Alpha Female+ Grant Winners

PREVIOUS WINNERS

Brandi Cadette

Anne Lagamayo & Tiara Chiaramonte

April, 2022

"Crushed Black"

Cadette says that she wants “Crushed Black,” to create awareness and break a stigma that she and many other Black women have been made to feel. “[As a child,] I would often find myself getting made fun of for not being ‘Black enough,’” she explains. “Only very recently did I learn that a lot of other Black women experience the same criticisms. Many other Black women have been made to feel that their blackness, their natural born skin, was not validated because they don’t act like, look like, sound like, or think like the societal and stereotypical norms of a black female.”

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"I wanted to convey the message that we are more than the broad stereotypes and assumptions that exist."

March, 2022

Zoe Urness

"Indigenous Motherhood"

“This project has significant meaning to me because I am a new mother. I gave birth to a baby girl this winter, and the transformation I have experienced has been both physical and spiritual. This metamorphosis has spawned the inspiration for this photography project. The honor I have now for being female is felt deep in my soul and within my whole existence. I anticipate these images to be cinematic and to have a deep connection to Mother Earth, represented through varied landscapes.”

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"The honor I have now for being female is felt deep in my soul and within my whole existence. I anticipate these images to be cinematic and to have a deep connection to Mother Earth, represented through varied landscapes."

February, 2022

Melody Paine

"Film With The Make-A-Wish Foundation"

“The main goal is to keep the story authentic and natural to help transport viewers into the perspective of what it is like to be on the receiving end of this incredible organization.”

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"“The main goal is to keep the story authentic and natural to help transport viewers into the perspective of what it is like to be on the receiving end of this incredible organization.”"

January, 2022

Luisa Del Valle

"Transformative Self-Portrait Project"

“I am photographing and recording the process of transforming five everyday objects into creative expressions,” she says. “I will play with the perceptions of the objects. I will explore them beyond reality, look for relationships between them and other everyday things, and, most importantly, customize the objects to match the theme of the atmosphere of the work.”

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"“I am photographing and recording the process of transforming five everyday objects into creative expressions,” she says. “I will play with the perceptions of the objects. I will explore them beyond reality, look for relationships between them and other everyday things, and, most importantly, customize the objects to match the theme of the atmosphere of the work.”"

December, 2021

Tori Wright

"Return To The 1920s & The Age Of Empowerment"

The 1920s has so many iconic influences,” she says, “and is associated with many of my favorite sources of inspiration: independent women, glamour, fashion, whimsy, theater, and my hometown, St. Louis, Missouri. When the 2020’s rolled around I could not have been more excited. I wanted to link the 1920’s and 2020’s by stamping the theme of women empowerment onto this decade.

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"The 1920s has so many iconic influences,” she says, “and is associated with many of my favorite sources of inspiration: independent women, glamour, fashion, whimsy, theater, and my hometown, St. Louis, Missouri. When the 2020’s rolled around I could not have been more excited. I wanted to link the 1920’s and 2020’s by stamping the theme of women empowerment onto this decade."

November, 2021

Angela Perez

"Life Celebrations: Documenting the Photographic Wisdom Of Our Elders"

Angela Perez is a fashion and portrait photographer from Orlando, FL, and the latest recipient of an Alpha Female+ grant. Perez' Life Celebrations Project aims to connect with the generations that have come before us.

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"I felt like their stories needed to be told and I wanted to be their voice. Even if it's just through a simple photograph, I felt that we need to embrace our wrinkles and our age as the years made us who we are today."

October, 2021

Gabrielle Mariella

"The Broadway Project"

Gabrielle Mariella is an actress, singer and filmmaker based in New York and is the latest to receive the Alpha Female+ grant. Mariella’s project focuses on recognition of women within the creative industry and especially within Broadway.

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"Through this film, I not only want to raise awareness for the lack of gender diversity behind the Broadway stage, but also inspire young women to pursue a career in the arts as a creative by showing the groundbreaking work done by women today.'"

September, 2021

Sharon Miller

"The Creative Ambassadors"

Sharon Miller, a hip-hop artist turned portrait photographer and creative educator, is the latest winner of an Alpha Female+ grant. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Miller experienced many hardships like poverty and homelessness growing up. It was not until she was introduced to the arts at a young age that she saw a pathway to success for herself. Her own story serves as the catalyst for her grant-winning photo exhibition project to empower the voices and talents of overlooked youth in New York City.

