Name Xyza Bacani | Role Photographer | |
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Xyza cruz bacani homecoming interview on street photography in the philippines
Xyza Cruz Bacani (born 1987) is a Filipina street photographer. She is known for her black-and-white photographs of Hong Kong streetlife. She is one of the Magnum Foundation's Human Rights Fellows and is the recipient of a resolution passed by the Philippines House of Representatives in her honor, HR No. 1969. Xyza is one of the BBC’s 100 Women of the World 2015, 30 Under 30 Women Photographers 2016, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2016, and a Fujifilm Ambassador.
Contents
- Xyza cruz bacani homecoming interview on street photography in the philippines
- Xyza cruz bacani at the unpredictable unscripted street photography exhibition vargas museum
- Biography
- Exhibitions
- Magnum Foundation Human Rights Fellowship
- References
Xyza cruz bacani at the unpredictable unscripted street photography exhibition vargas museum
Biography
Bacani grew up in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, the eldest of three children. She studied nursing before leaving the Philippines to raise funds for the education of her siblings. At the age of 18, she joined her mother in Hong Kong, working as a nanny for an affluent family in the Mid-Levels. Bacani started taking casual photographs after purchasing her first digital single-lens reflex camera, a Nikon D90, with a loan from her employer. Her interest in photography developed while she was still in college, but she was unable to afford her own camera at the time. Bacani met her mentor, San Francisco-based photographer Rick Rocamora, on a Filipino photographers' group on Facebook. Rocamora initially thought she was "just another rich kid who had nothing else to do but shoot" but was surprised when he learnt what Bacani did for a living.
Among her various street photography images of Hong Kong society, she has covered the 2014 Hong Kong protests in Central and documented the lives of other domestic helpers at Bethune House Migrant Women's Refuge in Jordan, Hong Kong.
Her work has drawn comparisons to those taken by American street photographer Vivian Maier, who had also worked as a nanny; however, Bacani dismisses the comparison, wanting her work to stand on its own.
Exhibitions
Magnum Foundation Human Rights Fellowship
In 2015, Xyza won the prestigious Magnum Foundation Human Rights scholarship to New York University, which will pay for her to enroll in the Tisch School for the Arts six-week photography course.