Women in Documentary Photography - celebrating ten years of the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award

POST X FOTODOCUMENT

presents

'Women in Documentary Photography' Weekender

supported by NIKON

Join us for a spectacular weekender

marking ten years of the

Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award

Marilyn Stafford, Lebanon, 1960

The Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award is granted annually to a professional woman photographer towards the completion of a compelling social or environmental documentary photo essay. The Award is reserved for documentary photographers working on projects which are intended to make the world a better place and which may be under-reported. 

The programme includes the inaugural exhibition of When the Earth Gives Birth by the 2026 Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award recipient, Johanna Alarcón, alongside an Artist Talk exploring the project and her wider practice.

© Johanna Alarcón from "When the Earth Gives Birth", exploring Indigenous maternal healthcare in Ecuador.

Visitors will view a presentation of highlights from a decade of award-winning projects, together with a display of photographs and books by renowned twentieth-century photographer, Marilyn Stafford (1925-2023), the Award's eponymous heroine.

© Marilyn Stafford Girl with Milk Bottle, c1955

The weekend features a talk by the highly-acclaimed winner of the 2022 Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award, Natalaya Saprunova, presentations from long-standing MFSA jury members and renowned photojournalists Andrea Bruce and Donna DeCesare, who will share insights from their extensive photographic careers, and a panel discussion on the role of women in contemporary documentary photography, bringing together leading practitioners and industry voices including Laura El-Tantawy and Neo Ntsoma. The programme will include the long-awaited trailer screening of the forthcoming documentary about Marilyn Stafford, directed by Eleanor Emptage of Tara Films. Additional events include a Nikon photography workshop by Nikon Ambassador, Carolyn Mendelsohn, alongside portfolio reviews. There will also be a GOST Books talk and signing of new photo book Defying the Myth, by acclaimed photojournalist Carol Allen-Storey and a live conversation between the photographer and the featured women.

© Natalya Saprunova from “Kildin, a Language for Russian Sámis Survivors”. Elena Yakovleva prepares her drum to perform a ritual in front of a sacred stone in the Saami mini-village reconstructed for tourists.

This extensive programme of events is an opportunity to discover a decade of award-winning documentary photography and to hear from leading voices in contemporary documentary photography.

It is also a special tribute to Marilyn Stafford; celebrating her life, photography, and enduring legacy.

Full Programme:

Friday 18 September, 6 - 10pm

Exhibition launch and Artist Talk by 2026 MFSA recipient, Johanna Alarcón

Saturday 19 September, 10am - 6pm

10am Welcome from POST, FotoDocument & Nikon

10.15am Panel discussion on the role of women in contemporary documentary photography with Andrea Bruce, Donna DeCesare, Laura El-Tantawy, Neo Ntsoma, chaired by Nina Emett

11.30 coffee / tea break

11.45am Artist Talk and Q & A by Natalya Saprunova, 2022 MFSA Winner

1pm Lunch

1.45pm Screening of the Marilyn Stafford film trailer presented by the film's Producer Eleanor Emptage from Tara Films.

2pm Artist talk and Q & A from MFSA juror Donna DeCesare Documentary Photographer / Associate Professor, University of Texas (Austin)

3.15pm coffee / tea break

3.30pm Artist talk and Q & A from MFSA juror Andrea Bruce,  Documentary Photographer / Knight Chair in Visual Journalism, University of Georgia

4.45pm Live disussion hosted by special guest Carol Allen-Storey with some of the women featured in her new book, Defying the Myth from GOST Books

© Carol Allen-Storey from 'Defying the Myth'. Kallan transforms his body language into a dinosaur at the Natural History Museum in London, a creature he greatly admires and is obsessively drawn to, 2026.

Sunday 20 September*

10am - 12.30pm Nikon portrait workshop "Compelling Portraits and Storytelling" with Carolyn Mendelsohn

1.30pm - 3.30pm Nikon portfolio reviews with Nikon Ambassadors Andrea Bruce and Carolyn Mendelsohn

*Please note our Sunday workshop and portfolio sessions are reserved for University of Brighton students / recent graduates only. The rest of the weekend is open to everyone.

