Women Photograph: 2017 Year in Pictures

Curated by Mallory Benedict

Here's a selection of some of our favorite work from Women Photograph members this year — from assignment work, long term documentary projects, and personal stories around the globe.

PAULA BRONSTEIN | www.paulaphoto.com | @pbbphoto

Rohingya refugee Abu Siddique, 90, stands on a hill overlooking the Kutupalong refugee camp as a rainbow covers the sky. He had to pay people to carry him across the Myanmar border to Bangladesh, spending all of his savings. Over 630,00 Rohingya refugees have fled into Bangladesh since late August during the outbreak of violence in the Rakhine state, with a reported 1,000 dead.

KHOLOOD EID | kholoodeid.com | @kholoodeid

The Udayni family waits for Eid al-Fitr prayer at Bensonhurst Park in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bay Ridge on June 25, 2017.

VICTORIA MILKO | www.victoriamilkophoto.com | @thevmilko

A pupil at the Kyi Myin Dine School for the Blind in Yangon, Myanmar, listens to his teacher lecture about Burmese history. The school provides the opportunity for education, housing, and vocational training for visually impaired youth.

MICHELLE GUSTAFSON | www.michellegustafsonphoto.com | @michellegustafson

Reverend Oliver Charmelus, leader of the Haitian Crusade of Philadelphia, lays down to pray during a service at Premiere Eglise de Dieu de la Prophetie Hatienne in Germantown before an information meeting on May 13, 2017.

[The Philadelphia Inquirer]

NATALIE KEYSSAR | www.nataliekeyssar.com | @nataliekeyssar

A limousine was set ablaze by a group of protesters against Donald Trump's inauguration near 13th and K Streets in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2017.

[TIME]

EMILIENNE MALFATTO | www.emalfatto.com | @emiliennemalfatto

Huda Salem shouts "Oh Hussein" as she lifts 60 kgs in a sports hall in Sadr City, Baghdad. Before lifting the weights, she invokes the name of Imam Hussein or Imam Ali, two main figures of Shiite Islam. "It is like a blessing," she explains.

[The Washington Post]

MARYLISE VIGNEAU | www.marylisevigneau.com | @marylisevigneau

Backstage at "Q Bar", a gay bar in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, October 2017.

SIMA DIAB | www.simadiab.com | @sima_diab

A rubber boat with migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. 193 people and two corpses were recovered from a rubber boat by the MV Aquarius, a search and rescue vessel operated by MSF and SOS Mediterranee on January 13, 2017. AP Images/Sima Diab.

ERIN TRIEB | www.erintrieb.com | @erintrieb

Zulala Hashemi, 16, is helped by her mother Mermen Hashemi as she prepares for the second round of judging on Afghan Star — a TV show similar to the U.S. show "American Idol" — in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 2, 2017.

[The New York Times]

MICHAELA SKOVRANOVA | www.mishku.com | @mishkusk

The Julian Rocks Nguthungulli Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve in New South Wales, Australia where the currents meet, creating an incredibly rich ecosystem with different creatures — like this local green turtle — visiting at the safe waters within the reserve at different times of year.

CAMILA FALCÃO | www.camifalcao.com | @camifalcao

Lucy is a 19-year-old transgender Brazilian girl, in the country that kills the most transgender women in the world.

MAHEDER HAILESELASSIE TADESE | www.maheder.photography | @maile_tadese

Leyew Akalu pushes a segment of weed to the shore where another group awaits to remove it. Every few months, communities march to lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia, to manually engage in removing water hyacinth, an aquatic invasive plant that is a threat to the existence of the lake and the biodiversity within it.

[Mongabay]

SARA HYLTON | www.sarahylton.com | @sarahyltonphoto

Akuja de Garang, 41, used to be one of Juba’s fashion leaders, organizing fashion shows and markets before everything was disrupted by the conflict. "Culturally people take pride in how they look. If they have money or not people really dress well... it’s a way of personal expression. We all have to wake up in the morning and get dressed... whatever is happening, life has to go on... it’s important for people to focus on the day to day... We have this crisis and people are suffering but life continues," she says.

[The New York Times]

GLENNA GORDON | www.glennagordon.com | @glennagordon

A young woman looks up at a solider who is checking her house for insurgents, weapons or other illicit goods during a cordon and search exercise after a suicide bombing on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

[The New York Times Magazine]

ERIN KIRKLAND | www.erinkirklandphotography.com | @http://instagram.com/eakirklandphoto

Actress Rose McGowan raises her fist while delivering the opening address at the Women's Convention on October 27 in Detroit, Mich. This was the first time McGowan had spoken in public since accusing film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape.

