Smita Sharma is Delhi based award winning photojournalist and visual storyteller reporting on critical human rights, gender, social justice and environmental issues in her own community as well as in the Global South on assignments for Human Rights Watch, National Geographic Magazine, TIME and other publications.
From documenting the effect of pregnancy on girl’s education in Kenya to child marriage in Nepal, and sex-trafficking in South Asia, Sharma is committed to representing people with dignity and telling underrepresented stories with impact.
Smita is a TED fellow, TED Speaker and an IWMF reporting fellow. For Stolen Lives, her in-depth work documenting minor sex trafficking in India and Bangladesh for National Geographic Magazine, she received the Amnesty International Media award for photojournalism and the Fetisov Journalism Award for Outstanding Investigative Reporting. Smita also received the Indian Of The Year award 2017, Exceptional Women of Excellence award 2018, Las Fotos Advocacy 2021 award and One World Media UK award for her short film Rebels with a Cause.
Smita is actively engaged in public speaking, victim advocacy and international public education and her work has been exhibited and shown globally, including at the UN Headquarters in New York. She recently published her first photo book We Cry In Silence documenting cross-border trafficking of underage girls in South Asia published by FotoEvidence and is organising a campaign in the region aimed at educating and raising awareness amongst the communities most vulnerable to human trafficking.
She is a member of The Photo Society, a community of National Geographic Magazine photographers and part of Women Photograph and Diversify Photo community. She has taken HEFAT training in Mexico City and is available for assignments and public speaking globally.
Sharma is a graduate from the photojournalism and documentary photography program of International Center of Photography, New York and has a post graduate diploma in Journalism from University of Pune.
Book - ‘We Cry in Silence’ published by FotoEvidence in September 2022.
Watch Smita’s TED talk presented at TEDWomen 2021.