Claudia Andujar

Claudia Andujar (born 1931) is a Brazilian photographer and activist. She co-founded the Comissão Pró-Yanomami (CCPY), an advocacy organization that supports the rights of the Yanomami people. Her work is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate in the UK.

Early life and education The daughter of a Hungarian Jewish father (Siegfried Haas) and a Swiss mother (Germaine Guye Haas), she was born Claudine Haas in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. She grew up in the city of Oradea, which changed hands between the kingdoms of Hungary and Romania. There she met a Spanish refugee, Julio Andujar, whom she married in 1949 and whose last name she still maintains because she wanted "to forget everything that happened" and "start anew." In 1976, she was naturalised as Brazilian.

Career A project on the Karajá people in central Brazil led her to a career in photojournalism. Her work has appeared in various magazines, including Life, Look, Fortune, Aperture, Realidade and Claudia. During the 1980s, an influx of illegal gold miners into this region led to more health problems, including an outbreak of malaria and mercury poisoning. Twenty per cent of the Yanomami population died as a result. Andujar played an important role in establishing the Commission for the Creation of the Yanomami Park which led to the Brazilian government establishing a 96,000 km2 protected area for use by the Yanomami.

Awards 1971: Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York 2008: Grand Cross, Ordem do Mérito Cultural, Brazil 2018: Goethe Medal, Goethe-Institut, for her work with the Yanomami people

Collections Andujar's work is held in the following permanent collections: Eastman House, Rochester, New York: 1 print (as of 18 December 2024) Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: 2 prints (as of 18 December 2024) Museum of Modern Art, New York City: 109 prints (as of 18 December 2024) Tate, UK: 22 prints (as of 19 December 2024)