Date: November 25th 2009

Dear All...

Just wanted to share the good news about our 2010 grant winners and finalists. I've pasted the info below, and attached a word doc/press release if you want to share it.

With warm regards,

Sara Terry

Director/Founder

THE AFTERMATH PROJECT ANNOUNCES
2010 GRANT WINNERS AND FINALISTS

25 November 2010

The Aftermath Project is pleased to announce the winners of its 2010 grants (2 grants at $20,000 each), and 3 finalists:

2010 Grant Winners:

Monika Bulaj, Italy: �Afghanistan: not the war only�

Danny Wilcox Frazier, US: �Wounded Knee: generations endure a massacre�

2010 Finalists:

Jessica Hines, US: �My Brother�s War�

Olga Kravetz, Maria Morina, Oksana Yushko, Russia (joint application): �Grozny: 9 cities�

Helena Schaetzle, Germany: �9,645 kilometers memory�

This year, 160 applicants around the world applied for the Aftermath Project�s fourth year of funding, up about 15 percent from last year.

A first round of screening was done in Los Angeles on Nov 11th, by Lesley Meyers of the Annenberg Space for Photography, and Sara Terry, photographer and founder/director of The Aftermath Project. At that time, 104 applicants were moved forward to final judging, which took place on November 16, at Host Gallery in London. This year�s judges were Jon Levy of Foto8, Andrea Stern of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Sara Terry.

The two grant winners were chosen from a very strong and competitive field of contenders. The judges felt that grant winner Monika Bulaj�s proposal on Afghanistan (part of a larger project on conflicts in Central Asia) was a refreshing approach to the country, combined with stunning color photos. In addition to exploring specific issues such as reconstruction and women�s schools, she singled out �hidden worlds� to be explored � including the culture of Sufism, despised by the Taliban; nomadic tribes and religious minorities.

The judges were equally impressed with Danny Wilcox Frazier�s proposal about the aftermath of the Wounded Knee massacre in South Dakota, and the Lakota Indian people who are still fighting for disputed lands. The judges were particularly pleased to find such a strong proposal that examines the aftermath of a conflict on American soil.

Frazier is best known for his black-and-white work, �Driftless: Stories from Iowa,� which won the Honickman First Book Prize, chosen by Robert Frank. His Wounded Knee work will be a combination of color and black-and-white, as he explores the generational legacy of a massacre which holds the dubious distinction of being the event which ended the war between colonial/US forces and Indian Nations throughout North America. The images Frazier submitted with his Aftermath grant proposal reflected his strongly emotive approach to photography, and reflected the rural sensibilities that he captured so well in his Iowa work.

In terms of the finalists, for the first time, a trio of photographers applied together for one grant. Olga Kravetz, Maria Morina and Oksana Yushko joined forces to propose �Grozyny: 9 cities.� Their photographic work was strong, but the judges were particularly impressed with the creativity of their proposal, inspired by a Thornton Wilder book, �Theophilus North,� which centers on the idea of nine cities being hidden in one. The photographers proposed to explore specific aspects of Grozny�s aftermath through considering them as �cities� hidden with Grozny. In addition, the judges applauded the collaborative nature of the proposal, in a field which is often marked by fierce competition between photographers.

Finalist Jessica Hines caught the judges� attention with her personal, fine art-based approached to �My Brother�s War,� in which she explores the life of her older brother, who fought in Vietnam and later committed suicide. Using her brother�s letters and photos to create new photos and still lifes, Hines ongoing project creates a complex, nuanced and highly personal insight into the aftermath of a conflict that defined an American generation.

Interestingly, finalist Helena Schaetzle took an equally personal approach to another major conflict, World War Two. Her ongoing project addresses the personal relationship shared by many Europeans to that war, and to the ways collective memory shapes history and politics. In her project statement, she proposed continuing her work by exploring the seven regions where her grandfather served as a soldier during WWII, using his personal diary as a guide.

Images from the grant winners and finalists submissions will be online in early 2010 at www.theaftermathproject.org.

############