Masaru Goto has 20 years experience photographing social and human rights issues in Southeast Asia and South America.

His photographs convey a strong message of compassion; highlighting the plight and resilience of ordinary people who are caught in conflicts, suffering under oppression or economically disadvantaged.

In 2002, he won the prestigious Fifty Crows Foundation award for Documentary Photography (former the Mother Jones award) for his photos essay on "got rights? Human Rights in Colombia 1992+2001".

His photography books include My Journal of Cambodia 1997-1998 is a powerful photographic essay about the final years of civil war waged by the Khmer Rouge and Smile in Despair about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Cambodia.

He has vast experience photographing refugees and civilians affected by political upheaval. His work in Kashmir documented family impact by the Indian-led militarization;
his photographs from Aceh, a part of Indonesia, were commissioned by Terre des hommes (TDH) Germany and Asian Forum for Human rights and Development (Forum Asia), a regional human rights organization and for an International information campaign.

Most recently, he has been working in Southern Thailand in Muslim communities affected by the outbreak of violence that erupted earlier this year. And he had currently finished in book project in collaboration with Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) about the refugees along Thai-Burmese border.

He immerses himself in long -term documentary project; spending time with the people in his images and sharing their sense of humanity.

For the past four years, he has devoted himself to a work-in -progress on the AIDS crisis in Cambodia. His photos portray the stigma and abandonment experienced by many people living with HIV/AIDS and their families. This work presented at the Bangkok International AIDS conference in July 2004.

And 2004, his images of Kashmir received "The Ueno Hikoma Award", also images of HIV/AIDS in Cambodia won two of the category, "LOVE" and "ILLNESS" for "the River of Life" World Health Organization(WHO)International photo competition. And 2005, he received
"The Grand Prize" for his book "Smile in Despair:Stories from a Cambodian AIDS ward" from Sagamihara city in Japan.

He strongly believes in sharing his photographs with NGO's and civil society groups for advocacy and information campaigns on the issues he passionately examines in his work.
He has participated in numerous campaigns on human right and social issues.

□ THE TSUNAMI TRAGEDY THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES @ ASIA MEDIA FORUM/July 2006

□ VISUAL THERAPY @ THAI DAY/July 2006

□ VISIBLE DARKNESS @ NATION/August 2004

□ CAMERA OF CONSCCIENCE @ NATION/July 2001


award
*”The Grand Prize"
Photo City Sagamihara
General Photography Festival
Sagamihara city & Mainichi Newspaper/2005

*"The Ueno Hikoma Award"
Kyushu Sangyo University & Mainichi Newspaper/2004

*"The River of Life:Love and Illness"
World Health Organization (WHO)/2004
□ http://www.who.int

*"The Photo Fund 2002"
International Fund for Documentary Photography(IFDP)
Fifty Crows Foundation/2002
□ http://www.fiftycrows.org


book
*"Smile in Despair:Stories from a Cambodian AIDS ward"
Mekong Publishing, Tokyo 2005

*"Between Worlds"
Twenty Years on the Border
Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), Bangkok 2004

*"My Journal in Cambodia"
Mekong Publishing, Tokyo 1999


client
Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human rights and Development (Forum Asia),
International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNITED NATION, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNESCAP,
The World Bank, Action Aid, Thailand Burma Border consortium (TBBC), Japan Red Cross,
Terre des homes(TDH Germany), etc…


publication
AERA Magazine, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, Far Eastern Economic Review, Nation, Bangkok Post, USA Today, South China Morning Post, Ojo de pez, Pictorial Post, etc…


exhibition/campaign/event
*“Lost loved ones:
Portraits from the Deep South into the Red Zone”
“La Fe^te 2008” French Cultual Festival 2008
Photo Exhibition at Tang Contemporary Art/Bangkok/June 2008

*"Portraits on the other shore:
People living in the Hisabetu Buraku"
Photo campain with Osaka Human Rights Association/2007-2008

*“Lost loved ones:
Portraits from the Deep South into the Red Zone”
Photo campaign with Team Soraya(local NGO)/South Thailand/2007

*Chobi Mela IV - International Festival of Photography
" Tears cloud Peace"
photo exxhibition
Drik Gallery, House 58, Road,15/A(New)
Dhanmondi, Dhaka, BANGLADESH /Nov 2006
□http://www.chobimela.org

*"HUMANS FOR SALE "　
photo exxhibition
GreenRice Gallery, San Jose, California, USA/Nov 2006
□http://www.greenricegallery.com

*"Who cares?" HIV/AIDS in Cambodia
*"Kashmir"
Slide presentation
Workshop in Asia, Bangkok/July 2006
□ http://www.workshopasia.com

*"inSIGHT OUT!"
Creative Multi-Media Training for Youth in Aceh and Thailand
Project Photo exhibition at KINOKUNIYA bookstore in Siam Paragon, Bangkok/July 2006
□ visit gallery
□ http://www.insightout-project.org

*"Who cares?" HIV/AIDS in Cambodia
Slide presentation, UNAIDS
Foreign Correspondent Club of Thailand (FCCT)/June 2006

