Rebecca McClellandSebastian Liste // The New Culture of Violence in Latin America
The Alexia Foundation offers production grants to students and professional photographers to give them the financial ability to produce substantial stories that drive change in the effort to make the world a better place.
We are thrilled to announce that three of our recent Ian Parry Scholarship winners, Sebastian Liste, Farzana Hossen and Mehran Hamrahi have been awarded substantial grants by the 2014 Alexia Foundation jury.
Sebastian told me ”The Alexia Foundation Grant will allow me to work intensively on this project in Latin America for a year at least. Focusing all my efforts to develop it and make a change on how the world see the problems in this region. Grants and awards are almost the only way to develop this kind of long terms projects. I started to work in Latin America five years ago and without this kind of support, it would not of been possible to shoot this story.”
He won the Professional Grant for his series ‘The New Culture of Violence in Latin America‘, which is an investigation of crime, punishment and security in Latin America. Despite the fall of military rule and the restoration of democracy, statistics show that in the last two decades crime rates have soared considerably, making Latin America the world’s most violent region, Sebastián writes in his proposal. The work is an ongoing project.
“I will develop the new chapters of this project in Central America and Mexico. I will using the same method as I was working with in Brazil and Venezuela before, choosing a microcosm of those society to delve into deeper themes about Latin American in general. I live a first person experience so I can be closely connected with the people I photograph. These themes create a counterpoint to the narrative that Latin America is resurgent and on the economic upswing, reminding the audience that racism, social and economic inequality and class systems still plague the region”
Farazan Hossein received the Alexia Award of Excellence for her Ian Parry Scholarship 2013 winning series ‘Lingering Scars’
Mehran Hamrahi won a student grant for this series ‘Iranian People, Ordinary or Criminals‘ which aims to portray the daily lives of Iranian youth who dream of living “a free life.” Iran is currently one of the youngest countries in the world, and Mehran’s project will give voice to this younger generation, which, deprived of basic human rights and social freedom, dreams of immigration and living in a free country abroad.
A full portfolio of Sebastian’s, Farzana’s and Mehran’s images can be seen on our winners pages anparry
