Women Photograph
Project Grants

Eli Farinango

Canada + Ecuador   |   www.elifarinango.com   |   @elifarinango   |   she/her

Runa Kawsay is a long term transmedia project that explores the nuances of Indigenous identity from the personal experiences of the Kichwa community living in Turtle Island (North America.) The Kichwa community is one of the largest ethno-lingustic communities in Ecuador, with large populations migrating to North America and Europe since the late 1950s. With sizable populations spread out in various cities across the US and Canada, particularly in New York City, Wisconsin, Chicago, and the province of Ontario (Canada) where I grew up. In Kichwa, the term Runa Kawsay talks about the everyday moments that nurture the culture that sustains us. For many Kichwas in the diaspora our everyday personal rituals and collective celebrations become a blend of deeply rooted traditions with adaptations that reflect our realities in the different territories we occupy. By starting this long term project with my own story of migration and reconnection to my Kichwa roots. I encourage my collaborators to use image making as a space for empowerment and challenge colonial practices that have attempted to silence us for more than 500 years. Runa Kawsay shares the stories of joy and pain, of resistance and resilience of a diasporic community that is being built by a new generation of Kichwa families, activists, artists and thinkers, who are connecting to their roots, interpreting their culture in their own way and are leaving a historical archive for future generations.

Golden

USA   |   www.goldengoldengolden.com | @goldenthem   |   they/them

It's been pandemonium since the beginning for Black people in the United States. Even in 2020, with the rise of a global health pandemic and hate-based violence streamlining from white nationalism, Black trans people were statistically murdered at a higher rate than ever before. Every day I wake up with no manual on how we are going to make it; how to survive the unseeable threats of named weapons. But this isn’t new. In response to grief, “On Learning How to Live”  documents Black trans life at the intersections of survival and living in the United States. These self-portraits act as a living archive, a resistance framework, a world within a country that doesn’t want Black trans people alive.  Whether stating, I just want to wear my orange dress to the tennis courts & come back home unbothered, while in my home in Boston, MA, or sharing, I’m searching for & from freedom, while at my Grannie’s house in Pocomoke City, MD, these portraits reveal vulnerable windows into questions I ask myself daily: “What people do I belong to? How will they remember me? If there is a headline for my death will they name me as I am, or how the government perceives me to be?”

Lia Latty

USA   |   www.lialatty.com   |   @lialatty   |   she/her

To grow up as a Black person in America means facing biases and preconceptions that leave little room for one’s identity to be accepted. For a Black person to have any interests outside of what is considered the “norm” for them, can result in them being considered a “white person trapped in a Black person’s body.” This is what it means to be called an “oreo.” Influenced by past personal experiences, “Oreo” challenges the stereotypes that are constantly projected onto Black people and how it can affect their identity. In this project, it was usually experienced during the pre-adolescent/adolescent years. Each participant is photographed with the objects that resulted in them being called an “Oreo,” along with their statement of how the moment happened.

Kathy Anne Lim

Singapore   |   www.kathyannelim.com   |   @helloklim   |   she/her

With a conceptual documentary approach, ‘White Noise’ focuses on fumigations in Singapore, as a city set on the equator with a high population density — the country faces concerns with diseases transmittable by insects such as Dengue and Malaria using chemicals in an approach to keep them under control. Elusive allure and its swift disappearance guided Lim's initial reflections on the theatricalities of the clouds conjuring. Humanity is plagued by fears of loss, finitude and death and comforted by reminders of the lost, aware that something might persevere, at least in memory. The project will manifest as a publication, and aims to discuss the impact of minor environmental changes within the transient city — a pulse of imminent change is on the horizon, yet, the fog of uncertainty has yet to settle.

Danielle Villasana

Turkey + USA   |   www.daniellevillasana.com   |   @davillasana   |   she/her

In Samantha’s small room in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, prayer candles flicker: one with the words “Abre Camino,” or “Open Road,” lit up. Like many transgender women in this region, Samantha sees migration as an escape from the deadliest place for her community: Latin America leads the world in trans homicides at nearly 80% and most trans women here don’t live past 35. Because trans women in Central American are further threatened by the region’s endemic violence from gangs, clients, police, and even family, countless women flee north toward Mexico and the U.S. as a form of self-preservation. For nearly a decade, Danielle has photographed both the threats facing trans women and their resilience despite deeply rooted phobias to paint a more truthful, humanistic portrait of this community that’s often narrowly portrayed by the media. Abre Camino follows the migration journeys of women who risk their lives “to be more free,” as Alexa, a woman who recently made it to the U.S. after attempting to migrate three times, said.

Shortlist

We are also happy to congratulate these five photographers who were named as finalists, with a special jury citation for Taniya Sarkar:

Taniya Sarkar   |   India   |   taniyasarkarnet.wordpress.com   |   @taniya.sarkar2
Sumi Anjuman   |   Bangladesh   |   sumianjuman.wixsite.com/sumianjuman   |   @sumi_anjuman
Lina Geoushy   |   Egypt + UK   |   www.linageoushy.com   |   @linageoushy
Mayra Martell   |   Mexico   |   www.mayramartell.com   |   @mayra.martell
Gigi Tun   |   Myanmar   |   @tun_waihnin

Notes from the Judges:

WOMEN PHOTOGRAPH PROJECT GRANT JUDGES

WOMEN PHOTOGRAPH + GETTY IMAGES GRANT JUDGES