Three weeks ago we loaded up everything and moved to Utah, where I’ve joined the faculty at Utah State University.

Right after making it out here, David McCarty and I had a conversation about moving and place, whether and why it’s worth hauling stuff 2,000 miles vs starting over, and, consequently (at least for me, of course), the nature of despair.

I’m proud to share the news of the move and the job, and pleased to do so while also sharing David’s thoughtful words. And, well, it’s also not everyday I can have my work compared to the combined sensation of stale Little Debbies, The Cure’s “Disintegration,” and touching a 9v battery to the tongue. I mean, there is absolutely no higher compliment than that.

^{Fairfield, Jefferson Co., Ala. from the series What Has Been Will Be Again, 2020}

This fall, the Magnum Foundation is proud to announce the support of 18 photographers to develop short-term visual projects related to the 2020 US elections.

The selection committee consisted of photographers Alessandra Sanguinetti and Hannah Price and Magnum Foundation Scholar in Residence Nicholas Mirzoeff, joined by Magnum Foundation President Susan Meiselas and Executive Director Kristen Lubben. Their insights as practitioners, educators, and visual theorists were integral to this process, which marks Magnum Foundation’s most extensive grant-making initiative within the US to date.

“It was inspiring to discover so much work by photographers committed to exploring and documenting what's happening right here, right now in the US,” said Alessandra Sanguinetti. Nicholas Mirzoeff added, “if this is an indication, activist photography is in good shape.”

This program seeks to expand perspectives on this critical moment in US history. From examining the impact of Covid-19 on incarcerated seniors to portraits of first-time voters by a 19-year-old photographer, these projects highlight some of the experiences faced by communities across America in the leadup to the election.

Ten of these stories will run in The Nation Magazine in a collection called What’s At Stake, featuring critical narratives that are flying under the national radar. This is a continuation of the 18-week partnership, The Invisible Frontline, which seeded stories amplifying the experiences of frontline workers and communities disproportionately affected by the upheaval of the Coronavirus.

This program is generously supported in part by Documentary Arts and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Selected Photographers: