Los Angeles, CA—The Lucie Foundation‘s mission is to support emerging photographic talent with vision and dynamic ideas that challenge and progress the art form of still photography. Part of its efforts is a scholarship program. Moreover, the foundation has revealed the winners of the Lucie 2023 scholarship program.
“Our support of photography is overarching, from fine art to documentary and photojournalism as well as from digital to film-based works. Our objective is to support emerging photographers producing work that is at once gripping and original,” the foundation announced.
Lucie 2023 Scholarship Winners
Following are the recipients of the four Lucie 2023 scholarship awards as well as the honorable mention photographers.
Fine Art Professional Scholarship
This year’s winner is Arne Piepke, for The Shape of F.S. The winner of this scholarship garners a $3,000 cash award plus a $500 Picot New York voucher for fine art printing and services.
“My work is a personal exploration of my great-grandfather‘s history as a soldier who fought in World War I. Through my work, I aim to create a dialogue between the past and the present, illuminating the enduring legacy of World War I and its impact on my family history,” Piepke commented. “From the charged landscapes of the Western Front to the personal stories of my great-grandfather, I seek to resolve the distance between myself and him as a historical figure, while also grappling with speculative stories and elusive truths.”
The Shape of F.S. includes documentary photographs of the contemporary landscape, ideas inspired by field letters, still lifes and a reinterpretation of found footage. Furthermore, it is an attempt to visualize the past by photographing the present.
Honorable Mentions
Lara Shipley and Antone Dolezal: The Naked Truth
Adra Pallón: Demothanasia
Holly Lynton: Beyond the Bounds
Epiphany Knedler: Wish You Were Here
Fine Art Emerging Scholarship
Collin Hughes was the winner of this scholarship for his work Home for Now. He received a $1,000 cash prize as well as a $500 Picto New York voucher for fine art printing and services. He also garnered 10 packs of Ilford smooth pearl and smooth gloss fine art paper (8.5×11) as well as 10 portfolio bags.
Home for Now is a photography and writing project that explores the theme of waiting, through photographs, for the orange ferry boat that crosses New York Harbor 24 hours a day.
Honorable Mentions
Anya Tsaruk: Mother Land
Aidan Klimenko: Autopsia Americana
Ivan Tomasevic: Hidden People
Carola Cappellari: Sons of the Sun
Maximilano Titeo: Nueve Norte, Treinta y tres Oeste
Photojournalism/Documentary Professional Scholarship
Ksenia Ivanova earned this scholarship for Silence in Between. The scholarship grants a $3,000 cash prize as well as a $500 Picto New York voucher for fine art printing and services.
The project focuses on the consequences of the current conflict between the Russian-occupied breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia. The conflict over Abkhazia remains unresolved to this day. About 300,000 Georgians expelled from Abkhazia cannot return to their homes and remain in the poorest regions of Georgia. They are relegated to what is often the underbelly of society. Abkhazia’s economic isolation and dangerous financial dependence on the Kremlin contributes to mass unemployment, corruption, human rights abuses as well as clan-based crime.
Honorable Mentions
Louise Amelie: Missing Member – Kyrgyzstan, A Country on the Move
Laetitia Vançon: Youth in the Turmoil of War
Ismail Ferdous: Sea Beach
Ingmar Björn Nolting: An Anthology of a Changing Climate
Photojournalism/Documentary Emerging Scholarship
Nico Froehlich took top honors here for South of the River. This award encompassed a $1,000 cash prize, a Sony Alpha 9 M2 camera with a SEL 24–70mm GM 2 lens, as well as a $500 Picto New York voucher for fine art printing and services.
“Growing up in Britain as a child of immigrants, I would hide various elements of my everyday existence. As an adult and a photographer, I actively seek out and champion the very things I obscured and disregarded as a youngster,” stated Froehlich. “From the multicultural melting pots of Southwark and Lewisham to the brutalist blocks and post-war council estates of Thamesmead, southeast London is home to some of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in Britain. As gentrification and change continue to tighten their grip on the area, it is now more important than ever to recognize the beauty of variety and the perseverance of a declining working-class community.”
South of the River is an ongoing, long-form project incorporating various genres and approaches. Part social realism, part biographical, it is, however, ultimately a celebration of the working-class spirit and the rich diversity of southeast London, Froehlich’s home.
Honorable Mentions
Sara Messinger: Shadows of a Teenage Daydream
Naïma Lecomte: Bergerie de Faucon
Tianhu Yuan: Self Iterating of Chongqing
Saja Quttaineh: Visual Unconscious
To view all the winning images, click here.
