emerging lens
Emerging Lens, ART WORKS Projects’ signature program, awarded project support, unrestricted grants, and mentorship to emerging photographers working to document social justice and human rights issues in their own backyards and around the world.
A Network of Support
The mission of Emerging Lens has always been to create a network of support for emerging photographers in hopes of creating greater accessibility to the field while making their work and the issues they highlight visible through public exhibitions in spaces nontraditional for documentary photography.
Emerging Lens Fellows
ART WORKS Projects is pleased to present our 2024-2025 Emerging Lens Fellows!
For our 2024 Call for Submissions, we invited emerging and early-career photographers to submit project proposals that build awareness through stories addressing climate change, pollution and environmental justice from within their communities. With increased funding made possible through the National Endowment for the Arts, we are thrilled to present to you our three fellows for 2024.
Natalia Favre is an Argentinian documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Cuba and Argentina. Her work focuses on social issues through an intimate perspective at the intersection between community and identity. Her work has appeared internationally in media outlets such as Washington Post, National Geographic, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Telegraph Magazine, BBC, among others, and her films were shown in several international festivals in Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Mexico and the US. Natalia holds a Bachelor in Design with a Diploma in Documentary Photography both from the University of Buenos Aires.
Oyewole Lawal is a photojournalist and sociologist based in Nigeria. Oyewole’s artistic practice largely focuses on the examination of people and their relationship to the environment within African social groups. Oyewole believes it’s important to record everyday life journeys, to fight for social issues, and to unearth the innate depths of the human mind, environment, and society. He uses art as his voice to provoke discussion on subjects that oftentimes go unnoticed yet hold great significance. Oyewole holds a degree in sociology from the University of Lagos and a professional certificate from the Nigeria Institute of Journalism (N.I.J).
Edwin Ndeke is a self-taught photojournalist, and documentary photographer based in Nairobi, Kenya. Edwin’s work focuses on socio-economic, cultural, political, and environmental issues, depicting a wider spectrum of life with the aim of addressing these issues within his community. He has a keen interest examining the everyday lives of people, building a deep understanding of the issues that affect people and their communities, and uses photography as a medium to raise awareness and bring about change.
Edwin and Oyewole will bring their projects together through a collaborative storytelling initiative to illuminate the value of the often-overlooked workforce of waste pickers, casting a spotlight on their vital role in recycling and waste management. Spanning across Nairobi and Lagos, the largest cities in West and East Africa, their respective projects, once combined, will aim to humanize the experience of waste picking. Through visual narratives centered around the lives of waste pickers, they seek to challenge discrimination, raise global awareness about the environmental impact of waste – most especially plastic waste – contributing to harmful methane emissions, and inspire a collective commitment to sustainable practice