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"There was a lot of self-love learning and inspiration happening during these photoshoots that I believe will help continue to transform the lives of these youth for years to come."

August, 2021

Hannah Mather

"The Pollinator Project"

Hannah Mather, a biologist turned beekeeper turned pollinator advocate, uses macro photography as a way to tie her avocations and together. “I love using eye-catching imagery of animals that are often feared to tell their intricate life stories and show beauty that you must slow down to see,” she says. Mather applied for a grant multiple times through the Alpha Female+ rolling application process and her perseverance paid off.

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"I love using eye-catching imagery of animals that are often feared to tell their intricate life stories & show beauty that you must slow down to see. "

July, 2021

Nasra Nimaga

"On Womanhood: Interpretations Of Being"

For her Alpha Female+ project, Nasra is creating "a thought provoking photo essay that combines photography and storytelling to explore themes exploring and challenging perceptions of womanhood and identity."

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"My photography draws inspiration from my personal experiences of constantly not fitting in and my personal journey to realizing, I need not try to fit in."

June, 2021

Kristin Atwood

"Flight of the Bumblebees"

Kristin Atwood is a chef turned filmmaker. Her YouTube channel, Chef Studio, is more than the usual cooking channel, it’s where food meets film. For her Alpha Female+ Grant project, Kristin is creating a five-part series called “Flight of the Bumblebees” where she’ll apply her visually-stunning film style to the creation of five dishes inspired by, “the beauty of spring, summer and all that honeybees do during this time.”

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"I found that creating has become a way for me to cultivate peace and channel my thoughts into something positive."

May, 2021

Elizabeth Cayouette

"Keie Creative"

The Alpha Female+ Grant will help Cayouette launch her first tutorial videos. "I decided to launch Keie Creative tutorials that break things down to the most basic level, exactly what I needed when I started in video, knowing NOTHING. I named my project Keie Creative, because my ultimate goal is to set in motion women and girl’s creative video journeys."

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"Women in the video industry suffer from a huge gender gap. I want to change that, and make the industry more equal and representative."

March, 2021

Lisa Janae

"Common Characters"

Multimedia artist Lisa Janae is creating a docu-series starting with the experiences of an Afro-Queer performance artist residing in Brooklyn. “The goal of the series is to showcase the lives of talents, creatives and changemakers of color pushing their dreams forward and reminding us that we’re all connected. Common Characters is human driven and will provide intimate portraits of four individuals during their most sacred moments and their most joyous.”

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February, 2021

Michelle Watt

"Codependency's Dystopian Reality"

Self-portrait artist Michelle Watt is creating a series of images exploring codependency. "I'm staging an allegorical photo story emblematic of my struggle as a codependent," she says. "Our story follows a woman living alone in an underground, dystopian shelter. Charming at first glance, this bunker sports colorful interiors like 1960s-style Eastern European homes with a futuristic twist. Keeping the fragile construct of civility alive in a doomsday asylum, this woman maintains an immaculate appearance and absolute precision when performing her daily activities."

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"I specialize in staging conceptual narratives to examine complexities between joy and struggle. "

January, 2021

Mary Bel

"Covid 19’s Impact On Mental Health"

Mary Bel’s Sony Alpha Female+ grant-winning project to create a series of self-portraits is unique in the approach and the intended end result. “I am a self-portrait artist,” she explains, “and my goal is to educate others to express themselves in the self portrait genre. I am going beyond the standard selfie by creating well thought out imagery that tells a story, and leaves room for interpretation. I do this by making myself the subject of my work. Just like film develops in the darkness, we do too.”

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"I want to be able to inspire people to take self-portraits as a means to provide therapeutic release of feelings during these challenging times. "

January, 2021

Shravya Kag

"The International Express"

Over the next several weeks, Shravya Kag will be photographing life along New York’s “International Express,” the winding route of the 7 Line through Queens. She says, “Cruising through eight ethnic pockets in Queens on an elevated line, the 7 train, fondly known as ‘The International Express’ provides an overview of what and who truly make NYC the melting pot it is -- immigrants.”

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"Life along the 7 line in Queens is adapting to the new normal while retaining its charm and keeping its locals safe and connected to their homeland and values. "

December, 2020

Tenley Clark

"Under The Weather"

Tenley Clark will be creating a series of images called “Under the Weather.” The project will focus on the challenges and rewards of being a mother. She’s chosen to use the hybrid medium of the cinemagraph to add the element of motion to bring the weather to life within each frame.

