All posts by Inge Morath Estate

IM Mag 2018/2019

Emily Kinni: The Bus Stop

Emily Kinni (USA): The Bus Stop
Inge Morath Award Finalist, 2018

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Huntsville, Texas is a prison town with 11 different prison units of varying degrees of security. The industry is one of the most prominent in the town both geographically and economically. The Walls Unit is the oldest prison in the state,which includes the currently active execution chamber. The Walls unit (the biggest unit in Huntsville) also serves as a regional release center for the state meaning many men are bussed in from other parts of Texas to be released.

On average there are 100 to 150 releases a day Monday through Friday. If the individual doesn’t have a family member picking them up they walk a block away to a designated Greyhound bus station and wait for their ride out of town. They can be easily identified in the town because they are wearing church donated clothes, often reffered to as “clown clothes” and have their belongings typically in red onion bags.

I have been going to this bus stop and photographing men interested in sharing their stories with me. I take their portrait on film, and then two polaroids, one for me and one for them to take with them making it more of an exchange. I was the most curious about this particular couple of hours while they wait for their bus to come to take them to the next phase of their lives. In particular, I wanted to begin to photographically explore the liminality of these few hours, and to question their sense of identity, and the meaning of freedom especially with a high recidivism state rate.

IM Mag 2018/2019

Peyton Fulford: Infinite Tenderness

Peyton Fulford (USA): Infinite Tenderness
Inge Morath Award Finalist, 2018

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I grew up in a religious household in a small southern town. My mother was raised in the Sanctified Holy Church and my father was raised Southern Baptist. As a result of the strict beliefs I had been taught since birth, I did not feel comfortable coming out as queer until I was 21 years old.

For the majority of my life, I was unsure where I belonged in the world. It was difficult to navigate the space I was growing up in because I could not relate to it or understand my place within it. I never felt like my truest, most open self when conforming to the culture and ideologies around me. As I came to terms with my own identity, the photo series Infinite Tenderness came to fruition.

In 2016, I began exploring the notion of intimacy and identity among the LGBTQ+ community in the American South. These are the people I have met and connected with along the way. Through this work, I am documenting the exploration of one’s body, sexuality, and gender that comes along with growing up and identifying oneself.

My intention is to empower others and create an accepting space for queer kids that grow up in small towns and rural areas. Each individual in this series is dependent on another for support and understanding of their ever-changing identities. This is a visual representation of today’s American youth.

IM Mag 2018/2019

Melissa Spitz: You Have Nothing to Worry About

Melissa Spitz (USA): You Have Nothing to Worry About
Inge Morath Award Recipient, 2018

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Since 2009, I have been making photographs of my mentally ill, substance-abusing mother. Her diagnoses change frequently—from alcoholism to dissociative identity disorder—and my relationship with her has been fraught with animosity for as long as I can remember. I am fully aware that my mother thrives on being the center of attention and that, at times, our portrait sessions encourage her erratic behavior.

My brother and I used to leave notes all over the house for our mother, one said, “Reminder: You Have Nothing to Worry About! Be Fucking Happy!” That phrase, You Have Nothing to Worry About, became our mantra, and the title for this body of work.

The photographs are simultaneously upsetting and encouraging; honest and theatrical; loving and hateful. By turning the camera toward my mother and my relationship with her, I capture her behavior as an echo of my own emotional response. The images function like an ongoing conversation.

You Have Nothing to Worry About has acted like a mirror for my mother and she attributes seeing the photographs as her reason for seeking help with alcohol abuse. The project’s Instagram @nothing_to_worry_about has spurred a community of mothers and daughters discussing addiction and mental health in the home. Today it has over fifty-five thousand followers, who contribute their own stories regularly, 90% of them identify as women.

News

Announcing the 2018 Inge Morath Award

Magnum Foundation and Inge Morath Estate are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2018 Inge Morath Award, Melissa Spitz, for her project You Have Nothing to Worry About. The Inge Morath Award is a $5,000 production grant given each year to a woman photographer under the age of 30 to support the completion of a long-term documentary project. This year’s finalists are Peyton Fulford, for her proposal Infinite Tenderness and Emily Kinni, for her proposal The Bus Stop. From a pool of 98 applications from 31 countries, Melissa, Peyton, and Emily were selected by the membership of Magnum Photos at their Annual General Meeting to honor the legacy of their colleague, Inge Morath.

© Melissa Spitz

Born in Missouri, Melissa Spitz received her BFA from the University of Missouri and her MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She was awarded by Time Magazine in 2017 as “Instagram Photographer of the Year,” and is one of the recipients of the 2016 Flash Forward Award by The Magenta Foundation. Her work has been featured by Time Magazine, VICE, The Huffington Post and Aperture Foundation.