Detailed information in alphabetical order:

Andrea Bruce is an award-winning documentary photographer, writer, artist and educator whose work explores democracy, conflict and the aftermath of war, bridging journalism and contemporary art. She began photographing in Iraq in 2003 and spent eight years as a staff photographer for The Washington Post, where she authored the acclaimed Unseen Iraq column. Her work has been published by National Geographic, The New York Times and many other international publications. A member-owner of the NOOR photo agency, Andrea is Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the University of Georgia and a juror for the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award.

Carol Allen-Storey is an award-winning documentary photographer whose work explores humanitarian issues, social justice and the resilience of marginalised communities. A UNICEF Photography Ambassador since 2009, she has received numerous international honours, including the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize and multiple Julia Margaret Cameron Awards. Her long-term project Defying the Myth, which won Gold at the 2024 Association of Photographers (AOP) Awards, explores the lives of single mothers raising children with severe disabilities. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the National Portrait Gallery, Somerset House, the Nobel Peace Centre and the European Union headquarters.

Defying the Myth, published by GOST Books, is a deeply personal photographic project by Carol Allen-Storey that evolved over more than a decade. It chronicles the untold stories of single mothers who create safe and enduring worlds for their progeny living with severe disabilities. What began as a photographic project soon became a true collaboration with these families. Over time, through shared trust, vulnerability and care, this project grew into something much larger—a community, a network, a family of its own. The book also features drawings, artworks, poems, and testaments made by the women and the children. The book shines a light on the struggles, and triumphs of three single mothers raising children with severe disabilities. This project is more than just a story of survival—it is a testament to love, creativity, and hope

Carolyn Mendlesohn is an award-winning artist, photographer and Nikon Ambassador whose collaborative portrait practice explores identity, belonging and lived experience. Through photography and storytelling, she amplifies under-represented voices and creates work rooted in trust and connection. Her photography has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Wellcome Collection, the Imperial War Museum, UNESCO Paris and the UK Parliament, and has been selected for Portrait of Britain and the Royal Photographic Society International Photography Exhibition. Carolyn is also recognised for her work with young people through Through Our Lens and is currently Artist in Residence for the Born in Bradford research programme.

Nikon Portrait Workshop "Compelling Portraits and Storytelling" with Nikon Ambassador Carolyn Mendelsohn

This 2.5-hour workshop (limited to 8 places, for current University of Brighton students and recent graduates) explores Carolyn Mendelsohn's collaborative approach to portraiture, drawing on her practice and recent series This Is Also Motherhood. Through conversation, curiosity and connection, participants will learn to place subjects at the centre of their own story, working with a model and then in pairs. The session considers how still life and personal objects can carry memory and narrative, alongside practical skills in framing, composition and light. Held in the studio and on location. Bring an object with personal significance as a starting point.

Nikon Portfolio Reviews - combined with the Nikon Portrait Workshop

Two Nikon Ambassadors - Carolyn Mendelsohn and Andrea Bruce - will hold portfolio reviews for the 8 workshop participants. Participants should bring a body of work they would like help and support with.

Donna De Cesare is an author, documentary photographer and educator known for her groundbreaking coverage of US gangs' spread through Central America. Her photographs and testimonies from at-risk children in Guatemala and Colombia helped UNICEF develop protocols for photographing vulnerable children. She is an Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and a consultant to Columbia's Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. A 2013 Maria Moors Cabot Award recipient, her work has been exhibited at Visa pour l'Image, Centro de la Imagen and the Brooklyn Museum. Her book Unsettled / Desasosiego documents her experiences in Central America and Los Angeles. She is a Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award juror.

Eleanor Emptage is an award-winning producer and writer, and co-owner of Tara Films with director Kathryn Ferguson. She has produced five feature documentaries, including Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist (2018) and Nothing Compares (2022), both Sundance premieres — the latter winning Best Feature Documentary at BIFA 2022 and earning PGA and Emmy nominations. In 2024 she wrote and produced Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes for Universal, and was UK Producer on Blue Road - The Edna O'Brien Story, which premiered at TIFF before UK/Ireland cinema release and Sky broadcast. Tara Films' first narrative short, which she executive produced, was BAFTA-nominated and won Best Short Film at IFTA 2026.