[The New York Times]

ALICE DRIVER | www.alicedriver.com | @driverwrites

Students at Girona Permanent Makeup School in Mexico City first practice contouring and symmetry on pigs' feet, and they are then allowed to practice on humans, who pay a reduced rate for beauty procedures like tattooed lip liner, eyeliner and eyebrows. In this photo, a student at the school practices tattooed lip lining techniques on a young woman in La Merced. The owner of the school, Trinidad Villalobos, explained of the procedure, “Our job is to make everything symmetrical so that the person is more beautiful because it is scientifically proven that more symmetry equals more beauty. We are very imperfect — subtly imperfect."

[Cosmopolitan]

NAOMI HARRIS | www.naomiharris.com | @mapledipped

From "First 100 Days" -- Graciella Longoria is a Mexican-American albino woman. People often mistake her for caucasian and are very surprised when she begins speaking fluent Spanish. She was a big Bernie supporter but when push came to shove she voted for Hillary.

[VICE]

ANNIE TRITT | www.annietritt.com | @trittscamera

Leo Davis, 6, with his parents at their home in Brooklyn, NY. Leo’s parents, Danielle Super and Michael Davis, filed a lawsuit with the New York City Commission on Human Rights that says Public School created a hostile environment for their son. Leo is a boy, and since before he could speak, his parents said, he has gravitated toward things traditionally associated with girls — he loves pink and Barbies and anything that sparkles. He likes to wear dresses.

[The New York Times]

FLORENCIA TRINCHERI | @florenciatrincheri

This image belongs to an ongoing project "Character," which follows the photographer's son and daughter as they grow up and explore their place in the world.

DANIELLE VILLASANA | www.daniellevillasana.com | @daniellevillasana

Tamara, a trans woman from Lima, Peru, died due to complications with HIV and Tuberculosis on January 11, 2017. Tamara would often say she wasn’t going to live past 30. How could she, she’d ask, when society treats her as less than human? Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Tamara's death this year came shortly after her 30th birthday. Evila, her mother, cries next to her casket. Tamara’s death at such a young age is tragically common as most trans women in Latin America die or are murdered before they reach 35. Latin America leads the world in homicides of transgender people (80% of global trans homicides occur in the region) and HIV prevalence among trans women is nearly 50 times higher than the general population.

[The Washington Post]

MOA KARLBERG | www.moakarlberg.com | @moakarlberg

Birgitta and Bengt Bohlin, 87 and 86 respectively, met in 1955 when Bengt moved from Borås in the south-west to take a job building hydroelectric plants in Birgitta's native Lapland. "It was instant passion," he recalls. "We found out right away that we had the same interests, the same simple demands of life."

[BBC]

SOPHIA NAHLI ALLISON | www.sophianahliallison.com | @yagurlsophia

"The Conjure Woman," self portrait from Dreaming Gave Us Wings.

LORENA ENDARA | www.lorenaendara.com | @lalorilori

Pomegranates on Lorena Street in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles.

[HUCK]

OLGA INGURAZOVA | www.ingurazia.com | @olgaingurazova

A traditional children's procession in Yekaterinburg, Russia dedicated to the end of the school year.

[Smithsonian Magazine]

JULIE DERMANSKY | www.jsdart.com | @juliedermansky

A woman goes about her everyday life in Poca, West Virginia, near the John E. Amos Power Plant.

[The Weather Channel]

ANDREA GJESTVANG | www.andreagjestvang.com | @andreagjest

A worker decontaminates parts of a former nuclear power plant in the "warm workshop" at the EWN Entsorgungwserk fur Nuklearanlagen in Rubenow, Germany.

[The Wall Street Journal]

OKSANA PARAFENIUK | www.oksanaparafeniuk.com | @oksana_par

A worker walks on top of a furnace at the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant in Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine on March 13, 2017. The factory, the main supplier of the Ukrainian steel industry, is operating at a reduced capacity due to a shortage of coal from non-government controlled eastern Ukraine caused by a blockade.

[U.S. News]

ALYSSA SCHUKAR | www.alyssaschukar.com | @alyssaschukar

Karlos Denson, 9, plays an acrobatic version of football outside his home in the Fourth Ward, long one of Janesville, Wisconsin’s poorer parts of town.

[The Washington Post]

SMITA SHARMA | www.smitasharma.com | @smitashrm

In Dhaka, a child undergoes electroencephalography to measure electrical brain activity.

[The Guardian]

JANE HAHN | www.janehahn.com | @janehahn

Women wait for fishermen to arrive with their morning catch to clean and sell at the market on the shores of Lake Chad in Tagal Village, Baga Sola, Chad. In late 2014, the north eastern Nigerian based extremist group Boko Haram began attacking neighboring countries that border the Lake Chad. Inhabitants of the many small islands in the lake fled to the mainland as multinational forces battled the militants. Displaced families who survived the violence are left with little prospects due to the lack of farmable land and the many restrictions on the areas of the lake where they are allowed to fish leaving the population to depend on irregular food distributions from aid agencies and the charity of others.

