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Google’s first-ever Image Equity Fellowship is a 6-month, application-based Fellowship awarded to 20 early-career image-based creators of color in the US. Selected Fellows will receive $20,000 in unrestricted funds to create an image-based project that explores and uplifts community(ies) of color with care and nuance.

As a launch partner, FREE THE WORK, in collaboration with Aperture and For Freedoms, will be supporting the program through mentorship, workshops, funding and publication of and press for their completed projects.

Applications have now closed.

To learn more, visit here

The Fellows

Miranda Barnes is a photo-based artist from Brooklyn, NY. Her work examines community gatherings and subcultures with an emphasis on gender, style and coming of age.

Miranda Barnes

Director/photographer/editor C.T. Robert has garnered a reputation as one of the most exciting voices amongst a new generation of filmmakers. His bespoke aesthetic sensibility, intellectual curiosity and passion for filmmaking form a poignant motif throughout his work.

Cameron Robert (C.T. Robert)

Da’Shaunae Marisa specializes in documentary, editorial and commercial photography. Her main objective is to make you FEEL. She has been commissioned to photograph for The New York Times, Time, WSJ, Bloomberg, National Geographic among others.

Da’Shaunae Marisa

Adeline Lulo is a visual storyteller inspired by her upbringing, culture, and community. Working between the Bronx, Washington Heights, and the Dominican Republic, she uses photography to address socio-political issues that directly affect her family, friends and communities.

Adeline Lulo

Vikesh Kapoor is a multidisciplinary artist whose work examines race, class and identity as a first-generation American.

Vikesh Kapoor

McKayla Chandler is a multidisciplinary artist. Her work in visual arts stems from the feeling and imagery she carries with her in remembrance of her childhood photobook. Documenting her community has become integral to the spirit of her work.

McKayla Chandler

Walé Oyéjidé, Esq. is a multi-disciplinary artist. As a photographer, filmmaker, writer, designer, and musician, he works to combat bias with creative storytelling and employs fashion design to celebrate the perspectives of refugees and other marginalized populations.

Walé

Eric Hart Jr. is a twenty-two-year-old artist based in Brooklyn, NY. As a photographer, Hart's stylized portraiture is an exploration of blackness and shifting identities within black culture. His visual language is influenced by the nuances of intersectionality.

Eric Hart J.

Oluwatosin is a Nigerian born photographer & videographer with a passion for capturing life’s fleeting moments through a lens. Tosin believes that the camera is a pen that serves to tell stories about any given moment.

Tosin

David López Osuna is a first generation American and photographer working in Los Angeles. In his work, he aims to elevate the stories of people whose representation is often eroded by mainstream appeal.

David Lopez Osuna

Where Jamil Baldwin was born and where he has called home are only miles away, but feel like lifetimes apart. While writing is his primary mode of expression, it is mostly private, though it informs a public photography practice.

Jamil G Baldwin

Xavier Scott Marshall is a first-generation Trinidadian-American artist born and based in New York. Xavier’s images reflect upon the colonial history of image-making to question and draw parallels between history and the black condition.

Xavier Scott Marshall

Emanuel Hahn is a photographer and filmmaker focused on the question of what it means "to belong". As a third-culture kid who always felt at the periphery in his cultural identity, his work focuses on racial diasporas.

Emanuel Hahn

Giancarlo Montes Santangelo photographs and collages in an effort to map out where he comes from and where he wants to go. Collaged photographs bring together the artist’s own body and staged scenes against archival images.

Giancarlo Montes Santangelo

Using photography as language to understand their evolving sense of self, Nykelle DeVivo finds their voice referring to histories of afro spiritualism and expressions of Black queer/trans joy. Their images act as a portal between timeless states of being and the physical world they inhabit.

Nykelle DeVivo

Maneesha Chaudhary is a photographer and director focused on narrative styles of photography pulling from the storytelling spine of cinema. She looks to explore identities and how humans relate to the world both as a part of it and as observers of it.

