New York, NY — In honor of it’s 75th anniversary, Josephine Herrick Project (JHP), a nonprofit combining photography and social justice, announced the establishment of March 30th as JOSEPHINE HERRICK DAY. This year the organization also established the Josephine Herrick Photography Award, an annual photography contest to support photographers committed to exploring stories of social injustice.
The 2016 winner is Donna Pinckley. Donna teaches photography at University of Central Arkansas and has received many awards, fellowships and honors over the years. From 1990 to 2008, Pinckley hosted fourteen solo exhibitions, and her photographs are currently in the collections of six art Museums. Here is what Pinckley says about her series “Sticks and Stones:”
“The series began with an image of one of my frequent subjects and her African-American boyfriend. Her mother told me of the cruel taunts hurled at her daughter for dating a boy of another race. As she was speaking I was reminded of another couple many years ago, who had been the object of similar racial slurs. What struck me was the resilience of both couples in the face of derision, their refusal to let others define them. Two years ago I began photographing interracial couples of all ages, aiming as always to capture how they see themselves, the world of love and trust they have created despite adversity. I began adding the negative comments they have been subjected to at the bottom of the images.”
The contest was judged by: JHP Board Vice President Miriam Leuchter, editor of Popular Photography and American Photo magazines; and renown photographers Nina Berman and Deborah Willis.
Josephine Herrick Project is committed to using photography to help level the field for the 31% of New Yorkers living in poverty and 11% living with disabilities. Twenty-six NYC communities annually participate in the photography programs, publications and exhibitions. Cameras are used as transformational tools that give a voice to all people and help them connect to the world through the visual language of photography.
With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, founder Josephine Herrick left her portrait studio on 63rd Street and organized 35 photographers to set up photo booths at NYC canteens where young men going to war gathered. Like an early Facebook or Instagram, these photos were sent with a note to hometowns across the country in an effort to keep families connected. Herrick next organized volunteer photographers to teach programs to wounded soldiers in VA hospitals. This eventually spread to thirty states, and included, children, youth and adults.
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