Leica Camera announces Leica Women Foto Project award winners
Leica Camera USA announced the three recipients of its second annual Leica Women Foto Project Award. This prestigious award is a part of the Leica Women Foto Project, an ongoing commitment to diversity in visual storytelling to help empower the female point of view through photography. This year’s winners: Matika Wilbur, Karen Zusman, and Anna Boyiazis were awarded $10,000, a Leica Q2 (valued at $4,995) as well as a mentorship to support the continuation of their award-winning photo project.
Matika Wilbur, acclaimed Tulalip & Swinomish Pacific Northwest photographer and social documentarian, has produced a stunning visual narrative of Tribal sovereignties in the US, Project 562, to “change the way we see Native America”. Wilbur has visited more than 400 Tribal Nations in all 50 states by car, RV, plane, train, boat, horseback, and on foot.
New York-based photographer Karen Zusman began her journalism career documenting human trafficking in Malaysia and over the past several years has made over 20 trips to Cuba for a photo book project. When travel came to a stop during the pandemic, Zusman was spending more time in New York and the inspiration for her winning project, The Super Power of Me Project was born.
Anna Boyiazis is a documentary photographer whose areas of focus include human rights, public health, and women and girls’ issues. Based between Southern California and East Africa, Boyiazis has been working on her project Finding Freedom in the Water since 2016.
“The second annual Leica Women Foto Project Award underscores our ongoing commitment to diversity in visual storytelling,” says Kiran Karnani, Director of Marketing for Leica Camera North America. “With the Award and the overarching initiative, we aim to empower, inspire and amplify underrepresented voices in photography. Our commitment continues with a virtual summit in April and a call for entries for the next iteration of the Leica Women Foto Project Award this summer.”
The projects submitted by Matika Wilbur, Karen Zusman and Anna Boyiazis were carefully selected by nine influential women in photography, art, and journalism, which include:
- Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director & Chief Representative, Leica Galleries International
- Amanda de Cadenet, Entrepreneur, journalist, author, photographer, activist and found of Girlgaze & The Conversation
- Laura Roumanos, Executive producer and co-founder, United Photo Industries and Photoville
- Sheila Pree Bright, Fine-art photographer and visual cultural producer
- Elizabeth Avedon, Independent curator, photo consultant, designer and writer
- Elizabeth Krist, National Geographic photo editor and founding member of the Visual Thinking Collective
- Lynn Johnson, Photographer and National Geographic contributor
- Maggie Steber, VII Agency photographer and Guggenheim Grant Fellow
- Sandra Stevenson, Assistant Editor in the photography department at The New York Times
As part of the brand’s campaign to celebrate the power of photography and continued dedication to amplifying diverse voices in photography, Leica Camera will also be holding a virtual Summit in April. The Summit will be open to the public and those who submitted for the Leica Women Foto Project Award will have access to exclusive programming, including panels, opportunities to meet with photographers, and more.