This is because
they believe in Tausi Melek, a fallen angel in the form of a
peacock. Since the invasion of the IS terrorist militia in Iraq,
hundreds of thousands Yazidis were uprooted and are on the run.
Thousands of men and boys were shot and beheaded women
abducted and sold at auction as sex slaves. In adverse
circumstances they have

erected makeshift shelters, where they found just enough room.
Only a few have made it into the camps set up by NGOs. Most live
in the reinforced concrete skeletons of unfinished houses,
improvised in tents made of tarpaulins and branches or on the
road.

They had no chance to prepare for the flight, nor to pack the
essentials. Winter has come to Kurdistan and saps the forces of
refugees who have no winter clothes or blankets to protect
themselves against it. Until the beginning of the year 10,000
Yazidis were encircled in the Sinjar Mountains of the IS militia.
Over 4 months, they fought with little food, little ammunition and
weapons to survive until the Kurdish Peshmerga free fought a land
corridor. With the story, I wish to draw attention to the situation of
the Yazidis, who are the main victims of this conflict. Here I want
to show a broad spectrum. The current life situation, the despair
of the encircled, the struggle for survival, the war with all its
horrors, the religion, the destruction of religion, individual fates
and their background.

• Awards
  Awards 2012, “BEST PORTFOLIO”- competition, 3rd , Freundeskreis des Hauses der Photographie e.V. 2012, Unicef Photo of the Year, Honorable Mention, Unicef 2013, Canon ProfiFoto Award 13/1, winner, Profifoto 2013, PDN photo annual, winner, Pdn photo annual 2013, px3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, gold medal, px3 2013, brennpunkt AWARD, winner, brennpunkt 2013, American Aperture Awards, 2 x winner, ax3 2013, dpa news talent, 2nd, dpa news talent 2013, Axel-Springer-Preis, finalist, Axel-Springer-Preis 2013, Alexia Foundation Professional Grant, finalist, Alexia Foundation 2013, Eugene Smith Grant, finalist, Eugene Smith Memorial Fund 2013, Kindernothilfe Medienpreis, winner, Kindernothilfe 2013, Felix Schoeller Photo Award, nominated, FSPA 2013, PIC Förderpreis, winner, PIC-Verband 2013, JGS Photography Contest, runner-up, Forward Thinking Museum 2013, 68th College Photographer of the Year, gold + bronze medal, CPOY 2013, Fellowship 14, Commendation Award, Silver Eye Center for Photography 2014, Sony World Photography Award, shortlisted, WPO 2014, CNN Journalist Award, winner, CNN Journalist Award 2014, Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund, Grantee, MFEF 2014, px3 Prix de la Photographie Paris, bronze medal, px3 2014, Kontinent Awards, official selection, Kontinent Awards 2014, UNICEF Picture of the Year, 2nd, UNICEF 2014, Terry O’Neill Award 2014, finalist, Terry O’Neill Award 2015, JGS Photography Contest, winner, Forward Thinking Museum 2015, Pictures of the Year international, Award of Excellence, POYi 2015, Hansel-Mieth-Preis Digital, winner, Zeitenspiegel 2015, American Photography 31 SELECTED, winner, AP31 2015, Axel-Springer-Preis, nominiert, ASP 2015, World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass, participant, JSM Exhibtions & Screenings 2010, group exhibtion, Nach Neuem Trachten, Niedersächsische Landesvertretung Berlin, Hannover, Rodenberg, Germany 2011, group exhibtion, 10 years Photojournalism & Documentary Photography, Hannover, Germany 2011, screening, Foodphoto Festival, Tarragona, Spain 2011, group exhibition, Istanbul, Gallery Kubus Hannover, Germany 2012, group exhibition, Unicef Photo of the Year, Presse – und Informationsamt Berlin, Germany 2013, screening, The Browse – Berlin Fotofestival, Berlin, Germany 2013, screening, Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap, Cambodia 2013, single exhibition, lfi-Magazine, Hamburg, Germany 2013, group exhibition, Eugene Smith Grant, New York, USA 2013, screening, Visa pour l’Image, Perpignan, France 2013, screening, dpa news talent ceremony, Berlin, Germany 2013, group exhibition, American Aperture Awards, Beverly Hills, USA, Australia 2013, group exhibition, Exposition Px3 Paris Photo Prize, Paris, France 2013, group exhibition, Winners & Nominees 2013 – Felix Schoeller Photo Award, Osnabrück, Germany 2014, group exhibition,Fellowship 14 Exhibition, Silver Eye Center for Photography, USA 2014, group exhibition,Photo Independent Art Fair, Hollywood, USA 2014, group exhibition, Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition, Somerset-House – London, Great Britain 2014, screening, Lumix Festival for young Photojournalism, Expo-Plaza Hannover, Germany 2014, group exhibition, Exposition Px3 Paris Photo Prize, Paris, France 2014, group exhibition, Tears In Paradise – Photographing the Tyranny of Mental Illness in Bali, Bentara Budaya Denpasar, Bali 2014, group exhibition, Living Conditions – Photojournalism from Hanover, Perpignan, France 2014, group exhibition, Terry O’Neill Award 2014, Terry O’Neill Award, London, United Kingdom 2014, group exhibition, Unicef Photo of the Year, Presse – und Informationsamt Berlin, Germany 2014, group exhibition, Photokina 2014, Photokina, Köln, Germany 2015, group exhibition, Kolga Tbilisi Best Photos of the Year 2015, Kolga Tbilisi, Georgia 2015, group exhibition, Pictures of the Year international, Award of Excellence, POYi, Columbia, MO, USA