[National Geographic]

YUMNA AL-ARASHI | www.yumnaaa.com | @yumnaaa

From a project exploring the history of facial tattoos in North African women.

[HuffPost]

CORINNA KERN | www.corinnakern.com | @corinnakern

A girl holds a rifle during an event in remembrance of Victory Day, commemorating the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany, in Ashdod, Israel, May 09, 2017.

SERENA DE SANCTIS | www.serenadesanctis.com | @serenadesanctis

T.S.P is a 9-year-old girl from Phnom Penh. She was abused by a British man in 2013 when she was only 6 years old.

KATIA REPINA | www.katiarepina.com | @katia_repina

Participants of the NSFW's Playdate sex party in Williamsburg, NYC. NSFW PlayDate is a series of closed sex events made available only to curated members, hosted at private 4-story townhouse in Williamsburg. Shot for Narratively. 2017

MONIQUE JAQUES | www.moniquejaques.com | @moniquejaques

"We don’t know what will happen after we graduate. Not many resources available. In Gaza it’s hard to be a woman, everywhere else is easier. People in Gaza are afraid of everything, especially for girls. I would like to one day be an independent woman."

-- Hama Nofal, 23, an engineering student graduating at the Al-Zahra campus of Palestine University.

LOULOU D'AKI | www.louloudaki.com | @louloudaki

A man in traditional clothes and wrapped in an Afghan flag, watches the boats shaped as swans with his friends by Qarghar dam on the second day of Eid which marks the end of Ramazan.

[The New York Times]

TARA TODRAS-WHITEHILL | www.taratw.com | @taratwphoto

N nurses her young son at her in-laws' house where she lives in Janakpur, Nepal. N was raped by her husband's friend when she first was married five years ago, and became pregnant after the rape, but didn't know if was from her husband or the rapist. She wanted to keep the child, but her family didn't want her to, and her mother-in-law demanded she use a homeopathic method to abort the baby. She ate papayas for three days which she insists made her have an abortion. She wasn't aware that abortion was legal in Nepal and feels bad about it because she feels that she killed a life. She now has a newborn with her husband who works most of the year in Saudi Arabia. Nepal legalized abortion 15 years ago, and public and private facilities have been set up to provide the procedure. However, because of issues like stigma, lack of education, and distrust of government facilities, most women don’t ask important questions of the health care providers, to see if a clinic/pharmacy has proper authorization from the government, or what they should do in the event of medical complications.

[Witness]

MOJGAN GHANBARI | www.mojganghanbari.com | @mojganghanbari__

A female voter during the Iranian Presidential elections in Tehran, Iran in May, 2017.

KATJA HEINEMANN | www.katjaheinemann.com | @hei_katja

Mohsen lights up while watching Berlin's fireworks for the New Year celebration.
From "Generation Exile" -- a chronicle of young Afghan refugees coming of age in Germany.

ELYSE BUTLER | www.elysebutler.com | @oceanelyse

A massive lava stream from Kilauea Volcano flows into the ocean from a lava tube at the Kamokuna ocean entry on the southeast side of the Big Island at sunrise.

[Smithsonian Magazine]

MELISSA BUNNI ELIAN | www.hellobunni.com | @hellobunni

Malique Bazemory Yisreal, 24, Delaware. "It’s the one that all of us can relate to. From looking at us, the first thing you can see is our skin color and most people judge us based on how we look. I chose this style of dress because it is in me. I am Africa and Africa is me. So I wanted to express that through my bag. I carry it with me. I carry home wherever I go."

[The Undefeated]

SARAH RICE | www.sarahricephotography.com | @sarahricephoto

Alvah Wendell uses a dip net to fish for glass eels on Winslow Cove, on the northern bay of the Bagaduce River in Penobscot, Maine. Dipnetters use a green light because a white light scares the eels down to the bottom. There are many techniques and patterns used to move the net through the water to catch the glass eels. Wendell has been fishing them for over 20 years. The eels are very profitable — in the first week of May a pound sold for between $1,250 and $1,350. They are shipped live to China where they are raised to their full size, then processed and shipped out to be eaten in sushi and other eel dishes. The industry is heavily regulated. Those with a permit to fish have to adhere to their individual quotas, and there are two types of permits issued — one for dipnetters and one for those who use the larger stationary fyke nets.

[National Geographic]

NADÈGE MAZARS | www.nadegemazars.com | @nadege_mazars

Jose Rolando, a former gang member, shows his tattoos being erased. He followed 34 laser sessions to remove the signs of this former belonging to the 18 gang in El Salvador.

