Ruth McDowall

Ruth McDowall (born 1984) is a New Zealand photographer who has documented the evolving arms industry and growing violence in and around Jos in central Nigeria. In 2015, she published a photo story based on meetings with Nigerian girls who had escaped capture by Boko Haram.

Biography Born in Taranaki in 1984, McDowall graduated at the Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland. She first visited Nigeria in 2008, returning two years later to teach photography to young people living in the risk-prone environment of Jos. Many of them were suffering from post-traumatic stress as a result of the frequent serious violence and death in the area.