NEW YORK, NY (October 23, 2008) – Photojournalist Mikhael Subotsky of Cape Town, South Africa, is the winner of the $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund's Grant in Humanistic Photography for 2008.
The grant was awarded Wednesday night during ceremonies at the Tishman Auditorium of the New School in Manhattan.
Subotsky, 27, won the Smith Grant for his essay "Crime, Punishment, and Security in Post-Aparthied South Africa."
Two W. Eugene Smith Fellowships were also awarded, each worth $2,500. Stephanie Sinclair of the United States won for her proposal "The Bride Price: Consequences of Child Marriage Worldwide", and Lu Guang of China won for the proposed project "Pollution in China."
Ren Yue of China won the Howard Chapnick Grant for the Advancement of Photojournalism for the project "New Topographics: Beijing's Contemporary Urban Landscapes." She is a professor of photojournalism in Beijing who is overseeing a group of photographers who are documenting the changes in Beijing's landscape caused by this year's Summer Olympic Games.
Subotsky's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and his photographs are in collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, and the Johannesburg Art Gallery. And in 2008 he won an ICP Infinity Award for young photographers.
New York's Museum of Modern Art says that documentary photography plays a "decisive role" in Subotsky's photographs because at an early age he was exposed to the activist work of his uncle, Gideon Mendel, one of South Africa's "struggle photographers."
The W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography is presented annually to a photographer whose past work and proposed project, as judged by a panel of experts, follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith's compassionate dedication exhibited during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist.
The W. Eugene Smith Grant was established in 1978 following the death of Smith by his friends Howard Chapnick, Jim Hughes, and John G. Morris to perpetuate Smith’s work and spirit. The grant program provides photojournalists with the financial freedom to envision and carry out major photographic studies. The W. Eugene Smith grant program is independently administered by the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.
There were a record 193 proposals submitted this year, and the eight finalists were selected by a jury of three (Marcel Saba, Nailya Alexander, and Charles Traub).
Recent Smtih Grant winners include Stephen Dupont (2007), Paolo Pellegrin (2006), and Pep Bonet (2005).
