Nahira Montcourt is based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is a documentary photographer and independent photojournalist. Her work is centered on documenting protests, local politics, and natural phenomenons.
As a photojournalist and documentalist, Nahira Montcourt's intent is to make manifest the experiences in a colonial island that has never known anything else but perpetual crisis. To communicate complex realities that, most often than not, one hasn't experienced is something that she is always contemplating on. For her, it’s not enough to understand the social struggle and economic violence: comprehension also means experiencing it. In this sense, the act and art of taking photographs is an emotionally taxing process of connecting with the anxieties of daily life in Puerto Rico—a process that renders one deeply vulnerable. Nonetheless, she believes it is this vulnerability that allows her and her work to reflect on those critical moments of our quotidian history with solidarity and care.
Moreover, Nahira Montcourt understands that every image or representation requires a heightened sense of urgency for empathy, a difficult challenge that always presents itself against the unintended idealization of pain and suffering and the necessary recognition of my one's own privilege. And yet, she finds that even her own privilege manifests its limits twofold: as a woman and as a photographer. Gender violence continues to strive in an island where many female creative and artistic photographers have historically resorted to photojournalism as a career to survive. Montcourt's photography is but an honest contribution to the growing body of work of present and future local female photographers that continue to subvert societal expectations and resist the daily violence of an eternal crisis.
Her has published in: NotiCel, the weekly newspaper Claridad, the Center for Investigative Journalism, El Nuevo Día, Primera Hora, El Vocero, Ruptly video news and The German Press Agency.
Member of:
AWARDS | HONORS
2020 Honorable mentions in Anja Niedringhaus Courage Award from the International Women in Media Foundation.
2018 Honorable mention in Human Interest category for the photo "Defiendes lo Indefendible” by the Asociación de Fotoperiodistas de Puerto Rico.
2017 Winner in News of the Moment category with the photo "El Último Beso” by the Asociación de Fotoperiodistas de Puerto Rico.
WORKSHOPS
2020 Photojournalism: Editing and project management in the new normal by Fundación Gabo.
Nahira is available for assignments worldwide.
2020 Honorable mentions in Anja Niedringhaus Courage Award from the International Women in Media Foundation.
2018 Honorable mention in Human Interest category for the photo "Defiendes lo Indefendible” by the Asociación de Fotoperiodistas de Puerto Rico.
2017 Winner in News of the Moment category with the photo "El Último Beso” by the Asociación de Fotoperiodistas de Puerto Rico.
WORKSHOPS
2020 Photojournalism: Editing and project management in the new normal by Fundación Gabo.
Nahira is available for assignments worldwide.