Maneesha Chaudhary

Nasrah Omar is an artist working with photography and photographic processes. Through imaginative world-building, her work probes narratives of mythologization, ritual and cultivation of digital paracosms with liberatory potential.

Nasrah Omar

Tiffany Luong is a Chinese-American lifestyle photographer with roots in family documentary photography. She specializes in kids/family experiences, visual ethnographies, health & human services, travel stories and putting people in their best light.

Tiffany Luong

Ricardo Nagaoka is a Japanese-Latino photographer, born and raised in Paraguay, and a grandson of Japanese immigrants. His projects seek to explore our constructs and ideas of home, selfhood, and masculinity.

Ricardo Nagaoka

Maya June Mansour is a photographer, producer and copywriter with roots in Black America, Palestine, and Iran. Maya creates mixed medium pieces that explore the relationships between vision, justice, and "women's work."

Maya June Mansour

About Google’s Image Equity Initiative

Racial bias is baked into camera and image technology, historically overlooking and excluding people of color, especially those with darker skin tones. T​​hat same bias can carry through in our modern imaging tools if they aren’t tested with a diverse group of people and inputs, delivering unfair experiences for people of color, like over-brightening or unnaturally desaturating skin.

We acknowledge that Google—and the tech industry writ large—has struggled in this area in the past, and Google is committed to continuing to improve our products accordingly. As part of Google’s Product Inclusion and Equity efforts, our teams are on a mission to build camera and imaging products that work equitably for people of color, so that everyone feels seen, no matter their skin tone. The recent launches of Real Tone on Google Pixel 6, as well as Google Photos’ Real Tone filters and the open-sourcing of the Monk Skin Tone Scale are tangible examples of this commitment. 2022 Image Equity Fellowship is a natural extension of this mission, aiming to empower the next generation of image makers of color to tell urgent stories of their communities, in the US.

Mentors

Ahmed

Klink

Ahmed is a filmmaker and photographer based in New York City. Born in Lebanon in the 80′s where he managed to escape a raging Civil War at age 2, Ahmed found shelter in France where he grew up and lived for 20 years before moving to the US. His work has been selected in American Photography 32, 31 and his client list includes 72andSunny, BBDO, Billboard, CP+B, Bacardi, Budweiser, Translation, Adidas, MTV, SLAM, Converse, Rolling Stone, XXL and Leo Burnett amongst others. He also has a PhD and has written many papers on how to diagnose heart disease using contrast-enhancing nanoparticles. His friends rightfully call him Dr. Klink.

https://ahmedklink.com/

Lyle Ashton

Harris

Lyle has cultivated a diverse artistic practice ranging from photography and collage to installation and performance art. His work explores intersections between the personal and the political, examining the impact of ethnicity, gender, and desire on the contemporary social and cultural dynamic with representation in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annendale-on-Hudson, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Tate Modern, London, UK; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland, among others.

https://www.lyleashtonharris.com/

Bee

Walker

Bee is a foreign-born, multidisciplinary artist and film director based in New York. With an upbringing spanning six countries, an ingrained love of travel, and a family tree covering 8 nations, Bee aims in work and in life to illuminate the complexity of the human experience and connect humankind. Her experiences as a still photographer, creative producer, and counselor inspire her directorial style while her love of art, fashion, and foreign films inspire her visual language and perspective. She works both independently and collaboratively with her husband and fellow director/photographer under the name Rog + Bee.

https://papermonday.com/

Mahaneela

A multidisciplinary artist from London with roots in Ghana, India and Jamaica, Mahaneela's work explores the themes of diasporic history, music and culture, with a focus on the black experience and emphasis on depicting black and brown people in modes of joy and happiness. In a direct response to the lack of representation of Black and Asian people in the mainstream media, she hopes to provide a new perspective, one that is bright, beautiful and authentic. In addition to her photography and filmmaking work, Mahaneela is a creative strategist and consultant, working with artists, labels, and brand to ideate and execute real world activations and events.

