The 2015 Aftermath Project grant was awarded to Justyna Mielnikiewicz for her project, “A Ukraine Runs Through It,” an exploration of the issues facing Ukraine today using the Dnieper River as a symbolic dividing line for understanding what unites and separates Ukrainians.
The Aftermath Project is a non-profit organization committed to telling the other side of the story of conflict — the story of what it takes for individuals to learn to live again, to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace. The Aftermath Project holds a yearly grant competition open to working photographers worldwide covering the aftermath of conflict. In addition, through partnerships with universities, photography institutions and non-profit organizations, the Project seeks to help broaden the public’s understanding of the true cost of war — and the real price of peace — through international traveling exhibitions and educational outreach in communities and schools.
2015 Grant Winner:
Justyna Mielnikiewicz for her project, “A Ukraine Runs Through It,” an exploration of the issues facing Ukraine today using the Dnieper River as a symbolic dividing line for understanding what unites and separates Ukrainians.
2015 Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Bruno Boudjelal for his project, “Mapping of Massacre Sites in Algeria,” about the massive massacres of 1997 and 1998, which occurred during the civil war of the 1990s.
Glenna Gordon for her project, “Artifacts of a Kidnapping: The Things They Carried Home,” a survey of the objects brought home by ransomed kidnapping victims of terrorist groups around the world.
Adam Patterson for his project in Northern Ireland, “Men and My Daddy,” an exploration of how former terrorists function during peacetime and whether aging ex-paramilitaries still find purpose in their lives.
Donald Weber for his project, “War Sand,” a landscape and archeological micro-photography project that examines the beaches of Normandy, which still contain particles of shrapnel from the 1944 D-Day invasion of German-occupied France during World War II.
Special discretionary grant of $2,500:
To be administered by Brendan Bannon to buy gear to support the continued photo work of two Syrian refugee teenagers, Fatima and Hany, who have been his photo students and who have begun documenting the lives of Syrians in refugee camps.