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"The idea for this project is to showcase moms metaphorically and literally under weather while still maintaining normal life when there are no sick days."

December, 2020

Martha A. Hidalgo

"Wildlife In The Midwest"

Martha A. Hidalgo’s project is "Wildlife in The Midwest". Her goals for the project are to twofold: to showcase the variety and beauty of the wildlife in the Midwest and to inspire other women to enter the world of wildlife photography.

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"I want to inspire other women and minorities to enter the amazing world of wildlife photography. Although I find it challenging, it's immensely rewarding. "

December, 2020

Anne Lagamayo & Tiara Chiaramonte

"A Taste Of Home"

Anne Lagamayo and Tiara Chiaramonte will be creating a mini documentary about three Filipino nurses who work at Mt. Sinai Hospital and opened a Filipino restaurant in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Their goal is to look at an immigrant community’s strength and grit in the face of disaster - and the perseverance that has opened up a long-heralded cuisine to the rest of the world.

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"The power of documentary filmmaking is having the ability to give a voice to people who don’t always have one."

November, 2020

Dolphia Nandi

"Bengali Desserts"

For her Alpha Female+ Grant-winning project, “camera artist” Dolphia Nandi will create an e-book featuring 10 of her mother’s traditional Indian sweets recipes and photos.

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"Whenever I want to show an action, I set the set, wait for the morning light and create movement with it."

November, 2020

Lisa Frank

"In The Zoo Of The Imagination"

Frank is a fine artist who uses nature photography as part of her complex artwork that involves layering and digital painting to create the final result. The Alpha Female+ Grant will support Frank for her project compositing photographs of zoo animals into photographs of the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Chicago Art Institute.

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"In a confounding world it's refreshing to rediscover that we are not the largest animal on the planet, nor the strongest, nor the fastest, nor the most beautiful, necessarily. "

October, 2020

Julie Ellison

"Women of The West"

Documentary photography captured my attention at a young age—the fact that a single unscripted moment could convey so much story was a powerful realization. When I shoot, I look to combine background layers that build context with a subject’s in-between moments that reveal emotion. My “Women of the West” project will document the intrepid lives, jobs, and hobbies of women who live in these harsh but beautiful mountain landscapes. This project will showcase ranchers, horse trainers, blacksmiths, glassblowers, silversmiths, hunters, anglers, wildlife rehabilitators, and other women who are bold, resilient, and courageous. By increasing the visibility of independent, fearless women through this project, I hope to inspire more women to write their own story.

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"By increasing the visibility of independent, fearless women through this project, I hope to inspire more women to write their own story."

October, 2020

Ruth Carter Hickman

"Afro-Mexican"

Mexican Cultural Icon-Inspired Portraits Reimagine Traditional Mexican National Treasures as Afro Mexicans. The concept is to shoot Afro Mexican iconic portraits of traditional Mexican Cultural icons that are very influential and historic national treasures. These larger than life characters are a source of great pride to many in Mexico and appear on the national currency, the Mexican Peso. Ultimately, Ruth hopes the bold series will help to inspire change in Latin America. “I hope this series is the beginning of endless opportunities for inclusion and more Afro Latino representation in media. I want people to have a global conversation about the contributions made by the Afro descendants of each country in Latin America and include their history in books for students to learn starting in primary school.”

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"As a traveling visual storyteller who specializes in digital media, my work is largely centered around cultural diversity and inclusion."

September, 2020

Rhonisha Franklin

"The Subtle Strength of Kings"

The first 2020 Sony Alpha Female+ grant winner is Rhonisha Franklin. In 2019 Rhonisha completed Profile Noire, a project to showcase the beauty of women of color. With the Alpha Female+ grant, Rhonisha will complete the first phase of her companion project, The Subtle Strength of Kings. The project will show Black men in a safe space where they sit in their humanity and vocalize it to the world free of unconscious (or conscious) biases.

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"We all have different facets of ourselves, and I think that showing it through three images is a great way to present it. "

About

Sony Alpha Female provides a platform for photographers and videographers to share their stories and inspire the world with their creativity, passion, and drive. We aim to make the world a more equal, more representative, and more open place. With you by our side, there’s nothing holding us back.