Photographer Jehad Nga first visited the Middle East in 2001 when he spent months in different medical volunteering positions in Gaza. When he interned at Magnum Photos in 2002, he was also training to become an Emergency Medical Technician. But since 2004, when he moved to East Africa, he's been dedicating most of his time to photograpy, working regularly for the New York Times. BJP's Olivier Laurent caught up with him last month in New York.

BJP: What first brought you to Africa?
In 2003, I was in Iraq after the invasion and September 2003, a civil war broke out in Liberia so I left from Baghdad to cover that, and 2003 turned into 2004 when I went to Darfur, so I decided to base myself living in Burundi the first two years and then in 2007 I moved to Nairobi because I began working in Somalia. Nairobi is a good strategic place to be based in, especially if you’re working in the Horn of Africa.
 
BJP: Was there also a personal interest that made you decide to stay in Africa?
Jehad Nga: It was definitely a personal choice. At that time, assignments weren’t really coming in and it was more about personal work. I had been working with the New York Times in Iraq, but in Africa I wasn’t working with anyone. So I had to fund my own trips to Darfur, and then fund my own trips to Somalia to begin working on my own projects.
 
BJP: How did you fund those trips?
Jehad Nga: It came more out of my own savings. There was nothing coming in, it was all coming out. But a lot of the areas where I’m going, maybe with the exception of Darfur, you’re not spending huge amounts of money. The cost of living is very low in Burundi, for example, so I was always able to sustain myself until I began working consistently for the New York Times out of their bureau in Nairobi.
 
BJP: Tell us a bit about your latest personal work in Turkana?
Jehad Nga: It continues a series I shot in Somalia in 2006. In October 2009, I went to Turkana, a region in Northern Kenya to cover a story of a drought that had been devastating. [It was affecting] large parts of the Horn of Africa. And while I was there, I shot a couple of portraits, and then decided to come back to develop another set of portraits to broaden up the series. I came back two months later and found that some of the people I had shot in October had died because of that drought.
 
BJP: How do you get your work out for people to see?
Jehad Nga: Usually when I do some personal work, I’ll communicate with my galleries, show the, what I shot and I’ll wait for some feedback. We have a very open dialogue. It’s not business oriented, it’s much more personal, and they’re very honest with me. Despite how much they like me, they’re more than happy to tell me how they don’t like some of my work. I did a few portraits in Turkana and sent them to the galleries and they responded favourably. They felt this work would be ideal for the next show – because I have a show each year. And then, magazines started to run it, with the Sunday Times Magazine in London, for example, Marie Claire in Italy, and so it kind of took off on its own. And now, I’ll be going to Los Angeles to meet with one of my gallery to talk about doing a book. They’re interested in a book about Turkana, while I’m focussing on my Japan work.  But if they want to do a Turkana book, then I’ll go with it.
 
BJP: Why did you join the Institute for Artist Management?
Jehad Nga: I had been accepted by the VII Network (run by VII Photo) last year while I was in Iraq. But during the period between I submitted my work and was accepted, I had a lot of time to think and I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a suitable place for me. I respect them immensely, but I felt a place like Magnum would be better for me, in the sense that a lot of the work that the photographers are bringing in is more of a conceptual and fine-art nature. I wanted to be a place like that; a place where I would feel comfortable in. Frank Evers had approached me last year, and interestingly enough it sounded a lot like an Art+Commerce type of agency, which I felt I could belong with. I respond more to fashion and fine-art, carrying these fields and variables in photojournalism. And, as well, the names of photographers Frank was mentioning got me excited because they were the types of photographers I wanted to work with.
 
BJP: What does the Institute provides you?
Jehad Nga: Like any agency, it really depends on how much you’re willing to give to the agency. They can’t read minds, you have to do your part, you have to meet halfway. I have a tendency to be very distant because I’m working in Nairobi doing my own thing. I think I’m so used to doing my own things that it’s very hard for me to be fully open to the idea of sharing everything with another group of people, so I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Obviously, their intentions are great and they want to do everything for me, but they can only do so much because I’m giving them so little at a time. But, for the time being, it’s been a lot about promotion and getting the work out there and being open to the idea to speaking to a certain type of magazine, etc. I think they’re doing a great job so far.

For more on Jehad Nga, visit his personal website at www.jehadnga.com.