Community Grant Shortlist
This was possibly the toughest set of entries to shortlist so far which is why we've chosen 6 projects rather than our usual five. If you haven't been successful this time then please feel free to try again when applications re-open on 1st April 2024.
Please read about all of the projects carefully before submitting your vote on the form further down this page for the one that you think we should support this time.
I am not an embarrasment - Xoliswa Ngwenya
My project explores the issue of gender-based violence and patriarchy from a unique perspective as a black man living in a township. This perspective brings a different layer of complexity to the conversation and helps bridge the gender divide that often exists in discussions about these issues.
Intersectionality: I acknowledge the intersectionality of the problem, considering not just physical violence but also the way people speak or address each other. This broader perspective recognizes that gender-based violence is a complex issue with multiple contributing factors.
Focus on Dialogue: My project emphasizes the importance of dialogue and bringing both men and women into the conversation. By promoting open and honest conversations, it seeks to find solutions and healing for collective trauma, which is a significant and innovative approach.
Long-Term Vision: My vision for a society free from violence and discrimination and the focus on creating a better world for future generations is aspirational and inspiring. It highlights your commitment to long-term change rather than just raising awareness.
The Places I (Long To) Go - Megan Sinclair
In 'The Places I (Long To) Go' I construct a stage for my psyche, offering my perspective of living with post traumatic stress disorder by physically engaging with my thoughts. Being a bystander of violence has corroded my sense of safety and grounding, leaving me with unpredictable consequences as I grapple with death. The large format self portraits in this series will be accompanied by a short film made from micro cassette recordings and Lomokino video; combining train of thought, narration of dreams, poetry, recounted memories, and abstracted environments.
Lone star forever - Kish Daniels
Minnesota has the largest populations of Liberians (Over 30,000) in the united states but very little has been properly documented about our people. i currently am working on a documentary highlighting Liberians in Minnesota but also want to begin cataloguing Liberian culture and living history in Minnesota. I would love support by way of film (120 and 35mm, and darkroom paper if possible) to eventually create both printed books and a gallery in Minneapolis.
Fanesca - Lucho Davila
Fanesca is an ongoing project that studies how immigration alters traditional folklore, as a Spanish-Ecuadorian photographer based and formed in London, Fanesca reflects on cultural syncretism from an external point of view portraying traditional characters represented with a contemporary vision. The name Fanesca itself represents cultural syncretism as it is a traditional Ecuadorian indigenous soup adopted and reinterpreted by the Catholic Spanish church, eaten only in Eastern nowadays.
Fanesca has gone through several tests and phases, first test was shot on HP5 sheets 4x5 with an Arca Swiss in 2021. As the test phases, the first phase was shot in London on a Mamiya RZ67 with HP5 for the black and white portraits, using customs designed by me, and shot as self-portraits.
The second phase of this ongoing study was shot in Ecuador in 2022 with a Mamiya RZ67 on HP5. The third phase was shot in January 2024 in London using the same film stock, Ilford HP5 and camera - Mamiya RZ67.
Our Kids - Portraits of people with LGBTQ+ parents. - Paula Smith
My 9-year-old twins are growing up fast. Secondary school is not far off. With them having gay (female) parents, I often wonder how they will get on in 'big' school. My experience was fairly negative, but then most of my schooling was during the 80s so enough said!
Fortunately, London is a world away from that darker time and diversity and inclusiveness is more the norm. Still there is a way to go on the visibility front and so I'm seeking out and photographing adult children of LGBTQ+ parents, highlighting them as positive role models. I want to show who they are, what they have achieved and that their loving, supportive family helped get them there. I want my kids to see lots of other people from all walks of life, who also happen to have LGBTQ+ parent/s, and not feel in the minority or that their family is any less than anybody else.
I'm not sure where this could take me, but if I end up photographing; 'doctors, entertainers, footballers, vets, lawyers, plumbers, teachers, prime ministers' whose common connection is having LGBTQ+ parent/s then that would be pretty cool!
Black and white film is my first choice. I'm a film shooter. I seek the timeless quality black and white film can offer. My ambition for the portraits is for them to stand the test of time and be just as interesting and relevant today, as in 20, 30, 40 years time.
Mountains: The Inner Path - Eduardo Almeida
"The path summit is, like the journey to oneself, a solitaire route."
Alessandro Gogna
Italy, 1946
Many come to the mountains traying to reach the impossible. They traverse the path at a fast pace, without stopping, without taking their gaze off the trail, only focused on reaching the summit, as if conquering the rock were possible.
They believe they have the wild spirit of the mountain within themselves, but the mountain cannot be fooled. Perhaps they don't understand that the true conquest happens within, and that walking those trails alone, with oneself, leads them step by step, through a long inner path, towards a destination higher than the summits themselves.
This series dedicated to the mountains has been evolving for almost a decade, just like my way of looking and photographing, as I traversed the paths that led me to the most incredible landscapes. The selection of over 35 photographs that shapes the current series is the result of exploration, not only of the natural surroundings but also of myself. Each step taken among rocks and cliffs was also a step through the long inner path, which, like a pilgrimage, led me to self- discovery.
Each image in the series is created from start to finish using traditional photographic processes, from exposing the medium and large format negatives to printing, toning, and retouching the final silver gelatin print by myself, in a handmade manner, without the intervention of any digital technology.
Earlier awards
The Q3 2023 Grant was awarded to Anni Kay and her project Hulme Loonies.
Other shortlisted project were:-
Gary Dougherty - Lifesavers
Alan J Kent - The Afghan Street Camera
Emillio Daniel. - Hikayat Kain (Tale of Cloth)
Mia Kraitsowits - Loved Skins
The Q2 2023 Community Grant was awarded to Federico Pestilli for his project Extinct
Read more about how his project is going in our online magazine
The other projects shortlisted for this award were:-
Jack Moyse - What it's like (being me)
Megan Henderson - Locos Non Profit
Yang Zhou - Mapping J. R. R. Tolkien's England
D. M. Terblanche - I Should Have Burnt More Cars
Our Q1 2023 Winner was India Mae Alby with her project on the London Rollerskating Scene.
We shipped her prize in April. We'll catch up with her at the end of the year to find out how winning this award has helped bring her project to life.
The other projects shortlisted for this award were:-
Asian Representation in Hollywood - Marcus Ubungen
Black Women Rising UK - Noam Friedman
The Woman: Veiled - Jason and Amanda Ray
Don't Touch My... (DTM) - Zai
Our Q4 2022 Winner was SAM BATLEY with his project 'One Day at a time boys'.
His prize shipped in January and he updated us at the end of 2023 about his project working with a community of men from a recovery centre in Liverpool.
The other projects that you voted on for the 2nd award were:-
Dogs from Darkness - Ted Smith
Cost of Living Crisis - Kieran Doherty
Queering Rural Spaces - Sarah Stellino
The resistance of native corn in rural Mexico City - Diego Hernadez
Untie the Knot - Clare Park
Our Q3 2022 Winner was ANDILE BHALA with his project 'Related to the Pavement'.
We shipped his prize to him in November. You can read more about his project capturing faces of Soweto/JOZI in our magazine.
The other projects that you voted on for the 1st award were:-
Tragically beautiful - Anna Melnykova
f.64 - Savannah McCauley
Accessible Landscapes - John Emery
Just Sitting - Kasia Murfet
A Role Model for Me - Molly Kate