Photographer Page

Stéphanie Sinclair

An 11-year-old girl in Afghanistan sits beside her fiancé, estimated to be in his 40s, at their engagement ceremony in 2005. After decades of progress for women and girls, the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in August 2021—bringing what photographer Stephanie Sinclair described as “one of the most dramatic rollbacks of women’s and girls’ rights in recent history.” Reports emerged detailing war crimes and targeted violence against women and girls, including kidnappings, beatings, and forced marriages of young girls to Taliban fighters. “My heart is tearing into pieces,” Jamila, an Afghan journalist, told Sinclair. “For centuries we were the victims of wars—as children, as teenagers, as mothers. Always as women. We don’t want to be slaves to be beaten and abused. We don't want these 20 years of progress to just go, wash away.”

Kids play on a homemade swing at a 4,000 acre ranch in Pony Springs, Nevada. The ranch is home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous sect that was the subject of a story in the February 2010 issue.

Kids play on a homemade swing at a 4,000 acre ranch in Pony Springs, Nevada. The ranch is home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous sect that was the subject of a story in the February 2010 issue.

In Forbesganj, India, girls take a break between classes at the Kasturba Gandhi Girls School. The girls are considered to be at-risk, and the school is run by a charity whose mission is to end sex trafficking.

Photographer Stephanie Sinclair has traveled the world to tell the stories of child brides like Tahani, posting with a former classmate, Ghada, also a child bride outside their home in Yemen. Of Tahani’s early days of her marriage to Majed, then 25, she said: “Whenever I saw him, I hid. I hated to see him.” The project spurred a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and ending child marriage.

HAJJAH, Yemen. The men looming over these Yemeni girls are not their fathers. For her internationally acclaimed project Too Young to Wed, American photographer Stephanie Sinclair spent years exploring societies around the world that invoke family “honour” or cultural tradition to force girls into marriage. This image of young Yemeni villagers Ghada, Tahani, and their husbands, part of a June 2011 National Geographic article, has been featured in United Nations anti-child-marriage campaigns. The UN and the United States now define protection from coerced early marriage as a basic human right.

"This is a portrait I made of trapeze artist Kristin Finley, who left her corporate job and bravely took the unconventional path of becoming a circus performer. She has now worked with circuses around the country, even for the now shuttered Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. We spoke after it closed and, true to her character, she told me: 'Life goes on. You either cry and feel sorry for yourself or you pick up your pants and move on.'" Stephanie Sinclair

Ya Kaka laughs while getting a pedicure in New York City. When she thinks back to the days she spent being held captive by Boko Haram, she remembers feeling like she would never escape. She explains, “I never thought I would get to this place.”

Ya Kaka and Hauwa share their stories with PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff. “Let the entire world devise various means of recovering all the kidnapped children, send them to school, and let them develop once more a hope in their lives,” Hauwa told Woodruff.

Hauwa and Ya Kaka try on dresses at Rent the Runway in Washington, D.C. For the teenagers, the clothes are symbolic of their journey from survivor to advocate. Most women and girls who escape Boko Haram have nothing but the dresses on their backs, and having fresh, clean clothes is critical in helping them integrate into society.