In her proposal, Melissa Spitz writes:

© Melissa Spitz

Since 2009, I have been making photographs of my mentally ill, substance-abusing mother. Her diagnoses change frequently–from alcoholism to dissociative identity disorder–and my relationship with her has been fraught with animosity for as long as I can remember. You Have Nothing to Worry About has acted like a mirror for my mother and she attributes seeing the photographs as her reason for seeking help with alcohol abuse. The project’s Instagram @nothing_to_worry_about has spurred a community of mothers and daughters discussing addiction and mental health in the home.

© Peyton Fulford

Peyton Fulford’s Infinite Tenderness portrays the notion of intimacy and identity among the LGBTQ+ community in the American South. In her proposal, she writes: “I am documenting the exploration of one’s body, sexuality, and gender that comes along with growing up and identifying oneself. My intention is to empower others and create an accepting space for queer kids that grow up in small towns and rural areas.”

© Emily Kinni

Emily Kinni’s The Bus Stop documents recently released inmates at a bus station in the prison town of Huntsville, Texas. In her proposal, she writes: “On average there are 100 to 150 releases a day Monday through Friday. If the individual doesn’t have a family member picking them up they walk a block away to a designated Greyhound bus station and wait for their ride out of town. I have been going to this bus stop and photographing men interested in sharing their stories with me.”

Melissa, Peyton and Emily’s work, in addition to that of other select applicants, will be presented in the Inge Morath Magazine over the coming year.

Magnum Foundation is a non-profit organization that expands creativity and diversity in documentary photography, activating new audiences and ideas through the innovative use of images. Through grantmaking, mentoring, and creative collaborations, we partner with socially engaged imagemakers experimenting with new models for storytelling.

IM Mag 2017/2018

Sarah Blesener: Toy Soldiers

Sarah Blesener (USA): Toy Soldiers

Rising Youth Nationalism in Russia and the U.S.

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On a Thursday afternoon, six teenage boys gathered in an abandoned warehouse in the town of Diveevo, Russia, and the drills began. The group, called “The Survivalists,” meets weekly to practice tactical skills and defense strategies. Artyom, who at 17 is one of the oldest of the group, was helping another student, Daniel, 11, to hide in the corner room and prepare for a surprise attack with his plastic weapon. Their instructor calmly tells me that the group is not looking for war, but is preparing young patriots to be ready for the future.

Over 200,000 Russian youth are currently enrolled in patriotic clubs, with 10,000 in Moscow alone. Each club functions independently with their own structures and philosophies. In 2015, the Russian government proposed a program called the “Patriotic Education of Russian Citizens in 2016-2020” which envisions an eight-percent increase in patriotic youth over the next ten years, and a ten-percent increase in new recruits for the Russian armed forces.

There is nothing inherently wrong with patriotism. However, these two terms, patriotism and nationalism, easily blur. There is a thin line between devotion to a place or way of life and to a feeling of superiority or aggression towards “outsiders.” Because youth are always easy targets for new ideologies, for the last year I have been focusing my work on clubs, camps, and alternative groups for youth that combine patriotic education and gun training with a mix of fun that makes the whole experience seem like a game.

The first chapter of this project began in April of 2016 in various regions throughout Russia. Building on this past year of work, it is my intention to extend the project to the United States, where the issue has been underreported. The evident rise of nationalistic sentiment, along with the current political climate, has made this work become a necessity for me. By focusing solely on the country of Russia, I feel that the work can easily be misinterpreted as a phenomena happening in an isolated region. The rhetoric and parallels I see in my own country are something that I want to challenge and visually document.

My intent is to raise questions about how beliefs and traditions are passed down to younger generations. I want to challenge ideas of patriotism. I am interested in youth culture and movements and beyond politics, my photographs intend to tap into this vital essence of youth: camaraderie, bonding, and how our identities are constructed at a young age.

Nationalistic tendencies and biases are part of the make-up of most of us, whether we like it or not. However, I agree with George Orwell when he states, “whether it is possible to get rid of them I do not know, but I do believe it is possible to struggle against them.”

News

The Inge Morath Award, 2018 Guidelines

The Inge Morath Award, 2018 Guidelines

The Magnum Foundation and the Inge Morath Estate are pleased to announce the 17th annual Inge Morath Award, a $5,000 grant given to a female photographer under the age of 30 to support the completion of a long-term documentary project. One Awardee and up to two finalists are selected by a jury composed of Magnum photographers, the Executive Director of the Magnum Foundation, and Inge Morath Estate.

