Zohra Bensemra

Zohra Bensemra (born October 1968) is an Algerian photographer who works in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. She is currently based in Africa.

Biography Zohra Bensemra was born in Algiers, Algeria, in October 1968. She grew up seeing her older brother take amateur pictures. Around the age of six, she started imitating him and taking his cameras when he was not at home. One day her brother found out what she had been doing and screamed at her, but later got her a small camera for herself and she started by taking pictures of her classmates. She first worked for Reuters as a stringer during the Algerian Civil War in 1997. In 2000 she covered the conflict between the Albanians and the Serbs in Macedonia. She was assigned to Iraq in 2003. While working in Najaf, she became a staff photographer for Reuters. She covered the South Sudanese independence referendum, 2011, the Tunisian Revolution, the 2011 Libyan Civil War, and the Mosul war in 2017. She was based as Reuters Chief Photographer in Pakistan (2012-2015) and is currently based in Africa as its West Africa chief photographer.

The Tunisian Revolution, Bensemra stated, was the assignment that left the biggest mark on her because she never thought the day would come when the Tunisians would rebel against their ruler, given how controlled the state was. She arrived in Tunis on January 14, 2011, right when a large group of people gathered outside the interior ministry demanding President Zine al-Albidine Ben Ali's resignation. In 2012, she visited and took photos in Syria.

Her work usually covers "conflict, humanitarian issues, and stories about women and politics" and is largely based in countries suffering from internal conflict – social, economic, or humanitarian. Bensemra stated that her goal when photographing events is to promote a better understanding of the conflict to challenge those in power to improve the situation. Her preferred assignments are stories related to people's struggle for citizenship and human rights against dominating forces. 2017: The Guardian picture desk agency photographer of the year. 2017 UNICEF honorable mentions