Project Development Grant Recipient
Juror: Erin O’Toole, Baker Street Foundation Associate Curator of Photography, SFMOMA

“Livin’ the Dream” is a participatory media project in Humboldt County, California, undertaken in collaboration with artists Leslie Castellano and Laura Montagna. The work engages incarcerated individuals held at the Humboldt County Correction Facility in Eureka. The program is one chapter of three that navigates substance abuse recovery for the currently and formerly incarcerated in Humboldt County.

Watch Justin’s presentation here.

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Director’s Choice Award 1st Place
Juror: Rubén Esparza, Independent Curator; Founder and Director, Queer Biennial

This is a story of relationships, but most importantly it is a story of love. A collection of intimate portraits and stories of people and their loved ones, families, or chosen families—including the photographer’s own family—are drawn from the diverse LGBTQ community, which constantly struggles for equality and acceptance.

Watch Sandra’s presentation here.

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Project Launch Grant Honorable Mention
Juror: Rebecca Senf, Chief Curator, Center for Creative Photography

The artist writes, “From scenes of gun violence that make the national news to my 61-year-old mother suddenly deciding to carry, incidents of gun use haunt me with curiosity and fear. Having no personal attachment to guns, I am grappling with present-day societal reverberations and implications of the gun in American culture.

To create this series, I set up my darkroom tent and tintype gear at known target shooting locations in the Arizona desert. I met gun-enthusiast strangers and asked them to participate in my project. I created their tintype portraits, and when complete, I gave them the option to use the image as a target. Some took part — leaving bullet holes in the plate. “Shot” refers simultaneously to my use of the camera and the participant’s use of the gun.”

Watch Kari’s presentation here.

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me&EVE Award Recipient
Juror: Jennifer Pritheeva Samuel, Photo Editor, National Geographic

When the migrants arrived at the border of Guatemala and Mexico, they were gassed and pepper-sprayed on their first attempt to cross. The government officials began to trick asylum seekers into entering Mexico in smaller, more manageable groups. They were promised a chance at applying for asylum or continuing on to the US border, only to force them onto buses so that they can be deported back to their respective countries in Central America. Their journey ahead was obstructed by cruel government policies, yet returning to their homeland could mean living a life of extortion, impoverishment, and possibly death at the hands of the ruling gangs.

Watch Ada’s presentation here.

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Curator’s Choice Award, 1st Place
Juror: Marina Chao, Assistant Curator, International Center of Photography

An ode to the Dadaists and Bauhauslers, “The Dadabyte Theater” explores the technologized body within the present Fourth Industrial Revolution. Utilizing in-camera auto portraiture, Trigueros reflects on the complexity of contemporary cyborg configurations in an attempt to find balanced modes of being in a hyper-connected, mechanical society dominated by technology. Autonomous machines of war, labor, pleasure, care, and other computational systems of control and comfort are being produced within this dizzying systemic capitalist merry-go-round. By using products of industry, Trigueros illustrates the constraints, contradictions, and complexities of our technological entanglement.

Watch Brandy’s presentation here.

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Project Launch Grant Recipient
Juror: Rebecca Senf, Chief Curator, Center for Creative Photography

“No Memory is Ever Alone” is a visual conversation between the past and the present. The artist writes, “My dad used to bring out a box of slides that he photographed in his late teens and early 20’s every Christmas. He made us view them on an old projector on our living room wall, telling the same stories every year. It was a consistent memory from a childhood where we moved a lot and I never felt like I had a steady ‘place’ to live and create memories.”

Watch Catherine’s presentation here.

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Editor’s Choice Award 1st Place
Juror: Nicole Werbeck, Senior Supervising Editor for Visuals and Engagement, NPR

“X-Ray Vision vs. Invisibility” is a body of work about the phenomenological effects of vision technologies on the perception of undocumented migrants and refugees.

Watch Noelle’s presentation here.

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Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient

Frank Lopez is a visual artist, independent workshop instructor, US & MS Photographic Instructor at Greenhill School and guest lecturer

“I have spent the last 20 years learning as much as I have taught and am always searching to navigate the complexities of our current day young people. The students in the Greenhill Honors Program have taught me valuable lessons as much as I have brought solutions to their everyday questions. Together, we work through issues that need to be discussed – issues that remain at the forefront of student experience and life.”

Watch Frank’s presentation here.

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Project Launch Grant Honorable Mention
Juror: Rebecca Senf, Chief Curator, Center for Creative Photography

“The White House China” is a series of photographic and mixed media reconstructions based on the collection of dinnerware at the presidential residence in Washington, DC. Depictions of china are based on the official state and family china collections of the presidents they represent or that of their predecessors.

Watch Kathleen’s presentation here.

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