Inge Morath was an Austrian-born photographer who was associated with Magnum Photos for nearly fifty years. After her death in 2002, the Inge Morath Foundation was established with a limited-term mission to manage Morath’s estate and facilitate the study and appreciation of her contribution to photography. With the closure of the research space in 2014, all ongoing activities of the estate were folded into the Legacy Program of the Magnum Foundation, New York. The Inge Morath archive was acquired by the Beinecke Library at Yale University, and a set of Morath’s master prints by the Yale University Art Gallery, where they are now available to scholars.

Because Morath devoted much of her enthusiasm to encouraging women photographers, her colleagues at Magnum Photos established the Inge Morath Award in her honor.

The Award is administered by the Magnum Foundation as part of its mission to expand creativity and diversity in documentary photography, in cooperation with the Inge Morath Estate.

Past winners of the Inge Morath Award include:
Johanna-Maria Fritz (Germany, ‘17), Winner, for Like a Bird, Daniella Zalcman (US, ‘16), for Signs of Your Identity, Danielle Villasana (US, ’15), for A Light Inside, Shannon Jensen (US, ’14), for A Long Walk; Isadora Kosofsky (US, ’12), for Selections from “TheThree” and “This Existence;” Zhe Chen (China, ’11) for Bees; Lurdes R. Basolí (Spain, ’10) for Caracas, The City of Lost Bullets and Claire Martin (Australia, ’10) for Selections from The Downtown East Side and Slab City; Emily Schiffer (US, ’09) for Cheyenne River; Kathryn Cook (US, ’08) for Memory Denied: Turkey and the Armenian Genocide; Olivia Arthur (UK, ’07) for The Middle Distance; Jessica Dimmock (US, ’06) for The Ninth Floor; Mimi Chakarova (US, ’06) for Sex Trafficking in Eastern Europe; Claudia Guadarrama (MX, ’05) for Beforethe Limit; and Ami Vitale (US, ’02), for Kashmir.

IM Award Guidelines:

  1. All submissions must be made online using the interface at Submittable.com.
  2. The Award is given to a female photographer to complete a long-term documentary project. Proposals and accompanying material should present only the project for which the Award is being requested.
  3. All applicants must be under the age of 30 on April 30th, 2018 (in other words, if April 30th is your birthday, and you’re turning 30, then you’re no longer eligible to submit a proposal).
  4. Presentation guidelines and image specifications are given at our Submittable.com page.

Submit here: https://ingemorath.submittable.com/submit
All IM Award submissions must be received by April 30th, 2018.

IM Mag 2017/2018

Isadora Romero: Amazona Warmikuna

Isadora Romero (Ecuador): Amazona Warmikuna
Inge Morath Award Finalist, 2017

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Amazona Warmikuna is a photographic project that portrays in a subjective manner the life of the indigenous women in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. This series is inspired by the myth of the Amazonas by whom the region receives its name.

According to history, the Amazon Rainforest is one of the few places on Earth that was called after a female character, casually fictional. In the first community I visited, I was struck by the temperament of the women living there; they never stop defending life and their territory. Thanks to their organization, they have managed to unite the community in the fight against mining, a serious threat nowadays. This project is a tribute to their strength, to their mystical vision of the world. It is a tribute to the women building history.

Throughout my career I have been interested in the role women play anonymously in the world. I think that in addition to denouncing the inequalities, it is essential to spread stories of resilience, strength and empowerment, like Amazona Warmikuna, which invites the observer to a mystic journey. This path is just the beginning. My strategy will be to follow the indigenous women’s worldview, which professes that everything in the jungle is alive, that every plant, animal, object has its spirit, its magic and must be protected in order to achieve a harmonious life.

IM Mag 2017/2018

Johanna-Maria Fritz: Like a Bird

Johanna-Maria Fritz (Germany): Like a Bird
Inge Morath Award Recipient, 2017

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When seventeen, I started to accompany the East German family circus “Zirkus Rolandos”. During my education at Ostkreuzschule in Berlin I intensified my pursuit with “Rolandos” and searched all over Europe for extraordinary circuses. I stumbled upon the first and only circus in Iceland, Sirkus Islands, which I visited and whose staff I’ve been documenting since it’s early years. I presented this series of photographs in an exhibition as my graduation work.

