The Martha Cooper Scholarship (MCS), celebrating Martha Cooper’s legacy in capturing human cultures through photography, is calling for applications from photographers from Africa or Latin America to engage in an 11-month artistic journey in Berlin in 2025.
With the newly announced MCS, the Foundation Berliner Leben acknowledges the importance of documentary photography and purposefully offers a production scholarship for professional photographers who use their photography in an effort to promote a positive impact on the world. The scholarship is based on the annual topic of Fresh A.I.R., the scholarship program of Stiftung Berliner Leben, which addresses social and political developments that affect us in the present, and highlights the diversity of human experience and perception of the world.
Within the framework of ‘I AM FLUX: The Freedom of Being and the Possibilities of Becoming’, there are three thematic fields of action, namely HORIZONS OF BEING, WHISPERS OF EXISTENCE, and BEYOND LIMITS. Project ideas will be supported in which at least one of the three thematic focuses finds expression in the artistic works.
There is an opportunity to participate in a final group exhibition as part of the scholarship, as well as contributing to and participating in other projects of the foundation and their cooperation partners (e.g. the URBAN NATION Museum for Urban Contemporary Art).
The scholarship includes full coverage of costs (travel, visa, living expenses, mobility grant for public transport tickets and a fixed lump sum for materials) and accommodation in the artist residency in Berlin-Schöneberg.
The scholarship cannot provide any technical equipment needed for the photography project. Camera, lenses, tripod and all other equipment would have to be brought or rented/purchased here in Berlin (the latter would have to be included in the proposed budget plan).
