Photography - Daily Life/Feature Photography - Winner

Lisa Wiltse, The Sydney Morning Herald, "Little Voice Dhaka, Bangladesh"

Lisa Wiltse was born in Connecticut and studied photography in Boston in the late 1990s. Her photographic career is intertwined with community work – in 2000-01 Wiltse taught photography for a youth outreach program in Brooklyn, New York.

After that she travelled throughout Central America, Uganda, India, Bangladesh and beyond before making Sydney her home in 2005. She is now a photojournalist for The Sydney Morning Herald, specialising in humanitarian issues. Lisa has won several awards including first prize in PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris and the Oxfam Humanitarian Award.

In Bangladesh, Wiltse discovered the Centre for Rehabilitation for the Paralysed (CRP) – the only facility for the disabled in a nation of 147 million. It’s located on the outskirts of Dhaka, one of the world’s fastest growing urban sprawls, and over half the population in this area live below the poverty line.

In this self-funded series, Wiltse observes the everyday frustrations and triumphs of the rehabilitation process, combining her compassion with an eye for the beauty of life’s quirkier moments.

Judges’ comments

Wiltse’s work is documentary photography in the best tradition of Life magazine, and that’s arresting to see nowadays. It’s a courageous choice to shoot a black-and-white essay when photography today is so much about colour and speed. This is a strong set of beautiful shots worthy of international awards.