BÉNÉDICTE DESRUS | www.benedictedesrus.com | @benedictedesrus

Citlalli grabs the door of the refrigerator before her mother can lock it shut at their home in Mexico City on July 18, 2017. Because of Citlalli’s condition, her mother keeps the refrigerator and kitchen under lock and key. Delia Citlalli Pineda Corzo, a 21-year-old Mexican girl, lives with her 42-year-old mother Diana Cristina Corzo Zárate in a two-room apartment in Mexico City. She was diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome at age four. At age 15, doctors detected that she had diabetes. Citlalli weighs 106 kilos (233.6 pounds) and stands 150 centimeters (4 feet 11 inches). Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder — in newborns symptoms include weak muscle tone (hypotonia), poor appetite and slow development. In childhood the person experiences a sensation of constant hunger no matter how much he/she eats which often leads to obesity and Type 2 diabetes. There may also be mild to moderate intellectual impairment and behavioral problems. PWS has no known cure, but with early diagnosis and treatment such as growth hormone therapy, the condition may improve. Strict food supervision is typically required.

HANNAH YOON | www.hannahyoon.com | @hanloveyoon

E.L.
Unofficially borderline personality disorder

"I felt lonely growing up because of mood instability. So I resorted to self-harm. It felt like I could drop everything and I could focus on one feeling which was physical, instead of the inner emotions which were harder to deal with and control. No one ever just does things. You can’t analyze surface level things. There’s probably something deeper going on with someone."

[The Waterloo Region Record]

SARA NAOMI LEWKOWICZ | www.saranaomiphoto.com | @saranaomiphoto

Layla, 7, swims at a community pool near her grandmother’s house. Her mother is serving a seven year sentence for vehicular manslaughter. Layla participates in the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program, a special program for girls whose mothers are in some phase of the correctional system. The program seeks to give the girls and their mothers dedicated time together, reinforce the bonds between mothers and daughters, and help guide girls through the difficult process of dealing with an incarcerated parent. Roughly 2% of American children have at least one parent in some phase of the correctional system.

LEAH NASH | www.leahnash.com | @leahnashphoto

In Fairview, WA ministers pray before Sunday morning service at the Ukrainian Bible Church, which is home to more than 1,500 members. Because of a 1990 amendment which benefits those who suffered from religious persecution in the former Soviet Union, Ukrainians face a more lenient standard than other refugees applicants. Over the years the amendment has created a migration chain with one family sponsoring the next and now greater Portland, which includes Vancouver and Fairview, is home to more than 100,000 Slavic Christians.

[The New York Times]

JULIETTE ROBERT | www.julietterobert.com | @juliette_robert

Elin Hyldeen Gartner (left) often has lunch with friends and also colleague priests at Gretas, a hip cafe in the center of Stockholm. Gartner is a strategy adviser to Bishop Eva Brunne and she and her friends have created an informal women priest network to help each other out inside the Church and parishes.

AMANDA LUCIER | www.amandalucier.com | @amandalucier

Caitlyn Taussig, a rancher in Kremmling, Co., smiles as blood drips down her face after a gate hit her in the head while she was loading cattle on the ranch she runs with her mother and sister.

LENA MUCHA | www.lenamucha.com | @lena_mucha

Kalenge refugee camp in Tanganyika, eastern DRC. Recent violence in May 2017 has displaced thousands of people. Among them are many children who have been separated from their parents when they fled, on assignment for MSF.

DIANA ZEYNEB ALHINDAWI | www.dianazeynebalhindawi.com | @dianazeynebalhindawi

An old coffee mill contructed in the 1980s is one of only four currently in operation in North Kivu province. Coffee was once Congo’s second biggest export to copper, generating an estimated $164 million to GDP during the 1980s. However, exports dropped dramatically an average of 80,000 to 10,000 metric tons during 20 years of conflict. With millions of dollars of donor funding in recent years coupled with a semblance of stability since the last war that ended in late 2013, exports have steadily increased and farming cooperatives are now attracting the attention of global international buyers such as Starbucks and Israeli buyer Strauss. Congo has the potential to be one of Africa’s most promising specialty producers according to some, and the world’s biggest commercial grade producer according to others.

[The New York Times]

OLGA STEFATOU | www.olgastefatou.com | @olga_stefatou

A Syrian woman on day 8 of a hunger strike Syntagma square. About 100 Syrian refugees protested in front of the German Embassy on November 8, 2017. Most have been waiting for more than a year to reunite with their families in Germany.

EMILY SCHIFFER | www.emilyschiffer.com | @emilyschiffer

Jordan, asleep under the stars on our storm shelter/darkroom roof on the Cheyenne River Reservation, after printing in the darkroom until 3 a.m.

[The Washington Post]