Emily Schiffer (USA, 1980). Graduated in Fine Arts and African American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Schiffer is interested in documentary photography at its confluence with art, participation and social transformation. In 2005 she founded My Viewpoint Youth Photography Initiative, a project developed in the indigenous reserve Cheyenne (South Dakota) river whose aim was to teach photography as a means to enable young people to explore, express and reflect its identity. In 2011 she participated in the creation of See Potential a public art project supported by the Magnum Foundation, whose purpose was to involve the community in urban rehabilitation projects by installing large-scale photographs in ruined buildings. Thus on the one hand it showed the potential image as a tool for social empowerment and drew attention to the need to reshape the spaces. Among her awards include the Audience Engagement of the Open Society Foundation (2012), the Emergency Fund of the Magnum Foundation (2011), the Arnold Newman Prize (2010), the First Prize of the IPA Lucie Awards (2009), the Inge Morath Magnum Foundation Award (2008) and a Fulbright Scholarship (2006-2007). Her work has been exhibited in several international centers and her work has appeared in publications such as Aperture, Smithsonian Magazine, PDN, TIME Magazine, Lightbox and Mother Jones. Also, her work is part of the permanent collections of the Farnsworth Museum (USA), The Center for Fine Art Photography (USA) and Kiyosato Museum (Japan).
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