Many men in the Arab world, especially those who are more conservative, have yet to see an Arab sex movie (arabian افلام سكس). This is hardly surprising because the
Arab people are among the most conservative and reserved people in the world. In their eyes, sex is a sin and for them, anything related to it is considered to be unacceptable.
Still, there are many Arab sex movies being made now that can help men see the world in a different way and also give them some encouragement as to what they should expect from sex.

For Like a Bird I travelled to Palestine (Westbank and Gaza), Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. I was especially curious about the role of women in circus life and the environment the circus is based in – thankfully I was able to get access to the female culture in conservative societies like Iran and Afghanistan as I am myself a woman. With my work I pursue the object of overcoming prejudices and show how small communities are able to function in these conservative or conflict-ridden countries. I direct a spectators view to different worlds: The one of the circus as well as the society surrounding it and how the social fabric of the circus influences the outside and gets influenced itself in reverse.

News

Announcing the 2017 Inge Morath Award

We are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2017 Inge Morath Award, Johanna-Maria Fritz, for her project Like a Bird. The Inge Morath Award is a $5,000 production grant given each year to a woman photographer under the age of 30 to support the completion of a long-term documentary project. This year’s finalist is Isadora Romero, for her proposal Amazona Warmikuna. From a pool of 122 applications from over 30 countries, Johanna-Maria and Isadora were selected by the membership of Magnum Photos at their Annual General Meeting to honor the legacy of their colleague, Inge Morath.

© Johanna-Maria Fritz
© Johanna-Maria Fritz

Born in Malsch, Germany, Johanna-Maria Fritz studied photography at Neue Schule für Fotografie. She was highlighted by Time Magazine’s list “Women in Photography: 34 Voices From Around the World,” and is one of the recipients of the 2017 Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards. Her work has been published in Tagesspiegel, Neues Deutschland, Fluter, Zeit-online, Vice, and Interview Magazine, and she has exhibited her work internationally.

In her proposal, Johanna-Maria writes:

© Johanna-Maria Fritz
© Johanna-Maria Fritz

For Like a bird, I travelled to Palestine, Afghanistan, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. I was especially curious about the role of women in circus life and the environment the circus is based in. Thankfully I was able to get access to the female culture in conservative societies as I am myself a woman… I direct a spectator’s view to different worlds: the one of the circus as well as the society surrounding it and how the social fabric of the circus influences the outside and in turn is influenced itself.

© Isadora Romero
© Isadora Romero

Finalist Isadora Romero works in her home country of Ecuador. Her project Amazona Warmikuna portrays the lives of indigenous women in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Inspired by the myth of the Amazonas, from whom the region received its name, Isadora’s series is a tribute to their mystical vision of the world and their incredible strength.

Both Johanna-Maria and Isadora’s work, in addition to that of other select applicants, will be presented in the Inge Morath Magazine over the coming year.

“This year’s applicants were unusually strong, almost across the board,” says Magnum Foundation Executive Director Kristen Lubben. “That so many young women under the age of 30–and from countries around the world–already have substantial and distinctive bodies of work to share is really promising for the field as a whole. Being able to support these photographers in the completion of their long-term projects is a fitting way to honor the legacy of Inge Morath, who carved a path for herself as a celebrated photographer in the wake of WWII, working against the grain of what was expected of women at the time.”

Magnum Foundation is a non-profit organization that expands creativity and diversity in documentary photography, activating new audiences and ideas through the innovative use of images. Through grantmaking, mentoring, and creative collaborations, we partner with socially engaged imagemakers experimenting with new models for storytelling.

IM Mag 2016/2017

Anastasia Vlasova: The Invisible Warriors

Anastasia Vlasova (Ukraine): The Invisible Warriors

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There was one boy there (at the checkpoint). What was his name? Vadik? Yura? Not sure I even knew his name… On his way up the hill he turned back to me and said ‘bye, mama’ and waved his hand. About a week after I got a call from a comrade who told me that a shell had landed exactly where their tent was… That kid got killed right away. The others got wounded pretty bad. When I realized that that kid died, even though I didn’t even know his name and spent just about an hour with him, his ‘bye, mama’, which he said as my own son could, is still haunting me. It really did get to me a lot, even though he was a stranger

Oksana Shakhray with a call sign “Mama” (mother) recalls her service at Ukraine’s National Guard as a paramedic. At home, in Odesa, Oksana has two sons and a grand-daughter, while at the war zone in Eastern Ukraine she has dozens of soldiers whom she treats like her own children.

Oksana joined the army in awareness that her 27-year-old son might be conscripted, so she wanted to be near him in case he gets wounded. He never was, while Oksana stayed to serve in the army and became a mother to many soldiers. Continue reading Anastasia Vlasova: The Invisible Warriors →