I was pondering the newest recipients of the Getty Grants for Photography and thinking about the similarity of the two winning projects in content, if not style. Alex Majoli’s b/w work on the ghetto in Brazil, (OK work but nothing exceptional on an old topic) and Paolo Pellegrin’s stylized setups of Iraqi Refugees and wondering how two Magnum boys could coincidentally receive these grants. I suppose I am a bit of a naive person, but I was absolutely stupefied to see that Susan Meiselas, uber Magnum woman, was a judge here, as well as Melissa Harris, publisher of Aperture– long been associated with Magnum in the form of book projects. OK, I guess I will need to be careful what side of the street I walk on when I walk down 25th Street, but this has just taken photography to another alarming low. That those who have influence have so little regard for even the perception of conflict of interest tells me everything I need to know about how those who have power are operating as the photography business implodes.
If the aim of the Getty Grant is to provide money to great photographers who have projects that require funding, they can check with me at any time, and I can direct them to a dozen photographers with vision and more importantly need financial support- who are getting limited attention, for stories that are more publishable and less obvious than these.&
It shocks me that with all of the Maddoff’s in New York City, after all of the collusion we have gone through in America, and where the publishing industry is at this point in time, that this is where we are in documentary photography.