VISUAL MINDS

Maxim Dondyuk (b. 1983) is a Ukrainian visual artist working in the field of documentary photography. His practice integrates multiple mediums including photography, video, text, and archival material. Maxim’s works often explore issues relating to history, memory, conflict, and their consequences.

He has been widely awarded numerous recognitions including Lucie Awards, the Prix Pictet Photography Prize, Magnum Photos ‘30 under 30’, the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. His work has been exhibited internationally, at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, Somerset House in London, MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome, the Biennale of Photography in Bogota, Colombia, among others. Maxim’s works are held in private and museum collections.

Sebastian H. Schroeder talks with Lars Lindemann (GEO) and Thomas Borberg (Politiken) about the first season of VISUAL MINDS. 

James Estrin is a senior staff photographer for The New York Times. He is the founder of the Lens section, the Times’s photography column and its co-editor. He had been a freelance photographer contributing to several magazines. Estrin was part of a team that won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize. He is also the co-executive producer of the documentary film „Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro“.

Alessia Glaviano is based in Milan, Italy and the brand visual director of Vogue Italia and director of the Photo Vogue Festival. In 2011 she launched Photo Vogue, an innovative platform on which users can share their own photographs knowing they can rely on the curatorial supervision of professional photo editors. Besides the editorial activity, Glaviano holds lectures and conferences, e.g. at the University of Brighton, Central Saint Martins, IED, Bocconi University and the Milan Polytechnic. She was a jury member in numerous internationally photo awards, including the World Press Photo Award and the Festival International de Mode et de Photographie à Hyères; and has participated in several portfolio review sessions, including the “New York Times Portfolio Reviews”.

Ahmed Najm is an Iraq based editor and the managing director of Metrography Agency, the first and only photo agency in Iraq. Growing up during the civil war era, in the first seven years of his life, Najm and his family fled to Iran twice. He supervises photojournalists in various Iraqi communities and religions. He has also been training 15 women photojournalists, encouraging them to tell the stories that remain inaccessible to male photographers and is the organizer of the annual photo festival of Metrography which takes place in five cities in Iraq. Ahmed Najm was a jury member of the World Press Photo Award.

Lekgetho Makola is currently the CEO of Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He is the former Head of Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg. Makola has been part of a number of diverse visual storytelling platforms and curatorial committees that included the Rencontres de Bamako in Mali, New York Times portfolio reviews and chairing the World Press Photo Awards General Jury 2020. Lekgetho Makola’s artistic philosophy is embedded in social justice and advocacy as an International Ford Foundation Fellow on Social Justice. He sits on the advisory committees to the boards of CathLight and Social Documentary Network. Lekgetho, a graduate of Howard University MFA Film Studies, has accumulated extensive strategic experience in arts administration and artistic programming from institutions he worked for in over two decades. He is a founding member of Centres of Learning for Photography in Africa, a continental network for photographic hubs.

Thomas Borberg is based in Copenhagen, Denmark and since June 2021 staff photographer at Politiken. For the past 11 years, Thomas has worked as Politiken’s photo editor-in-chief and as a visiting lecturer of photojournalism at photo festivals and universities around the world. He has also worked as photo editor for numerous book projects and as a jury member for national and international photo contests, including the 2016 World Press Photo Contest as a member of the Documentary and News jury and the 2018 World Press Photo contest as Chairman of the Sports jury.

Bertan Selim is an Amsterdam based editor, curator and consultant in the arts, specialized in international grant-making in visual arts and photography. His work has centered on mentorship programmes in the Middle East and the Balkans. In 2014 he helped set up the Arab Documentary Photography Programme (ADPP). And since 2017 he regularly lectures at the photography department of the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague (KABK). Bertan currently works as head of programs at the Prince Claus Fund in Amsterdam and currently mentors about 12 artists from non-Western countries; additionally. In 2020 Bertan founded the VID Foundation for Photography to support photography in the Balkan region. He is a board member of the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

Hannah Reyes Morales is a Filipina photographer and National Geographic Explorer whose work documents tenderness amidst adversity. Her photography, both visceral and intimate, takes a look at how resilience is embodied in daily life. Based in Manila, Reyes Morales’ work explores the universal themes of diaspora, survival, and the bonds that tie us together.