The Aftermath Project is offering two special opportunities: a $20,000 grant for conflict photographers to share their experiences with the aftermath of covering conflict, and an additional $5,000 honorarium for a fixer/translator who wants to tell a story about their own experience. Full information is below. You can download the application form from their website. Deadline is October 1, 2011.
Dear friends –
I’m writing with news of a special grant cycle that’s a bit of a departure for the Aftermath Project – a grant that is open only to conflict photographers.
As many of you know, the Aftermath Project was created to help photographers cover the aftermath of conflict, and was founded on the understanding that war is only half the story. But for quite some time I’ve been thinking about how the Aftermath Project could engage more meaningfully with conflict photographers – who, after all, are the ones telling the first half of the story.
When Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros were killed, I found myself listening to the conversations and reading the postings that poured out from photographers and colleagues about the incredible sense of loss we all felt, and also about the many costs of covering conflict. It occurred to me that it might be the right time to offer a grant for conflict photographers who wanted to engage in a conversation about aftermath.
It is a testament to how deeply moved people were by the loss of Tim and Chris that I was able to raise $16,000 in the first 72 hours after I asked a handful of people to support this grant, people who had never even met Tim and Chris. Another $4,000 quickly followed, bringing the total to $20,000.
And so we are able to offer this year-long grant to conflict photographers who want to pursue a project about the aftermath in their own lives of covering conflict. The subject can be approached in any way – portraits, landscapes, reportage, collaboration with a family of someone who has been killed, anything that explores the personal aftermath of covering war, whether that be PTSD, the aftermath of sexual assault, the aftermath of being wounded. This is a very open and fluid call for proposals on this subject, and we welcome any and all approaches. We are very interested in supporting a dialogue about this kind of aftermath – both for the photographer who wins the grant, and for the broader audience who we hope will engage with the work when the grant winner’s year is finished.
I’m also very pleased to announce a special $5,000 honorarium for a fixer or translator, who has worked with a conflict photographer, and who wants to tell a story (written or visual) about their own aftermath experience. Although the Aftermath Project’s mission is to give grants to photographers, we agree with many people in the photo community who have strongly voiced their concerns about the lack of attention paid to the great costs paid by fixers and translators, whose own lives – and all too often deaths – go unnoticed and uncared for. Thanks to the commitment of one donor – a photographer – we are able to offer this modest honorarium in the hope that it will help spur further action by others.
One important note: if a conflict photographer AND a fixer/translator wish to apply together, they will be eligible for the combined sums of $25,000.
The application requirements are very simple. Please see the application form.
I also want to thank and acknowledge the generous support of the individuals who have made this possible:
Grant donors: Joan Morgenstern, Martha Kellner, Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, Chris Meledandri,
Betsy Karel and Neal Baer.
Honorarium donor: Elizabeth Rappaport.
Special thanks, too, to our friends at LOOK3 — where we first announced this grant earlier this month.
With warm regards,
Sara Terry, Director/Founder