Espen Rasmussen, born in 1976. He is based in Oslo (Norway) and is represented by Panos Pictures. He works partly as Picture Editor in the magazine division of Norway’s biggest newspaper, VG, and partly as a freelance. In 2007, Rasmussen received 60,000 dollars from The Freedom of Expression Foundation to continue his long term project on refugees and IDPs around the world. He has spent the last years travelling around the world, covering events such as the Darfur-crises, the Maoist conflict in Nepal, the humanitarian crises in Somalia, the Tsunami, the funeral of Pope John Paul II, the war in Afghanistan, the Iraqi refugee crises in Syria and the earthquake in Pakistan. Together with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) he has travelled to countries outside the media attention, such as Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Serbia, Chad and Thailand.
Three million people have been displaced by the violent conflict in Colombia. Yet after 40 years of civil war and with the second highest number of IDPs in the world after Sudan, the conflict hardly merits a mention in the international media.
Through subjects which are hard, frequently morbid and often far from our everyday concerns, these photographers are taking on the primary role of the artist. They are revealing our deepest contradictions and expressing their dreams and the nightmares which we prefer to forget.
