For the third year in a row, Vital Impacts awarded seven environmental photography fellowships totalling $50,000, along with eleven mentorships, to photographers narrating the complex relationship between humanity and the planet, chosen among 526 submissions across 86 countries. Championing artists whose work conveys empathy and interconnection, and sheds light on our shared responsibility toward ecosystems, Vital Impacts aims to support the next generation of storytellers, as founder Ami Vitale underlined. “We aspire to create opportunities for these emerging voices to explore complex environmental issues with originality and nuance at this critical moment.”
Through one-on-one sessions with established photographers, editors, and conservationists, the eleven photographers who received year-long mentorships will have the opportunity to tell stories that celebrate both people and the planet.
“Each of these artists moves between rigorous documentary photography and artistic exploration, always with a deep ethic of care,” said Alessia Glaviano, Head of Global PhotoVogue and Director of the PhotoVogue Festival, and a member of the judging panel.
This year, the jury also included Azu Nwagbogu, Founder and Director of the African Artists’ Foundation and Lagos Photo Festival; Evgenia Arbugaeva, National Geographic Storytelling Fellow and Academy Award nominee; Kathy Moran, Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic; and Pat Kane, Vital Impacts Environmental Jane Goodall Fellowship winner.
$20,000 Environmental Photography Fellowship
‘Terra Vermelha’ – Tommaso Protti, Brazil
A decade-long investigation into deforestation and Indigenous resilience in the Brazilian Amazon.
ATALAIA DO NORTE, AUGUST, 2021: Kanamari children, originally from various villages in the Vale do Javari indigenous territory, find themselves stranded in a makeshift camp on the banks of the Javari River in Atalaia do Norte.Tommaso Protti
Dr. Sylvia Earle Environmental Photography Fellowship
“Te Urewera: The Living Ancestry of the Tūhoe People” – Tatsiana Chypsanava, Nelson, New Zealand
A project celebrating the Tūhoe people’s revolutionary model of stewardship which recognises the land as a living ancestor.
Children from the Teepa family drive the younger siblings home, after a swim in the Ōhinemataroa (Whakatane) River, in Ruatoki, New Zealand. Tūhoe children are taught independence and to care for other family members.TATSIANA CHYPSANAVA
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim Environmental Photograph Fellowship
“Beyond the Steppe” – Cléa T. Rekhou, Algiers, Algeria
A project showing how the ancestral knowledge and collective innovation of desert communities are revitalising the landscapes.