Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace, along with GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, have today announced the recipients of US$25,000 in creative grants focused on the Chosen Family.
Getty Images’ VisualGPS global research shows that less than 1% of visuals in media and advertising show members of the LGBTQ+ community, with those that are included mainly focusing on Pride celebrations. This grant aimed to elevate photographers and videographers working to capture a broad range of people and groups that are part of ‘chosen families’, including new family norms and cultural traditions as they relate to LGBTQ+ communities.
In addition to the three core recipients, a special grant was also awarded by the Getty Images’ LGBTQIA+ Alliance employee resource group, acknowledging exceptional work to bring to life the theme of Chosen Family.
First‑Place (US $10,000): Imani Dennison ‑ Imani Dennison is a multidisciplinary lens‑based artist and curator based in Brooklyn, NY. Imani’s work interrogates histories of Black culture in the South and African diaspora. As part of her focus, she is using analogue photography to archive and reimagine models of Black queer freedom.
The below image is from a separate project of Imani’s, titled African Space Travel, that was created to showcase stories and oral histories of the African Diaspora.
Recipients were selected by an esteemed panel of judges, including Monica Trasandes ‑ Director of Spanish Language and Latinx Media & Representation at GLAAD; Alex Schmider ‑ Emmy®, Peabody, and Critics Choice Award nominated film producer and the Director of Transgender Representation at GLAAD; Abdool Corlette – GLAAD Creative Director; Myles Loftin – Artist, storyteller, and creative collaborator; Landyn Pan – Trans non‑binary photographer and video producer; LaQuann Dawson – Photographer, filmmaker, writer and visual director; Joon Park – Cultural strategist and founding member of GLAAD’s Campus Ambassador program; Thaddeus Coates – Artist and storyteller.
The Getty Images Creative Grants are a core piece of the wider Getty Images Grants program, collectively aimed at supporting the world’s photographic and photojournalism community. Since the inception of the program in 2004, the company has awarded in excess of US $2.5 million, furthering our commitment to the craft of photography and bringing attention to important stories that without funding, may otherwise remain unseen. Further details on the Getty Images grants program available at https://grants.gettyimages.com.
