Helen M. Stummer
USA

Nominee

"Asking for Food"

Asking For Food was taken in a third floor tenement building in Newark, NJ. I was sitting by the door talking with a family who I had just finished photographing when there was a light knock on the door. Tanya called to come in, as the door was slightly ajar. Standing in the doorway was Denise, who lived a couple of apartments down the hall. Tanya got up and went to the kitchen without saying a word and came back with some food for the child. Her mother often sends her here for food, Tanya whispered to me. The innocence of children and the injustice and cruelty of poverty always breaks my heart and this image shows the combination as clear and as stark as I have tried to portray.