Nine Years of Photoville: How We Grew

The Pulitzer Center has built a tradition of showcasing work at the annual Photoville Festival in New York City. Now in its 12th year, Photoville is a free outdoor photography festival at Brooklyn Bridge Park that showcases 80 exhibits, both open-air and in shipping containers. Photoville has been a yearly celebration of the projects and photojournalists that the Pulitzer Center supports. In addition to featuring the photographers’ work, Photoville creates an opportunity to reach wider audiences with underreported stories. All of the Pulitzer Center-supported exhibits at Photoville are on display until June 18, 2023, at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The first Pulitzer Center exhibit dates back to 2014, featuring grantees Jason Motlagh, Larry C. Price, and Sean Gallagher, with work exploring the cost of fast fashion. Almost nine years later, we've doubled the number of photographers highlighted, curated more exhibits, and increased the gender parity of the featured photographers.

In 2022, we approached our exhibitions with a renewed sense of partnership with the organizations and outlets we work with. Through two exhibitions on display in Brooklyn and Manhattan, one in partnership with Indigenous Photograph and another curated by team members at the Pulitzer Center, Indigenous and female photographers were celebrated, as were images highlighting the ongoing climate crisis and the significance of identity. Last summer, Photoville estimated nearly 1 million visitors walked through the 67 exhibits spread across five boroughs.

This year, in partnership with TIME magazine and Rukhshana Media, the exhibit Far From Home offers a candid look at six female refugees' lives after the 2021 fall of Kabul. As they navigate new countries and seek community miles away from home, we are given a glimpse into their lives, possessions, and families through photos. In a predominantly male industry, Far From Home makes space for female photographers and journalists to document the stories and resilience of other women. Photographers Sabiha Çimen, Luisa Dörr, Fatimah Hossaini, Diana Markosian, and Kristina Varaksina are featured in this exhibition.

Our second exhibit, Traditions and Resistance, showcases the strength of communities around the world as they fight to preserve and revitalize traditions that sustain livelihoods and create hope for the next generation. These photographs show the stories of quiet resistance through the preservation and revival of ancestral traditions, despite threats of urbanization, climate change, or conflict and displacement. Pulitzer Center grantees Brian Adams, Enayat Asadi, Sharon Castellanos, Gui Christ, and Shefali Rafiq are featured in this exhibition.

Photoville 2023 is an exciting time for Pulitzer Center grantees, with several being featured in other exhibits. Grantee Michael O. Snyder’s photographs from The Queens of Queen City project were featured in ZEKE magazine’s exhibit showcasing the winners of its ZEKE Award for Documentary Photography. ZEKE is a print publication published twice yearly by the Social Documentary Network, showing the best global documentary photography.

Grantee Caroline Gutman's work from her Pulitzer Center-supported project, Reclaiming the History of American Indigo, was presented by Photoville in the exhibit Children of Indigo. Gutman’s work explores the unsettling history of indigo in South Carolina’s Lowcountry and the artists and homesteaders today who are reviving and reclaiming the indigo tradition. Eyewitness grantee Tara Pixley’s work was also featured at Photoville in the What We See exhibition curated by Women Photograph, in a celebration of their members’ work.

At Photoville Education Day on June 14, a Pulitzer Center education team member facilitated student engagement with the exhibit Traditions and Resistance, furthering the Pulitzer Center’s mission to connect younger audiences to journalism.

As we continue to explore ways to support photojournalists and visual storytelling more broadly, we are now accepting applications for the Eyewitness Photojournalism Grant in partnership with Diversify Photo. As the grant grows in its third year, we are now offering mentorship opportunities for the next cohort of Eyewitness recipients. Applications close on June 30, 2023, at 11:59pm EDT. Interested photographers can apply here.

We invite you to visit our visual storytelling resource page to learn more about other visual storytelling opportunities and explore projects the Pulitzer Center has supported over the years.