Judges' Insights On The PhMuseum 2024 Women Photographers Grant

Gem Fletcher, Farah Al Qasimi, Danaé Panchaud and Pixy Liao share advice for prospective applicants, and their points of view on what they value in visual projects.

After the judges of the PhMuseum 2024 Women Photographers Grant, photography is a channel for marginal, untold stories to emerge, and seek for space. It is a place to experiment with languages, and mess up with consolidated ways of seeing.

Gem Fletcher is a writer, consultant and host of The Messy Truth podcast, a series of candid conversations that unpack the future of visual culture and what it means to be a photographer today. She emphasizes the importance of supporting projects that can possibly trigger cultural shifts:

It’s a challenging time for photography, from its place and role in visual culture to how it is valued and funded, let alone the disparity in gender and who gets to be seen. It feels more important than ever to support projects on the fringes, work that seeks to shift consciousness and push culture forward. I’m looking for work that surprises, disarms and conjures the imagination.

With her long-term photo project Experimental Relationship, Chinese and New York-based artist Pixy Liao challenges conventional ideas of gender dynamics. She encourages visual artists to submit work that they genuinely love, rather than what they think can fit expectations:

I would like to see the photos you like the best, not the photos you think other people will like.

Danaé Panchaud is a Curator, Museologist, Lecturer, and Director of Centre de la photographie Genève in Switzerland, a research laboratory for new ways of presenting and thinking about photography in an institutional context. She's particularly interested in supporting projects that are able to reflect the complexities we inhabit today:

This grant represents a decisive push to support stories that have not yet been told, and voices who have not yet reached a broad audience. I am not necessarily on the lookout for highly polished projects offering perfectly tidy narratives, but I am typically compelled by projects that develop a nuanced and complex approach, reflecting the intricacies of the world we live in.

Visual artist Farah Al Qasimi works through photography, video and music. Often employing large-scale vinyl imagery and a multiplicity of photographic prints and screens, she is interested in the internet and its hierarchies of information and emotion. She underlines how presenting your work to awards can help you reach a wider audience:

Beyond the possibility of winning, applying to prizes is a great opportunity to put your work in front of people who may not otherwise come across it. It helps to have a really clear written statement and a body of work that shows thoughtfulness, care, and investment in your subject of interest.

The deadline to submit your projects has been extended to 17 October. You can find all the info and apply here.

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The PhMuseum 2024 Women Photographers Grant is currently open for submissions. Its aim is to empower the work and careers of female and non-binary professionals of all ages and from all countries working in diverse areas of photography. To learn more and apply, visit phmuseum.com/w24. Extended Deadline: 17 October