Now celebrating its 25th h anniversary, the 2021 Howard Chapnick grant ($10,000) is presented to Sarah Stacke (USA) for her entry, “The 400 Years Project.” The project, founded by Brian Adams, Sheena Brings Plenty, and Sarah Stacke, is a photography collective looking at the evolution of Native American identity, rights, and representation, centering the Native voice. One of its ambitions is to create a groundbreaking pictorial collection of Native America. To help meet this goal, they are building a digital library of Native American photographers from the mid-1800s to the present.
“There are few things I love more than investigating archives and the counter-narratives they reveal,” explains Sarah Stacke. “The 400 Years Project is elated to be the recipient of the 2021 Howard Chapnick Grant and we are eager to continue researching and locating Native photographers from the first 100 years of photography in family, regional, and national archives. The history of photography – and North America – is incomplete without the critical work and perspectives of Native American photographers,” she added.
Elizabeth Krist, a Smith Fund board member, and lead juror for the grant, was impressed with the passion and dedication represented by this year’s entries. “The scope and intensity of these undertakings is both impressive and inspiring,” said Ms. Krist. “It was an honor to review this year’s submissions with Nicole Frugé, Director of Visuals at the San Francisco Chronicle, Angélica Dass, an award-winning Aperture photographer from Brazil, and esteemed curator and Sony Artisan of Imagery Endia Beal.
