PhotoFilipina Woman Wins Prestigious Photography Fellowship

Photo Credit: South China Morning Post

Photo Credit: South China Morning Post

A domestic worker from the Philippines who moonlights as a photographer in Hong Kong will be leaving her job in May to pursue a dream career in New York.

Xyza Cruz Bacani, 27, has been selected as one of seven Human Rights Fellows by the Magnum Foundation. This summer, she will spend six weeks studying at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. The fellowship aims to give aspiring documentary photographers the skills and support to pursue socially conscious photography in their home countries.

"My family was overjoyed when the news came in," Bacani wrote in an email while taking a quick break from babysitting. "My parents cried. Having their eldest to reach a dream is a big deal for people like us who have nothing."

To read more on Xyza, click here.