W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund

You have just TWO DAYS LEFT to snag one of these 58 stunning 11x14 archival pigment prints one of which comes from Eugene Smith's Estate. All net proceeds will go towards our 2021 grant cycle. Don't miss out on a chance to own one of these impactful photographs! www.smithfund.org/2020-print-sale

For over 40 years, the W. Eugene Smith Fund has supported the work of documentary photographers who are dedicated to telling stories with passion, persistence and perseverance. And now, for the first time ever, the Smith Fund is holding a flash print sale featuring the work of 57 incredible photographers who have been Smith Fund grantees, finalists, or fellows. All net proceeds will go towards our 2021 grant cycle. Please take a look at these stunning and impactful photogra...phs, and don't miss out on an opportunity to own one (or three) today! www.smithfund.org/2020-print-sale See more

Long Time No See, a project by Andrea Orejarena and Caleb Stein, brings together a constellation of photographs, paintings, and video to explore the memory of the Vietnam-America War and the ongoing legacy of chemical warfare. Though collaborations are not eligible for a Smith Fund Grant under current guidelines, this project was noted by the judges for its sensitivity and compelling storytelling. Over a two year period, we worked closely with the community at Làng Hu N...ghi, a residence in Hanoi for veterans and younger generations affected by Agent Orange, a genetically mutating chemical weapon used by the U.S. We challenge the traditionally rigid divide between subject and author and this work is the product of our mutual creative process. Many of the people in the photographs contributed paintings, and sometimes drew directly on the photographs. Their drawings also appear on the walls of their bedrooms in the background of the photographs...The conceptual structure of this work allows for a visual exchange between western artists and Vietnamese people still affected by the aftermath of the war in a way that eschews the dominant, Hollywood-centric narrative in the West. View more images from the project: https://www.smithfund.org/2020-andrea-orejarena-and-caleb-s

Yuki Iwanami is one of five recipients of the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant for his project Blue Persimmons. Blue Persimmons looks at the aftermath of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima through the lens of a photographer who moved to Fukushima after the disaster. Through his photographs of contaminated land and living people, Iwanami captures the human side of this disaster, how it impacted the people, and how the nuclear power issues relate to other societal issues. In a recent interview, Iwanami explained that he wants to create a work that goes below the surface and looks at the roots that are common to many social issues.

Mariceu Erthal García is one of five recipients of the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant for her project Letters to Gemma. Letters to Gemma explores the absence of a missing woman, Gemma Mávil, who left home in 2011 for a job interview and never returned. García immerses herself in Gemma’s world through documenting the places she once inhabited, the poetry she wrote, the flowers she cultivated and the sad memory of her desire to live. Through this series, García uses the self-portrait as an interpretation of Gemma's intimate world, suspended in time, since her life was suspended at the moment she disappeared. According to the federal database in Mexico, one person disappears every two hours. View more images from the project: https://www.smithfund.org/recipi/2020-mariceu-erthal-garcia

Laura El-Tantawy is one of five recipients of the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant for her project I’ll Die For You. El-Tantawy’s series contemplates farming as a diminishing way of life a consequence of persistent climatic variations, its harsh physical and economic demands, singular nature, and a disposition towards urban living. My paternal grandfather Hussein, is my inspiration for this series, she wrote. A farmer in Egypt’s Nile Delta, his devotion to his land ev...entually annihilated him. The series is driven by a desire to attach a human face to an environmental and social reality some insist to rebuff as abstract. It is an ode to my own grandfather and the many farmers I have been fortunate to meet & those who in death found a retreat. View more images from the project: https://www.smithfund.org/recipients/2020-laura-el-tantawy

Sabiha Cimen was one of the five recipients of the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant for her project Hafz: The Guardians of Quran, an ongoing series of medium format portraits shot in conservative Quran boarding schools for young girls in five cities in Turkey. It shows the daily lives of the girls and their hidden emotions as they try to memorize the sacred texts while still retaining the humble dreams of any young woman their age. l attended Quran school with my twin sis...ter when I was twelve years old, and with that experience l am now able to reveal a world unknown till now, Cimen wrote in her submission to the Smith Grant. This story is a rarely seen glimpse into this world, normally hidden and forbidden to most others. My project is about these young women, about me and my twin, the memory of the Quran, and an investigation and portrayal of the hidden power within them acting out with small forms of resistance to find their individuality. View more images from the project: https://www.smithfund.org/recipients/2020-sabiha-cimen

Andrés Cardona, one of five recipients of the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant, uses portraits, family pictures and re-creations of murder scenes in his project which focuses on his family and their relationship to violence in Colombia. In 1993 when I was three years old, my father was killed by the National Army in the south of Colombia. He was accused of being a guerrilla fighter and shot without trial. He was put in a mass grave in the company of my uncle who was also kill...ed. My mother was murdered eight months later by the Colombian military and put in a common grave. Her body was not delivered and nobody could go to claim it for fear of dying. My parents had socialist ideas and they killed them for that, Cardona wrote. Cardona will continue the project by accompanying the Missing Persons Search Unit in the search for his disappeared mother, travel to the sites where his mother and father were massacred, and interview and photograph family members who were tortured, displaced, and affected by the war in Colombia. View more images from the project: https://www.smithfund.org/recipients/2020-andres-cardona

The 2020 W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers goes to Ksenia Kuleshova for her project Ordinary People. Kuleshova, a graduate student at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Dortmund, Germany, documents the everyday life of LGBTQ+ couples in Russia and their ability to enjoy everyday life despite open homophobia on the television, by politicians in the media, and the Russian church. View more images from the project: https://www.smithfund.org/recipi...ents/2020-ksenia-kuleshova Image: Maria Krugovaya (left) and Anastasia Vyadro (right) in bed in Maria’s flat in Saint Petersburg. They have been together for seven months and plan to start living together soon. Maria, 35, is an openly gay photographer. Anastasia Vyadro, 29, from Saratov is a choreographer, dancer and an actor in the immersive show Faceless. Saint Petersburg, Russia. 2018.

