Moises Saman

KYOTO WORKSHOP!!! July 20-25, 2026. Why do you photograph? Who are your images for? What does it mean to bear witness in a place shaped by ritual, history, and performance? And what responsibility does an image carry once it enters the world? Set in Kyoto during the Gion Matsuri, one of Japan’s most important and centuries-old festivals, this workshop brings together @moisessaman , @fostermickley , and @ulysses_aoki Their practices differ widely in form, geography, and approach, yet they share a common question: how can photography respond meaningfully to the world today? Rather than promoting a single aesthetic or genre, the workshop is built around productive tension: between documentary and conceptual work, between long-term immersion and formal experimentation, and between witness, interpretation, and authorship. Participants are invited into a space where photography is understood not only as image-making, but as a way of thinking, researching, and engaging ethically with the world. Limited seats, to register go to link in bio

Award-winning photographer Moises Saman joined Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on a 50-mile journey from Sudan’s Darfur region to towns in eastern Chad to bear witness with communities caught in cycles of war and displacement. His images shine a light on people somehow finding ways to survive, even as the international community has mostly turned away from one of the world’s biggest humanitarian emergencies.  Featuring: Moises Saman/Magnum Photos “Surviving tomorrow: Bearing witness to the invisible war in Sudan”, curated by Melissa Pracht 📸 Moises Saman (@moisessaman ) 🔗 Link in bio to preview more of “Surviving tomorrow: Bearing witness to the invisible war in Sudan”, as well as all the 85+ public #Photoville2026 exhibits going up throughout NYC this summer!⁠ ____⁠ 📍 Brooklyn Bridge Park ▪️ Presented by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (@doctorswithoutborders ) ____⁠  📅 May 16–30th, 2026 📣 Opening Weekend May 16th and 17th, 2026 in @brooklynbridgepark 📍 85+ exhibitions across all 5 boroughs + IRL & online public programming ✨ Link in bio to learn more! Thanks to Lead Marquee Partner @VSCO and Marquee Partners @brooklynbridgepark , @nycparks , @leicacamerausa , @nyculture , @neaarts @photowings , @nyscouncilonthearts , @madein_ny , @twotreesny , @dumbo_brooklyn , and @citypointbklyn #PhotovilleFestival #Photoville2026 #PhotovilleNYC

The Cuba Question @time "Aside from the dehumanization involved in the U.S. strangling a country in an effort to provoke social collapse, the political and economic crises in places like Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran have their own dynamics, their own patterns of state violence, and their own cycles of public discontent. Overlooking the suffering of societies that cannot easily be turned into an argument against capitalism goes a long way toward explaining why the left failed in the last century. Above all, no one should minimize someone else’s injustice in order to advance their own cause. Without a shared moral standard, justice is impossible." -Carlos Manuel Alvarez /article/2026/04/23/the-cuba-question/ @katattack42 @magnumphotos

In Cuba: To Be, or Not to Be " @time "And so I arrive at one last question, skull in hand, in the manner of Hamlet: To be, or not to be? And if the answer is to be, then by what means, under what conditions, and for how much longer can we suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune?" -Leonardo Padura /article/2026/04/23/the-cuba-question/ Thank you @katattack42 @magnumphotos

Thank you @time @katattack42 for including this image from #Sudan in your Top 10 Photos of 2025 /7342196/top-10-photos-2025/ “In these situations, I am always aware of the tension between documenting and intruding,” Saman explains, when asked about what was going through his mind at that moment. “People here had already been stripped of so much privacy and control over their lives. I didn’t want the camera or my presence to represent yet another force taking something from them. Every decision, from where to stand, to how long to stay, carries an ethical weight. At the same time, there’s the internal challenge of staying open and attentive to what people are living through, without letting the weight of their circumstances paralyze you or numb you. There is a risk of falling into visual clichés, of becoming desensitized by the familiarity of scenes like these, because I have witnessed them so many times before elsewhere. Each encounter demands that I resist the impulse to see people as types or symbols of their suffering, and instead recognize the uniqueness of their lives.” @msf_suisse @magnumphotos

This fall I travelled to eastern Congo with my longtime reporting partner @jonlee001 , for our most recent story for @newyorkermag , published in the December 1 issue. Over two trips to Rwanda and eastern DRC, we met kings and commanders, nurses and grave-diggers, families planting beans between headstones in cemeteries that keep expanding with the war. On paper, the conflict is supposed to be “stopped.” On the ground, the front lines, the displacement, and the quiet mourning tell a very different story. Thank you @katzandrew @newyorkermag for your continuous support. @magnumphotos

Last week I had the privilege of working with a diverse group of amazing photographers during an intense @magnumlearn @fujifilmjp_x workshop in Tokyo, Japan.Thank you for the honesty of the conversations, and for the hard work. @t.nk_portraits @antoniomunozdemesa @vanessa_harper_mathews @_______dieg @rod.fung @cyrus_kanga @pratishthachhetri @fostermickley @f_kindi @marlieswessels @isabelladalessandroc @jun.uncooks and to @ulysses_aoki for helping us through the process.

In this image from our Pictures of the Year 2025, Nat Geo photographer and Explorer @moisessaman traveled to the banks of the Tigris River near Baghdad, Iraq. Here, women belonging to the Mandaean faith hold ceremonial wreaths of myrtle as part of the group’s core practice: river baptism. Mandaeanism, among the world’s oldest gnostic religions, reveres John the Baptist as the greatest of all prophets. Since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, followers have faced persecution from extremists and high levels of displacement, which have severely threatened their ancient baptismal customs. National Geographic photographers ventured to places far and wide to capture the year’s most fascinating images. Out of hundreds of thousands of photos, 25 were selected as our Pictures of the Year. See them all at the link in bio.

À Gaza, des évacuations médicales = des vies sauvées. Depuis deux ans, l'État français n'a pris en charge que 27 patients, un nombre bien en deçà des engagements d'@emmanuelmacron . 📢 La France peut et doit faire mieux, de toute urgence. 📍Affichage mis en place avec @dysturb et visible au 81 quai de Valmy à Paris. Photos de © @MoisesSaman / @MagnumPhotos #Gaza #BandedeGaza #Palestine #Génocide #ÉvacuationsMédicales

The Square Print Sale, @magnumphotos in partnership with @aperturefnd , celebrates the theme of “Youth” by offering time-limited prints from acclaimed photographers that capture the spirit, beauty, and complexity of growing up. Amman, Jordan, March 2024. “This image captures a suspended moment before the curtain rises, a space where anticipation, imagination, and identity intermingle. “In their costumes, the children inhabit characters larger than themselves, yet their expressions hint at the vulnerability of stepping into the unknown. It is a portrait of youth in transition: poised between play and performance, between who they are and who they are becoming.” — Moises Saman. /pages/square-print-sale

24-year-old Khadija, who uses an alias for security, fled the capital Khartoum while eight months pregnant. “We escaped as explosions hit near our house, we left with nothing.” Khadija underwent a clandestine cesarean in a makeshift clinic only for her baby to die hours later. The U.N. estimates 7 million women and girls in Sudan have lost access to essential reproductive health services, leading to a spike in stillbirths, preventable maternal deaths, and newborn mortality. @time @msf_fr @magnumphotos

Two Sudanese boys rest on a rocky hill overlooking the vast sprawl of Abutengue refugee camp, home to tens of thousands who fled Sudan’s West Darfur region. The camp, near Chad’s eastern border with Sudan, became a haven after fighting erupted in 2023. Many here belong to the Masalit ethnic group, which bore the brunt of targeted attacks and mass killings by militias aligned with the RSF. @time @magnumphotos