On 13 May 2008, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) will present the second annual ASMP Arnold Newman Prize to photographer Jonathan Torgovnik.
The prize recognizes the work of a contemporary environmental portrait photographer whose imagery is grounded in the traditions and values that Newman pioneered. Supported by Getty Images, Canon and Photo District News.
Torgovnik's prize-winning series, "Intended Consequences: Genocide Mothers, Children of Rape," was initiated as part of a Newsweek assignment about the 25th anniversary of HIV/AIDS in East Africa.
To view additional images from Torgovnik's project and for further details about the foundation he co-founded see www.foundationrwanda.org
This prize is selected from among the top scoring portrait submissions
in PDN's Photography Annual Competition. ASMP executive director
Eugene Mopsik and ASMP past president Barbara Bordnick, together with
Aidan Sullivan of Getty Images, singled out the work of Jonathan
Torgovnik from nearly 300 images submitted in the 2008 contest. He
will receive a grant in the amount of $2,500 cash from Getty Images
and a Canon EOS 30D camera.
Torgovnik's prize-winning series, "Intended Consequences: Genocide
Mothers, Children of Rape," was initiated as part of a Newsweek
assignment about the 25th anniversary of HIV/AIDS in East Africa.
While photographing in Rwanda he learned of the many women who had
borne children as a result of rapes they endured during the 1994
Rwandan genocide. Many of these women contracted HIV at the hands of
their attackers. In addition to this hardship, many of the women were
cast off by their families or told they could only return without the
child.
Since February 2006, Torgovnik has photographed thirty families over
the course of three trips, and he has a fourth trip scheduled for June
2008. He acknowledges the difficulty in working on this series and
tries to be as careful as possible about the identities of his
subjects.
In the past year this series has garnered many accolades and awards,
including the 2007 Photographic Portrait Prize from the National
Portrait Gallery (UK), the Getty Images Grant for Editorial
Photography and a Documentary Photography Project Fellowship from the
Open Society Institute, to support a touring exhibition of the work in
universities. Future plans for this project include a multi-media
piece produced by MediaStorm and an Aperture book slated for Spring
2009. Amnesty International is also developing an education curriculum
guide on the consequences of genocide and sexual violence based on
this work.
In tandem with the success of this work, Torgovnik is equally
committed to help his photographic subjects. In February 2007, he and
Jules Shell co-founded Foundation Rwanda to raise money for the
mothers, fund the secondary education of their children and create
awareness of the consequences of genocide and gender-based sexual
violence. To view additional images from Torgovnik's project and for
further details about the foundation please visit
www.foundationrwanda.org.
About Arnold Newman
Arnold Newman (1918-2006) was a unique and visionary master of the art
of photography, who created and took to its highest form the genre of
the environmental portrait -- that is, a portrait executed in the
subject's usual environment, such as the home or workplace. Much of
Newman's work is available for licensing through Getty Images
(www.gettyimages.com).
Additional information about Newman is available on the ASMP website at
http://www.asmp.org/60th/interview_arnold_newman.php
and
http://www.asmp.org/news/newslines_2006-06.php#newman
"We don't take pictures with our cameras, we take them with
our hearts and our minds."
--Arnold Newman