The Edward Ruiz Mentorship

 

Jerry Obakeng Gaegane has been announced as the 2012/2013 Edward Ruiz Mentorship Recipient. For more information please click here.

About the Edward Ruiz Mentorship

The Edward Ruiz Mentorship is a mentorship programme that has been established to help launch the career of a promising photographer. The mentorship, named after and commemorating the life Edward Ruiz, a native New Yorker and renowned photojournalist who lived and worked in South Africa, awards the recipient with the financial and infrastructural support needed to develop a substantial body of photography work over the course of a year. 

The recipient, in consultation with the Market Photo Workshop, has to identify a mentor who will help guide and develop the recipient's proposed body of work. The mentor is usually a professional, practising photographer; past mentors have included Jean Brundrit, Jo Ractliffe, and Michelle Loukidis. The work and research has to be completed within the borders of South Africa, unless an alternative arrangement is made beforehand with the Market Photo Workshop.

The body of work will officially be launched at the Photo Workshop Gallery, in the form of an exhibition. The recipient will co-curate the exhibition with his/her chosen mentor(s), and the Projects Coordinator of the Market Photo Workshop.

The grant allows the recipient to produce and exhibit a body of work and will also assist in covering costs related to research, travel, and other supplies.

About Edward Ruiz

New York, 27 July 1966-Cape Town, 24 December 2003

Edward Ruiz, a native New Yorker and freelance photojournalist, fell in love with South Africa, its people and stories when he moved here in 1999. Edward freelanced for local and foreign publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Time, Newsweek, the Guardian, Leadership magazine, the Independent and Geographical magazine.

He was an energetic photographer whose great investigative skills and commitment manifested in the celebrated and respected images he produced. Edward’s warmth and empathy turned many of his subjects into friends.

The Edward Ruiz Mentorship’s previous recipients are Vathiswa Ruselo (2005/6), Sabelo Mlangeni (2006/7), Mimi Ng’ok (2007/8), Musa Nxumalo (2008/9), Samantha Simons (2009/10), Thandile Zwelibanzi (2010/11) and Jabulani Dhlamini (2011/12).

Applications are currently closed. More information on the application process can be downloaded here.