2020 Michael P. Smith Finalists

2020 Michael P Smith finalists
Sarah Leen, juror

Congratulations to our five finalists for the 2020 Michael P Smith Fund for Documentary Photography. Scroll down to view galleries of highlights from the finalists’ submissions along with a brief statement from our juror, Sarah Leen.
Winner will be announced June 12, 2020

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It Was There All Along
Frank Hamrick
The presentation of this artist’s book moves me to start writing a check. Yes please, I want one. This project is built from cover design to mapping to the lush perfectly pitched wet plate collodions so aptly conceived for a project about water. This feels like history yet is addresses issues that are as contemporary as it comes.
Frank Hamrick Website [/two_fifth_last]

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My own identity as a mixed-race Asian American woman is a part of the work as well, as it shapes my relationship and interactions with this community. — Group photo including myself

Eh Sun was one of the youngest boys that hung around the crew. I took this portrait early on in the project and have since seen him transform into a young man. This portrait captures a fleeting innocence. — Eh Sun

Traditional Karen tribal clothing. — Untitled

A late summer swim in Lake Ontario. — Lake Ontario

Collaborative drawing pieces are incorporated into the work because I felt this to be a more honest depiction of their lives than anything I alone could make. They are collaborative in that the paper is handmade by me out of scraps of blue-denim jeans. The denim is symbolic of their fashion. The pen drawings are done by some of the guys in Young Cash Karen. — Collaborative Denim Drawing 2

At the time this was taken, Eh Sun was too young to have any real tattoos so one of the older guys drew this one on him with an inkpen. Now Eh Sun has many tattoos. — Eh Sun’s Pen Tattoos

attoo culture also plays a prominent role in the work, and in the claiming and preservation of their Southeast Asian cultural heritage. The young men tattoo each other as an act of brotherly manhood and as a practice of a tribal tradition. They permanently and proudly mark their skin with culturally symbolic imagery and line work. — Eh Moo Ku’s back tattoos

After a swim in Lake Ontario. — Bee Hsay and Eh Day

Tattoo culture also plays a prominent role in the work, and in the claiming and preservation of their Southeast Asian cultural heritage. The young men tattoo each other as an act of brotherly manhood and as a practice of a tribal tradition. They permanently and proudly mark their skin with culturally symbolic imagery and line work. — Cousins

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Young Cash Karen
Jade Thiraswas
This inside look at a community of young men bonded by being ‘strangers in a strange land’ amplifies their pride and their vulnerability. Jade also found a place of acceptance in their midst that confirmed her own identity as a mixed-race Asian woman. This collaboration led to the creation of telling artworks that adds to the texture and depth of this project. I for one want to see more.
Jade Thiraswas website[/two_fifth_last]

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Nike is in their Ostara Costume in the backyard of a communal house of artists. Ostara is a DIY parade that happens at dawn before the Gay Easter Parade. The Art House was a hub of events, but now is vacant and for sale. — Nike in Ostara Costume at Dawn

Antony with a cape of swans he made for Mardi Gras, based on a German folk tale. — Soleil in Saint Roch Cemetery

The Front Room of a shotgun I lived in — Front Room

The inside of Mike’s car after a road trip across Louisiana — Mike’s Car

The interior of Erica’s room, filled with prayer candles — Erica’s Lamp

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Talisman
Kristina E. Knipe
“Mess and its attendant spectacle.” These are the words that Kristina uses to describe her project Talisman. Her work is very much a spectacle, much like a raucous Mardi Gras Parade both during and after. It is so very lush. I am struck by the jungle of color, the fractured forms and bodies, yet that beautiful surface can barely hide the sense of foreboding, that something bad may have happened here. The images are like stills from a narrative or a movie that may not have had an entirely happy ending. Like a pagan rite or a tarot card much meaning is layered in this work.
Kristina E. Knipe website[/two_fifth_last]

