The Aftermath Project - 2025 Conflict Photography Grant

The Aftermath Project - 2025 Conflict Photography Grant is now open for entries!

The Aftermath Project - 2025 Conflict Photography Grant: The Aftermath Project has opened its 2025 grant cycle for the 1492/1619 American Aftermaths inviting all working conflict photographers around the world who are interested in creating work that helps illumine aftermath issues, and encourages greater public understanding and discussion of these issues.

Short description

The Aftermath Project has opened its 2025 grant cycle for the 1492/1619 American Aftermaths inviting all working conflict photographers around the world to participate with their projects. 2025 will mark the fifth, and final, year of this special five-year grant cycle.

Application is open to working photographers world-wide who are interested in creating work that helps illumine aftermath issues, and encourages greater public understanding and discussion of these issues. The Aftermath Project is a non-profit organization committed to telling the other half of the story of conflict - the story of what it takes for individuals to learn to live again, to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace. The 1492/1619 grant is open to wide interpretation of America’s original sins – the 1492 “discovery” of this land by Christopher Columbus and the assault on indigenous peoples and their cultures which followed; and the 1619 arrival of the first enslaved Africans and the legacy of more than two centuries of a system of slavery based on white supremacy and the treatment of Blacks as chattel. The Aftermath Project is grounded in the understanding that unresolved conflicts – including those where actual conflict itself has stopped (ie, the Civil War) — continue to have an impact across generations.

Organiser welcomes proposals that explore the contemporary aftermaths of these historical events, which continue to shape our society today.

The grant is specifically for projects that relate to aftermath of colonialism and enslavement in the United States. Organiser welcome proposals from other countries in the Americas that make a clear connection to these U.S. aftermaths.

There are no restrictions on who tells what story, with this grant the organizers are seeking to create a broader playing field, one that makes room for photographers from under-represented communities to tell their own stories.

They will also be interested in proposals from white photographers who want to interrogate the role of white privilege in creating and sustaining these injustices; a descendant of slave owners, for example, may suggest an examination of their own family history. They will be interested in proposals from African photographers who may want to propose a project that examines the roots of the slave trade and its impact in their countries.

Submission requirements:

1. A signed application form, saved as a PDF or jpg file.
2. A project proposal, not to exceed two pages, saved as a .docx file.
3. A portfolio of no more than 30 images, in jpg format. Please put caption information in the File Info section of each photo. You must label your images this way:Your last name, followed by a number – Example: Smith_1.jpg.

Your images MUST be sized 1200 pixels on the longest side, at 72 dpi – with a file size of NO LARGER than 2 Mb PER PHOTO.

4. A caption sheet, saved as a .docx file. (Descriptions for each photo, including date made, etc).
5. A short bio, not longer than two paragraphs, saved as a .docx file.

Who may enter?

The Aftermath Project is open to photographers who are interested in creating work that helps illumine aftermath issues, and encourages greater public understanding and discussion of these issues.

Prize:

The Aftermath Project will award a $25,000 grant to one photographer and announce four finalists. Four finalists will also, each be awarded with a $5,000 grant.