Since 2007, The Magnum Foundation has supported more than 250 photographers in over 100 countries. Nominated by an extensive international network of partners, the image-makers who have won the Magnum Foundation grants reflect a vibrant range of voices and perspectives.
This year things worked slightly differently: The Magnum Foundation extended an invitation to their community of past grantees to apply for support for new and ongoing projects.
This year’s grants represent more than $130,000 of direct funding to photographers.
Each of these projects represents innovative, socially engaged, and independent storytelling by diverse makers.
With the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation, the Magnum Foundation is pleased to enable three projects that present new narratives about the complex nexus of religion and migration by Nadege Mazars, Robert Pluma, and Pedro Silvera.

All ten grantees are currently working on their proposed projects and will submit completed work in the Spring of 2020:

STEPHEN FERRY

Supporting the work of Colombia’s Truth Commission by constructing a public photographic archive of the armed conflict, civic resistance to the violence and acts of peace.

TATSUNIYA II | RAHIMA GAMBO

A visual storytelling workshop to support the growth and empowerment of female students at a school in Maiduguri, Nigeria, which was targeted by Boko Haram in 2013 and subsequently closed for two years in an increasingly dangerous insurgency.

ON RAPE | LAIA ABRIL

An ongoing visual archive of the systemic control of women’s bodies across time and cultures to explore how concepts of myths, power, and law relate to the constructions of the notion of masculinity and sexual violence.

JOURNALISM AS A SOCIAL PRACTICE IN WEBSTER CITY, IOWA | BRENDAN HOFFMAN

Undertaking a residency at Iowa’s Daily Freeman-Journal to work with local residents on a visual conversation about identity and representation in America’s heartland (produced with support from the Economic Hardship Reporting Project).

LAST LETTERS | BILLY H.C. KWOK

Excavating the hidden history of the White Terror, a period of authoritarian rule in Taiwan, using final letters penned by victims of the regime.


TIGER EYE | HEBA KHALIFA

Revealing gender-related persecution in Egypt through the complex and intimate dynamics and lived experience of the mother-daughter relationship.


HIDDEN HISTORIES | ROBERT PLUMA

Countering colonial narratives and reclaiming the indigenous identity of what is now southern Texas through the use of augmented reality and recorded oral histories told by mission descendants (produced in collaboration with creative technologist Kei Gowda produced with support from the Henry Luce Foundation).

COLLABORATION WITH GUWODO | ESTHER MBABAZI

This collaborative project aims to make visible the lives of women and girls with disabilities in Northern Uganda by engaging them in the creative process about how to best tell and represent their own personal stories (produced with support from American Jewish World Service).

SACRED DIASPORA | PEDRO SILVEIRA

Drawing on fieldwork and archival research to explore the presence of African deities worshiped on Brazilian lands in a region called All Saints Bay (produced in collaboration with visual artist Aislane Nobre produced with support from the Henry Luce Foundation).

WOLVES, SWALLOWS, AND EWES: 
A TALE ABOUT REAL LIVES IN EL SALVADOR | NADÈGE MAZARS

Exploring the intersections of violence, migration, and religion through the personal trajectory of individuals in El Salvador (produced in collaboration with tattoo artist Azul Luna produced with support from the Henry Luce Foundation).

More info on https://www.magnumfoundation.org/