Heritage in Focus: Magnum Foundation Partnership
Heritage in Focus
A collaboration between World Monuments Fund and Magnum Foundation, the Heritage in Focus program commissions emerging photographers to capture the stories of select 2022 World Monuments Watch sites, as well as the stewards who work to preserve them.
Utilizing innovative photographic techniques, this pilot project provides a unique perspective on heritage sites by spotlighting the communities bringing these sites to life.
Leveraging Magnum Foundation’s global grantee network, WMF and Magnum selected 11 photographers to produce creative series designed around a Watch site. Photographers were selected based on their geographic proximity to Watch sites and given free rein to design a photographic or multimedia series. The resulting products thus represent both each photographer’s creative processes and their first-hand experience of the places they are photographing.
As a part of this program, photographers are provided with continued training, support, and exposure.
Meet the Photographers
Yanacancha-Huaquis Cultural Landscape (Peru)
Ancient pre-Inca water management systems and sustainable tourism planning are crucial for an Andean community to adapt to climate change and provide local economic benefit.
Photographers:
Víctor Zea Díaz is a freelance documentary photographer from Peru who focuses on issues of territory, ancestral heritage, and identity. He was selected for Magnum Foundation’s Photography and Social Justice Fellowship in 2021 and received a National Geographic Society grant in 2019. His work has been published in several notable publications, including National Geographic and BBC.
Diego López Calvín is a freelance photographer based in Madrid. He is one of the inventors of solarigraphy, which uses pinhole cameras and long exposures to track the movement of the sun.
Artist caption: Portrait of Rita Castillo in the Patihuisinca Reservoir.
Artist caption: Portrait of Rita Castillo in the Patihuisinca Reservoir.
Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home (Australia)
This former government institution for Aboriginal boys forcibly taken from their families is central to a survivor-led effort to transform the site into a place of truth-telling and healing.
Photographer: Tace Stevens is a Noongar and Spinifex woman from Western Australia. She is a documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Sydney. With a background in community development and education, Tace loves to photograph people and culture. She wants to capture and share stories that challenge and educate.
Artist caption: Kinchela Boys Home Site, Australia. “I didn’t learn anything about Aboriginality. We were taught to be white in there, you know what I mean? Taught to be white, and don’t mix with blackfullas in school. I lost my culture...more or less, my identity...I knew nothing when I got out of Kinchela. When I went to Mum’s in Armidale, I cried to go back to Kinchela, because that’s all I knew. That was my home, you know?” — Uncle Harry Ritchie #56.
Artist caption: Kinchela Boys Home Site, Australia. “I didn’t learn anything about Aboriginality. We were taught to be white in there, you know what I mean? Taught to be white, and don’t mix with blackfullas in school. I lost my culture...more or less, my identity...I knew nothing when I got out of Kinchela. When I went to Mum’s in Armidale, I cried to go back to Kinchela, because that’s all I knew. That was my home, you know?” — Uncle Harry Ritchie #56.
La Maison du Peuple, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
An important landmark and unique example of African modernism, the rehabilitation of La Maison du Peuple is designed to both enhance public life and foster civic pride.
Photographer: Adrien Bitibaly is a self-taught documentary photographer from Burkina Faso. He captures personal stories and experiences, documenting the transformations and relationships of individuals within society. He organized the first Photosa Festival in Ouagadougou in 2021 to make photography more accessible to the people of Burkina Faso and provide a platform for African photographers to meet, exchange ideas, and receive training.
Artist caption: Roof maintenance worker.
Artist caption: Roof maintenance worker.
Sumba Island (Indonesia)
Without community-led training in traditional knowledge, the sacred houses of the Sumbanese people and their layers of symbolic meaning risk being lost.
Photographer: Fransisca Angela is an Indonesian visual artist. She uses photography, video, and writing to capture everyday experiences and explore themes such as place, memory, and cultural identity. Her work is collaborative and invites viewers to reimagine reality. Fransisca was a 2021 Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellow.
Artist caption: Nauta means a stairway, a way out for a soul who dies. In Kampung Tarung, where the Marapu belief is still firmly rooted, people would perform the Nauta ritual for a month.
Artist caption: Nauta means a stairway, a way out for a soul who dies. In Kampung Tarung, where the Marapu belief is still firmly rooted, people would perform the Nauta ritual for a month.
Tiretta Bazaar, Kolkata (India)
India’s earliest Chinatown is home to minority communities seeking recognition for their history and urban revitalization to support their way of life.
Photographer: Soumya Sankar Bose is a photographer and artist known for interweaving long-term research and engagement with local communities in his work. He enmeshes fiction and reality to explore memory, desire, vulnerability, and identity. His projects unfold in several chapters and various forms after yearlong conversations and engagement with marginalized communities. Bose has received several grants and awards for his work, and his books and prints are in the collections of several prestigious institutions.
Artist caption: Temple courtyard of Nam Soon Church, Tiretta Bazaar, Kolkata.
Artist caption: Temple courtyard of Nam Soon Church, Tiretta Bazaar, Kolkata.
Heritage Buildings of Beirut (Lebanon)
The vibrant coastal city of Beirut, devastated by the blast of August 2020, needs further recovery support to protect and rehabilitate the historic buildings essential to its identity.
Photographer: Elsie Haddad is a documentary photographer based in Beirut. Her work focuses on transition, change, and places that hold memories. Her projects have been exhibited in Berlin, Beirut, Jordan, and Lebanon. Elsie has won several awards, including the Photomed Festival Portfolio Award and the Boghossian Award. She is also part of Collectif 1200, a collective of 11 Lebanese photographers.
