Barbara Davidson

Montreal native Barbara Davidson (BFA 90) was a photographer and photo editor for Concordia’s student newspaper The Link while earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and Film Studies. She went on to work as a staff photographer at The Record in Waterloo, Ontario, then the Washington Times, Dallas Morning News and the Los Angeles Times.

In 1995, Davidson travelled with the Red Cross to cover the war in Bosnia, where her group was held hostage, a life-changing experience. She has honed her storytelling approach to photography over more than two decades of covering conflict, humanitarian crises and the human condition in 55 countries.

Davidson’s portrayals of people striving for dignity and normalcy have won her three Pulitzer Prizes, twice for Spot News Photography as a member of teams covering Hurricane Katrina and the San Bernardino terrorist attack, and once for Feature Photography for “Caught in the Crossfire: Victims of Gang Violence” for the Los Angeles Times. She also won an Emmy for a documentary based on that story. Pictures of the Year International twice named her Newspaper Photographer of the Year.

Davidson is currently working on a Guggenheim Fellowship making 8"x10" portraits of gunshot survivors from around the United States.