FotoDocument is an award-winning arts social enterprise, which brings visibility to positive social and environmental initiatives around the world through documentary photography, film, and multi-media products and installations. The work creates significant impact through fostering a profound sense of active global citizenship by engaging participants and audiences in powerful storylines, which spark meaningful change. The organisation has facilitated the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award since its inception in 2017.

Johanna Alarcón, winner of the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award 2026, is an Ecuadorian independent visual storyteller and educator. Her practice is rooted in long-term collaborative processes that explore collective memory, spirituality, and the relationship between community and territory. Through photography and participatory storytelling, she examines the intersections of social justice, gender, identity, and belonging across Latin America and the Global South. Her work seeks to challenge stereotypes and the enduring effects of colonial structures, focusing on the experiences of women, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, and incarcerated populations. Through intimate and community-centered narratives, she explores resilience, memory and humanity.

When the Earth Gives Birth, Johanna Alarcón's winning photo essay, explores Indigenous maternal healthcare in Ecuador through the stories of midwives, apprentices, and patients from AMUPAKIN and Partera di Anaku, the first Indigenous midwifery schools and hospitals in the Amazon and Andes. In a country where Indigenous women face disproportionately high maternal mortality rates, limited access to healthcare, and widespread obstetric violence, these women-led initiatives have provided community-based maternal care for more than three decades. Midwives travel across rivers, forests, and mountains to reach remote communities where public healthcare is often absent. The project highlights Indigenous-led solutions as acts of reproductive sovereignty, cultural preservation, territorial defence, and resistance, offering globally relevant models for women’s, children’s, and Indigenous rights.

Laura El-Tantawy is a British-Egyptian documentary photographer, bookmaker and educator whose work explores identity, home, belonging and the human condition through socially engaged visual storytelling. Raised between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the UK, her cross-cultural upbringing has shaped a practice that blends photography, moving image, sound and text. She is best known for her acclaimed project In the Shadow of the Pyramids and was the first Egyptian recipient of the prestigious W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Award. Laura is also the founder of PLATFORM 2020, an online documentary photography education initiative centred on Africa and the SWANA region.

Marilyn Stafford (1925–2023) was an American-born British photographer whose distinguished career encompassed portraiture, fashion and documentary photography. After photographing Albert Einstein in 1948, she was mentored by Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris and developed a distinctive documentary approach. Her work took her across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, documenting subjects including Algerian refugees, Lebanon, India and post-war Bangladesh, while also photographing many leading cultural figures of the twentieth century. In 2017, she worked with FotoDocument to establish the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award, supporting women documentary photographers worldwide and creating a lasting legacy for future generations.

Natalya Saprunova is a documentary photographer based in Paris and originally from the Russian Arctic region of the Kola Peninsula in Murmansk. Her first experience in photojournalism was at the daily newspaper Murmansk Messenger before moving to France in 2008, where she graduated in Documentary Photojournalism from EMI-CFD School in Paris. She developed a documentary practice based on an ethnographic approach exploring identity, environment, climate change, youth, femininity, and spirituality. Her recent work focuses on northern and remote regions. Inspired by the stories and history of Indigenous Saami reindeer herders, she now travels independently across Siberia, Mongolia, Canada, and Europe, documenting everyday life and contemporary transformations across these territories through long-term projects.

Neo Ntsoma is a South African photojournalist, portrait photographer and mentor whose work has helped redefine visual storytelling in post-apartheid South Africa. Born in Vryburg in 1972 and raised in Mafikeng, she was driven to challenge the under-representation of Black women in media, becoming the first Black woman photographer to join The Star newspaper in 1998. Her dynamic, emotive work spans news, portraiture, music and fine art. In 2004 she became the first woman to win CNN's African Journalist of the Year Photography Prize. In 2007 she founded Neo Ntsoma Productions, mentoring emerging African visual storytellers. She is a Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award juror.

Banner image: © Natalya Saprunova, Cover image: © Johanna Alarcón

Whether you're a photographer, student, educator, passionate about documentary storytelling, or simply curious, join us for a unique weekend celebrating ten years of the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award and the remarkable women shaping documentary photography today.