This year's Howard Chapnick Grant goes to OjoRojo Fábrica Visual, a non-profit cultural foundation run by a group of Colombian and international documentary photographers in central Bogota, Colombia. In four short years, OjoRojo has become an important reference point in the world of Colombian and Latin American photography and journalism. Through workshops, exhibitions and numerous public presentations by photographers, they promote diversity and gender equality in the profession, while emphasizing the development of critical and informed perspectives on the challenges facing Colombian and Latin American society. Learn more about this year’s grant recipients: https://www.smithfund.org/2020-grant-recipients-landing-page

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant! We are breaking from our 40-year tradition of presenting a $40,000 annual grant to a single photographer by announcing we have selected five recipients of this year’s grant. Each recipient will receive $10,000 for their entries which, in the eyes of the judges, follow the tradition of the compassionate photojournalism exhibited by W. Eugene Smith during his 45-year career. The 2020 recipients ar...e: Andrés Cardona (Colombia) Sabiha Çimen (Turkey) Laura El-Tantawy (Egypt) Mariceu Erthal Garcia (Mexico) Yuki Iwanami (Japan) View work from all of the recipients: https://www.smithfund.org/2020-grant-recipients-landing-page The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund is supported by generous contributions from The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Meero Foundation, Carla Shen, Chris Schott, and Dora Somosi. Additional support is provided by Aperture, Brilliant Graphics, Center for Creative Photography (CCP), the International Center of Photography, MediaStorm, Pro Photo Daily, School of Visual Arts MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department, School of Visual Arts MPS Digital Photography, and Synergy Communications.

Ksenia Kuleshova, shortlisted for the W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers, is documenting the everyday life of Russia’s LGBTQ+ community amidst the open homophobia of Russian politicians, the Russian church, and what is seen on television. My work aims to give the international community a deeper insight into the Russian LGBTQ+ community, to take steps toward a more tolerant society in Russia, and to start discussions and debates. Caption: Maria Krugovaya (left)... and Anastasia Vyadro (right) are brushing their teeth in Maria’s flat in Saint Petersburg. They have been together for seven months and plan to start living together soon. Russia, Saint Petersburg, 12/08/2018. This week we are sharing the finalists for the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers. Stay tuned for the official announcement of grant recipients on the Smith Fund website in mid October!

Ronghui Chen, shortlisted for the W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers, is exploring the shrinking cities of northeastern China, an industrial region bordering Russia and North Korea. We’re used to thinking of Chinese cities in the context of growth, but the country’s northeast region is an exception...The young people I met were experiencing a sense of uncertainty. They were facing a choice to leave for challenges in bigger cities, or stay behind and embrace their fate. Their voices are sparsely documented by Chinese media or through other mediums. Few people know about their stories, colorful, yet full of loneliness. This week we are sharing the finalists for the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers. Stay tuned for the official announcement of grant recipients on the Smith Fund website in mid October!

Ingmar Bjorn Nolting, shortlisted for the W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers, is photographing the COVID-19 crisis in Germany, examining the state of a country often associated with bureaucracy and order. This week we are sharing the finalists for the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers. Stay tuned for the official announcement of grant recipients on the Smith Fund website in mid October! Caption: Young couples meet along the international border that runs between Konstanz, Germany, and Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. Before the pandemic, residents moved freely between the municipalities. In hopes of limiting infections, officials erected fences.

Tabitha L. Barnard, shortlisted for the W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers, is photographing her three sisters' relationship to womanhood, sexuality, and religion against the backdrop of their home in rural Maine. This week we are sharing work from the finalists for the 2020 W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers. Stay tuned for the official announcement of grant recipients on the Smith Fund website in mid October! Caption: Easter Bonfire, 2019... Grace and Claudia posing in front of a small fire on the evening of Easter. Easter dresses have always been important to my family and I made theirs this year. See more

Liu’s shortlisted project, DPRK: Undercurrent, focuses on the quiet changes happening in the lives of North Koreans. I hold a degree in history, so I focus on people and their connection to a macro-narrative. I want to show life beyond the orthodox discourse. The media has too many preconceived notions about the people of North Korea. See the full list of finalists for the 41st annual W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography: https://www.smithfund.org//w-eugene-smit...h-fund-names-final Caption: A man fishes offshore in the coastal city of Wonsan.

Billy H.C. Kwok’s shortlisted project, Last Letters: A Photographic Investigation of Taiwan White Terror, investigates a dark chapter of Taiwan’s political past, taboos and societal amnesia. It studies the collective memories, as well as speaking to the hidden traumas that have passed on, one generation to the next, showing the tension between absence and presence, past and future. See the full list of finalists for the 41st annual W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography: https://www.smithfund.org//w-eugene-smith-fund-names-final Caption: Supporters of the Taiwan Independence movement splash red paint on the sarcophagus of Kuomintang (KMT) Former President Chiang Kai-shek.