Artist caption: A view over Gemmayzeh-Sursock area in Rmeil. Twenty years ago, the panoramic view of the sea and mountain, from north to south, started getting obstructed by new high-rise buildings. The building on the right of the frame was never completed.
Artist caption: A view over Gemmayzeh-Sursock area in Rmeil. Twenty years ago, the panoramic view of the sea and mountain, from north to south, started getting obstructed by new high-rise buildings. The building on the right of the frame was never completed.
Teotihuacan, San Juan Teotihuacan (Mexico)
More inclusive tourism planning and visitor management at this iconic archaeological park can help address economic challenges facing surrounding communities.
Photographer: Yael Martínez is a Mexican photographer who addresses fragmented communities affected by organized crime in his native country. He has won several awards and his work has been featured in exhibitions and publications globally. He joined Magnum Photos as a Nominee in 2020 and became an Associate in 2022.
Artist caption: The archaeological zone of Teotihuacan is a major destination for hot air ballooning, generating a significant economic impact. Intervened photography
Artist caption: The archaeological zone of Teotihuacan is a major destination for hot air ballooning, generating a significant economic impact. Intervened photography
Hitis (Water Fountains) of the Kathmandu Valley (Nepal)
An extensive system of historic water distribution points and underground Channels, Hitis needs urgent maintenance to ensure that local communities have reliable access to clean water.
Photographers:
Prasiit Sthapit is a visual storyteller based in Kathmandu. In 2016, he was the recipient of the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund Grant and was selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass. He is currently associated Fuzz Factory Productions, a multimedia collective based in Kathmandu, photo.circle, a platform for photography in Nepal and Photo Kathmandu. He is also the director of Fuzzscape, a multi-media music documentary project.
Shristi Shrestha is an artist based in Kathmandu. Her work explores ideas of place, memory and nostalgia. She also works as a curator and programs coordinator at photo.circle and and has been part of the last four editions of Photo Kathmandu. She received her BA in Studio Art from Mount Holyoke College, MA in 2015.
Artist caption: Iku Hiti, Dhobighat.
Artist caption: Iku Hiti, Dhobighat.
Garcia Pasture, Brownsville, Texas (United States)
The traditional territory of the Carrizo Comecrudo tribe of Texas is threatened by natural resource extraction. The desecration of ancestral lands requires formal legal recognition to ensure its future.
Photographer: Tahila Mintz is an Indigenous Yoeme and Jewish photographer, filmmaker, and cultural technologist. She amplifies the voices of Indigenous people and the natural world, focusing on ancestral relationships and recuperating knowledge unraveled by colonialism. Tahila is the Founding Executive Director of OJI:SDA’ Sustainable Indigenous Futures and has been published in National Geographic and NYTimes.
Artist caption: Juan Benito Mancias, Chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas (Esto’k Goa) walks along the shore of Boca Chica. The creation story of the Carrizo/Comecrudo people tells of this being the point of origin of the people. It is a place of birth. SpaceX situated at this location is an extreme violation of the peoples of this territory and its other inhabitants. The Great Blue Heron is one of many birds that spend part of their lives on the Boca Chica beaches and the Garcia Pasture area. They are made vulnerable due to the level of sound emitted from the SpaceX launchpad, which is on the beach border, as well as due to potential oil spills and runoff from the site. Boca Chica is also the nesting place for female Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles to lay their eggs, as well as the home or transitory habitat for many other species.
Artist caption: Juan Benito Mancias, Chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas (Esto’k Goa) walks along the shore of Boca Chica. The creation story of the Carrizo/Comecrudo people tells of this being the point of origin of the people. It is a place of birth. SpaceX situated at this location is an extreme violation of the peoples of this territory and its other inhabitants. The Great Blue Heron is one of many birds that spend part of their lives on the Boca Chica beaches and the Garcia Pasture area. They are made vulnerable due to the level of sound emitted from the SpaceX launchpad, which is on the beach border, as well as due to potential oil spills and runoff from the site. Boca Chica is also the nesting place for female Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles to lay their eggs, as well as the home or transitory habitat for many other species.
Lamanai, Indian Church Village (Belize)
An international tourist destination encompassing an ancient Maya city, Lamanai requires a more inclusive heritage management plan to help reinforce the relationship between the site and local residents.
Photographer: Morena Pérez Joachin is a Guatemalan photographer who focuses on indigenous movements, defense of territory, environment, migrations and feminism. She has worked for several local and international media and is the founder of "Artefacto" association in Guatemala City. She is also a member of the RUDA collective of Latin American photographers.
Artist caption: Portrait of an Indigenous man carrying offerings to the ceremonial sites within Lamanai.
Artist caption: Portrait of an Indigenous man carrying offerings to the ceremonial sites within Lamanai.
Asante Traditional Buildings, Near Kumasi, Ashanti Region (Ghana)
Sacred earthen shrines, among the last architectural vestiges of the Kingdom of Asante, face ongoing deterioration that call for new approaches to management and maintenance.
Photographer: Eric Gyamfi is a Ghanaian documentary photographer with a B.A in Information Studies and Economics from the University of Ghana. Currently pursuing an MFA at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, he is interested in the relationship between photography and the weather, experimenting with hybrid digital and analogue/chemical processes. He has participated in photography workshops across Africa.
Artist caption: Yaa Tiwaa with family members and GMMB driver Akwasi Amankwaa at the Adako Gyaakye Shrine.
Artist caption: Yaa Tiwaa with family members and GMMB driver Akwasi Amankwaa at the Adako Gyaakye Shrine.