*"Smile in Despair: Stories from a Cambodian AIDS ward"
Photo exhibition, Nilkon Salon, shinjyuku, Tokyo/December 2005

*"Smile in Despair: Stories from a Cambodian AIDS ward"
Photo exhibition
*"inSIGHT OUT!"
Creative Multi-Media Training for Youth in Aceh and Thailand
Slide presentation
Sagaminara-city Hall, Kanawgawa, Japan/September 2005

*"Smile in Despair: Stories from a Cambodian AIDS ward"
Photo exhibition, Kinokuniya gallery in Shinjyuku, Tokyo,Japan/May 2005

*"Reminders Showcase 2"
*“inSIGHT OUT!"
Participatory photography with children in Aceh, North Sumatra
Slide presentation, Tokyo Metropolitan Photo Museum, Japan/May 2005

*"HIV/AIDS in the Age of Globalization"
Group Photo exhibition, The National Museum of World Cultures, Sweden/November 2004
□ http://www.varldskulturmuseet.se

*"Kashmir"
Photo exhibition, The Ueno Hikoma Award
Kyusyu Sangyo University & Tokyo Metropolitan Photo Museum, Japan/November 2004

*"Displaced"
Photo exhibition
Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) & AJA project
Chang Mai University, Thailand/September 2004
□ http://www.ajaproject.org/
□ http://www.tbbc.org/

*“Who cares? HIV/AIDS in Cambodia”
Slide presentation, 16th International Festival of Photojournalism
Visa pour l'Image - Perpignan, France/August 2004

*“Cambodia:after the civil war ended”
Slide presentation, Asia- Pacific Human Rights information Center
Hurights Osaka, Japan/August 2004

*“Who cares? HIV/AIDS in Cambodia”  
Photo exxhibition & slide presentation, Yokohama YMCA, Japan/August 2004

*"Cambodia: War and Peace"
Photo exhibition and slide presentation, Itami city, Japan/August 2004

*“Who cares?" HIV/AIDS in Cambodia
Photo exhibition and slide presentation　-Goethe-Instituts-
International AIDS conference in Bangkok, Thailand/July 2004
□ http://www.aids2004.org/

*"Reminders Showcase, Kashmir"
Slide presentation, Tokyo Metropolitan Photo Museum, Japan/May 2004

*“Reminders Showcase, Re:war”
Re:war Magazine published, Photo exhibition, Konika Minolta plaza, Tokyo Japan/May 2004

*"Kashmir"
Photo exhibition:Ueno Hikoma Award, Kyushu Sangyo University, Japan/May 2004

*“Who cares? HIV/AIDS in Cambodia”
Slide presentation, Yokohama YMCA, Japan/December 2003

*"Urgent Action Needed” HIV/AIDS in Cambodia
Photo exhibition and slide presentation
Friends Theater, Phnom Penh, Cambodia/September 2003

*"Dare to Care"
Photo exhibition
59 th Commission Session for United Nations Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Thailand/September 2003
□ http://www.unescap.org

*"Urgent Action Needed" HIV/AIDS in Cambodia
Photo exhibition and slide presentation
The Japan Foundation Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand/July 2003

*“HIV/AIDS in Asia”
Photo exhibition, The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Japan/July 2002

*"Got rights? Human rights in Colombia 1992+2001"
Photo exhibition, Fifty Crows foundation Gallery, San Francisco/October 2002

*"Illuminating Development"
The World Bank/July 2002
□ http://www.worldbank.org

*"The Images of Aceh"
Photo exhibition, The Japan Foundation in Bangkok, Thailand/April 2002

*"The Images of Aceh"
Photo exhibition and slide presentation
Foreign Correspondent Club of Thailand (FCCT) & Thammasat University, Thailand/March 2002

*"International campaign Against Armed Conflict in Aceh"
CD-R producing, book publishing, Photo exhibition in Bangkok, New York, Berlin,
Tokyo/August 2001-

*"Got rights?:Human rights in Colombia 1992+2001"
Photo exhibition
Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT)/August 2001

*"Cambodia"
Photo exhibition for Mid-Term Review of UN Decade for Human Rights Education
Asia-Pacific Human Rights information Center, HURIGHTS OSAKA, Japan/December 2000

*"Stop the Land Mines"
Slide presentation, Exhibition, Advocacy Campaign
Japan Red Cross Osaka, Japan/December 2000

*"Save the Children"
Slide presentation/Exhibition/Advocacy Campaign
Amnesty International Osaka, Japan/November 2000

*"My journal in Cambodia"
Photo exhibition
Kinokuniya book store, Bangkok, Thailand/July 2000

*"Stop the torture"
Slide presentation, Exhibition, Advocacy Campaign
Amnesty International Okayama, Japan/May 2000

*"My Journal in Cambodia"
Photo exhibition
Kinokuniya book store, Singapore/February 2000  

*"My Journal in Cambodia"
Photo exhibition
Nikon plaza Tokyo & Gallery Hourai Nagoya, Japan/April 1999