Alixandra Fazzina s photography focuses on under-reported conflicts and the often forgotten humanitarian consequences of war. Studying Fine Art, she began her career as a war artist in Bosnia. Since then, she has worked independently as a photojournalist throughout Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Her reportages have been widely published in the British and international press including The Sunday Times, The Guardian and Observer, The Telegraph and The Independent as well as TIME, Newsweek, The New York Times and Stern. She works regularly with UN agencies and NGOs such as MSF, Concern, Oxfam, Save The Children and Human Rights Watch, to document their work and produce advocacy campaigns. Alixandra is represented by NOOR. She worked over a period of two years to chronicle the exodus of migrants and refugees from Somalia to the Arabian Peninsula. For her work on A Million Shillings - Escape From Somalia , she was the nominated as the 2010 Nansen Refugee Award winner by UNHCR for outstanding work on behalf of refugees, and was a finalist in the CARE Award for Humanitarian Reportage and the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. In 2008, she was the recipient of the Vic Odden Award from the Royal Photographic Society.

This book follows the journey of desperate emigrants, or tahrib, to their embarkation points with smugglers on the coast of Somalia, on a perilous voyage across the Gulf of Aden, and onward in the search for a better life. The cost is just $50, or one million Somali shillings. With a one in twenty chance of not making it to the other side alive, it is a price they must risk their lives for. Even then, it is a journey which for many will remain unfinished. Alixandra Fazzina was awarded in 2010 the Nansen Award, the highest accolade from the UNHCR for her work for refugees, and the High Commissioner of UNHCR writes the foreword for this book. Alixandra Fazzina s photography focuses on under-reported conflicts and the often forgotten humanitarian consequences of war. Having studied fine art, she began her career as a war artist in Bosnia. Since then, she has worked independently as a photojournalist throughout Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. She worked over a period of two years to chronicle the exodus of migrants and refugees from Somalia to the Arabian Peninsula. For this work A Million Shillings- Escape From Somalia , she was a finalist in the Care Award for Humanitarian Reportage and the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. In 2008, she was the recipient of the Vic Odden award from the Royal Photographic Society. A Million Shillings - Escape from Somalia was finalist for the POYi (Pictures of the Year International) Best Photography Book of the Year Award 2010.