https://www.mahaneela.com/

Rujeko

Hockley

Rujeko Hockley is Assistant Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she is a co-curator of the exhibition An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from Whitney’s Collection, 1940-2017 (2017). Previously, she was Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum where she contributed to exhibitions including LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital (2013), Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond (2014) (Co-curator), Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic (2015), I See Myself in You: Selections from the Collection (2015) (Co-curator), and Tom Sachs: Boombox Retrospective, 1999-2016 (2016). She is the co-curator of We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85 (2017), at the Brooklyn Museum. She serves on the Board of Art Matters, as well as the Advisory Board of Recess. She received her B.A. from Columbia University in Art History and is a Ph.D. Candidate in Art History, Theory, and Criticism in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego.

https://www.instagram.com/rjkhckly/

Ahmed

Klink

Ahmed is a filmmaker and photographer based in New York City. Born in Lebanon in the 80′s where he managed to escape a raging Civil War at age 2, Ahmed found shelter in France where he grew up and lived for 20 years before moving to the US. His work has been selected in American Photography 32, 31 and his client list includes 72andSunny, BBDO, Billboard, CP+B, Bacardi, Budweiser, Translation, Adidas, MTV, SLAM, Converse, Rolling Stone, XXL and Leo Burnett amongst others. He also has a PhD and has written many papers on how to diagnose heart disease using contrast-enhancing nanoparticles. His friends rightfully call him Dr. Klink.

https://ahmedklink.com/

Lyle Ashton

Harris

Lyle has cultivated a diverse artistic practice ranging from photography and collage to installation and performance art. His work explores intersections between the personal and the political, examining the impact of ethnicity, gender, and desire on the contemporary social and cultural dynamic with representation in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annendale-on-Hudson, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Tate Modern, London, UK; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Spain; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland, among others.

https://www.lyleashtonharris.com/

Bee

Walker

Bee is a foreign-born, multidisciplinary artist and film director based in New York. With an upbringing spanning six countries, an ingrained love of travel, and a family tree covering 8 nations, Bee aims in work and in life to illuminate the complexity of the human experience and connect humankind. Her experiences as a still photographer, creative producer, and counselor inspire her directorial style while her love of art, fashion, and foreign films inspire her visual language and perspective. She works both independently and collaboratively with her husband and fellow director/photographer under the name Rog + Bee.

https://papermonday.com/

Mahaneela

A multidisciplinary artist from London with roots in Ghana, India and Jamaica, Mahaneela's work explores the themes of diasporic history, music and culture, with a focus on the black experience and emphasis on depicting black and brown people in modes of joy and happiness. In a direct response to the lack of representation of Black and Asian people in the mainstream media, she hopes to provide a new perspective, one that is bright, beautiful and authentic. In addition to her photography and filmmaking work, Mahaneela is a creative strategist and consultant, working with artists, labels, and brand to ideate and execute real world activations and events.

https://www.mahaneela.com/

Rujeko

Hockley

Rujeko Hockley is Assistant Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she is a co-curator of the exhibition An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from Whitney’s Collection, 1940-2017 (2017). Previously, she was Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum where she contributed to exhibitions including LaToya Ruby Frazier: A Haunted Capital (2013), Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond (2014) (Co-curator), Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic (2015), I See Myself in You: Selections from the Collection (2015) (Co-curator), and Tom Sachs: Boombox Retrospective, 1999-2016 (2016). She is the co-curator of We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85 (2017), at the Brooklyn Museum. She serves on the Board of Art Matters, as well as the Advisory Board of Recess. She received her B.A. from Columbia University in Art History and is a Ph.D. Candidate in Art History, Theory, and Criticism in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego.

https://www.instagram.com/rjkhckly/

Program Timeline

Program Timeline
Fellowship begins

September 2022

Fellowship begins

Fellowship ends

February 2023

Fellowship ends

Fellow exhibition

May 2023

Fellow exhibition

Program Partners

Aperture

Aperture

A not-for-profit foundation, connects the photo community and its audiences with the most inspiring work, the sharpest ideas, and with each other---in print, in person, and online.

