João Silva (born August 9, 1966 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a war photographer based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was one of four people commonly associated with the Bang-Bang Club, a group of photographers who covered South Africa from the time of Nelson Mandela's release to the first elections in 1994. Silva has worked in Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia, Russia, and the Middle East. His images have won numerous awards, including the World Press Photo. On October 23rd, 2010, Silva was severely wounded while on assignment in Afghanistan.
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João Silva was first employed as a photographer by the Alberton Record. While working for the paper, João managed to convince the editors to let him cover the violence in Thokoza. He soon started to submit photographs to Reuters before resigning from the paper in order to freelance full time. Soon after he began to supply pictures to The Star as well as Reuters.[1]
In 2000, Silva became a contract photographer for the New York Times. On October 23, 2010, he sustained injuries while on duty with the US Army based in southern Afghanistan.[2] Despite immediate help from medics, Silva lost one leg below the knee and the other leg above the knee.[3] After months of rehabilitation on his prosthetic legs he returned to work in July.[4]