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Chasing Light
Riel Sturchio
The work by Riel and her sister Bianca is a tender revelation. This collaborative project uses the visual language of portraiture, still life, moments and landscape to explore queerness, illness and sisterhood. It is also fearless in how it represents identity and disability. It is a story of survival topped with triumph and no small measure of beauty.
Riel Sturchio website [/two_fifth_last]

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Mardi Gras Artist Raymond Bowie, 62, while working on a parade float at the Rex Den on August 17, 2017. Bowie has been painting Carnival floats for over 40 years, and his work can be seen in Rex, Endymion, Hermes and a number of other parades in New Orleans. — Raymond

Monogram Hunters Big Chief Jeremy "Blaze" Stevenson and his father Big Chief Tyrone "Pie" Stevenson work on Blaze's suit for Mardi Gras Day 2016 at Pie’s house in Slidell on November 29, 2015. Since 2015, Jeremy has taken on the shared title of Big Chief, while Pie has to take a two year break from suiting to deal with moving out of New Orleans to Slidell. — Monogram Hunters

Monogram Hunters Big Chief "Pie" Tyrone Stevenson puts on his white suit for the first time with the help of his son Tyrone Jr. on Fat Tuesday 2015. Starting at age 12, Big Chief Pie suited with Yellow Pocahontas until he was given his own tribe in 1992 Monogram Hunters, which was Yellow Pocahontas' Big Chief Tootie Montana's father’s tribe's name. — Big Chief Pie

Spy Boy Payton watches Flaming Arrows Big Chief Kevin Goodman sing during indian practice on January 22, 2018. The practice allows members of different tribes to meet and practice their tradition before coming out in their new suit Mardi Gras day. — Spy Boy

Rita Henry Chamber with her granddaughter lil Queen Massiyah Allen in her Saints themed black and gold living room, on August 14, 2015. Sundays for many New Orleanians means watching the Saints. Chamber has masked as a Mardi Gras Indian with the Mohawk Hunters as Gang Queen. — Rita

Treme Brass Band plays at the Candlelight Lounge in memory of Uncle Lionel Batiste a few days after his passing on July 11, 2012. Born February 11, 1932, Batiste had been part of the New Orleans music scene since he was a child, and became known for playing the bass drum and his unique vocals. He co-founded the Treme Brass Band with Benny Jones, Sr. in the 1990’s. — For Uncle Lionel

Bryan Harrell puts the final touches on king cakes at Dong Phuong Bakery at 2:30 a.m. in New Orleans East on January 26, 2017. King Cakes are a carnival tradition originating from a bread-like cinnamon cake used to celebrate Epiphany and the end of winter. Today most local bakeries in New Orleans have their own twist, and in 2017 the Vietnamese bakery Dong Phuong was the people’s choice for best king cake. — King Cake

A broken pipe sprays water onto a Marigny neighborhood street corner in New Orleans on March 29, 2017. — Land of Dreams

Mardi Gras day along Frenchmen Street as locals and tourists mix in the bacchanal at dusk on February 13, 2018. New Orleans is beloved in the hearts of many around the world, while others take issue with its party all the time stance. Joy, art, and culture enrich our souls and challenge us to see the world in new ways. — Frenchmen

A broken tambourine lays on the floor after the final indian practice before Mardi Gras day at the First and Last Stop on February 12, 2018. For many Mardi Gras Indians continuing the tradition is a sacrifice that keeps them up many nights sewing and working long hours during the day. “It’s hard to mask. You are taking food off your table to mask...Monogram Hunters is one of the beautiful things you want to see Mardi Gras day. It took a lot of struggle, it took a lot of effort, it took a lot of sweat, blood, and tears to get where we are at now,” explained Big Chief Pie. — Sweat, Blood, and ears

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Land of Dreams
Ryan Hogdson Rigsbee
Ryan’s nine-year of commitment to documenting the traditions of this community of artists, musicians and followers that surround Mardi Gras and its krewes of aristocrats and Indians is at its strongest when it goes beyond the obvious and takes us into the lives of the people who are the heart and soul of New Orleans. There is more to come as the photographer continues to peel back the layers to reach the soul.
Ryan Hogdson Rigsbee website [/two_fifth_last]