For Freedoms

For Freedoms

An artist collective that centers art and creativity as a catalyst for transformative connection and collective liberation. By wielding the power of art, we aim to deepen and expand our capacity to interrogate what is and imagine what could be.

Creative Theory

Creative Theory

An only-of-its-kind creative advertising agency built on the belief that a team made of 100% global majority talent is the best to lead and build innovative, inclusive, and industry-leading brand campaigns and amplify critical cultural messaging.

FAQ

There is no entry fee to apply to the Image Equity Fellowship

The Image Equity Fellowship will consider any person who meets the following qualifications:

  • Fellow must self-identify as a person of color (e.g. Black, Middle Eastern, Indigenous, Asian, and/or Latinx)
  • Fellow must be at least 18 years old (at the time of application submission)
  • Fellow must have a valid United States address.
  • Fellow must be able to submit a W9 form
  • If selected, Fellows will need to provide a W9, a US address, and bank account information.

Copyrights to all work submitted in connection with this award remain with the respective Fellows, however, the Fellow grants to Creative Theory Agency and Google LLC a worldwide, irrevocable, and perpetual license to reproduce representative examples of the submitted entries in any of their publications, websites, and/or in any promotional material, strictly in connection with the Google Image Equity Fellowship and with reference to the photographer as relevant in each case.

To sign up, please visit Picter.com

No exceptions will be made for late submissions. Please allow for ample time to complete your entry.

Yes. Applicants can submit from one body of work/project or multiple bodies of work/projects. We are looking for work that speaks to the creator's commitment to storytelling and expression through photography. However, this body of work does not need to be complete; images can be from an ongoing project.

No. Applicants will need to submit a minimum of 5 images/artifacts. The evaluators and judges are expecting to see a number of images that equate to a range (e.g. a portfolio of images) and therefore we will not accept submissions that contain fewer than 5 images/artifacts or more than 20 images/artifacts.

Unfortunately not. The Image Equity Fellowship is open to artists currently based in the United States. Selected Fellows will need to provide a W9, U.S. address, and bank account.

The Google Image Equity Fellowship is about supporting and sustaining Artists' emerging and current practice. There are no restrictions on how the awarded money is used, and we do not impose reporting obligations. Artists are required to make new work with the money received that focuses on normalizing, uplifting, and capturing communities of color with nuance, highlighting the importance of equity for these communities, and of being seen accurately, beautifully and dignifiedly.

Copyrights to all work submitted in connection with this award remain with the respective applicants, however, the submission of an application grants to Creative Theory Agency LLC and Google, Inc. a worldwide, irrevocable, and perpetual license to reproduce representative examples of the submitted entries in any of their publications, websites, and/or in any promotional material, strictly in connection with the Image Equity Fellowship, and with reference to the photographer as relevant in each case.

Yes. At the time of the Fellows announcement, all selected artists will have their work featured online and in physical exhibitions by all participating partners of the Image Equity Fellowship.

You can submit work that has already been published, and no, it will not affect your chances of being selected as a Fellow.

No, you may only submit one portfolio.

Yes, you can edit your submission up until the deadline. To do so, log in to your Picter account and click the "Submission" tab at the top of the screen. Under "Completed" you should see your submission. Click "edit" at the top of the page to edit your submission.

Images must be at least 3,000 pixels wide and saved as a JPG file. Other file types such as TIFF, PNG, and PSD are not permissible. If you continue to have issues uploading your images or completing your submission, visit the Picter help center or e-mail the Picter support team at support@picter.com.

Yes, the $20,000 award is taxable. All federal, state, and/or local income and other taxes, if any, are the Fellow's sole responsibility.

Send an email to imageequityfellowship@creativetheory.agency