An exclusive look at the 2023 recipients of The Creator Labs Photo Fund

Google’s Creator Labs and Aperture have announced 30 recipients of the second season of The Creator Labs Photo Fund, who will each receive a one-time $6,000 (£4,900) grant.

This year’s recipients are: Arlene Mejorado, Ashley McLean, Ashley Markle, Avijit Halder, Clara Mokri, Colton Rothwell, Daniel Diasgranados, Devin Blaskovich, Golden Golden, Ira Lupu, Isaiah Winters, Jenica Heintzelman, Jennifer Teresa Villanueva, Jeremy Grier, Keisha Scarville, Kierra Branker, Lisa Elmaleh, Luis Corzo, Natalie Keyssar, Oji Haynes, Ramie Ahmed, Ramona Jingru Wang, Ryan Krueger, Ryan Frigillana, Shala Miller, Tam Stockton, Wesaam Al-Badry, Xi Li, Yael Malka and Zhidong Zhang.

Beginning in 2021, the fund provides financial support to talented photographers and lens-based artists at the formative stages of their careers.

For its second season, entrants submitted between eight and 10 pictures from a single body of work created in the past three years, with recipients chosen based on the ​“strength and originality” of the vision.

Brendan Embser, Senior Editor, Aperture commented on the announcement. He said: ​“Partnering with Google on the second edition of the Creator Labs Photo Fund embodies Aperture’s longstanding mission to support new voices in photography.

“The 30 selected artists bring us projects with a dynamic and wide range of approaches, including commentaries on photography’s documentary and archival potential, and intimate explorations of identity and community,” he continued.

“Aperture’s editorial team recognises critical rigour animating the work by each of these artists, reaffirming the role that images play in creating a dialogue with the past and envisioning new possibilities for the future.”

Here’s an exclusive look at some of the winning entries:

For more information The Creator Labs Photo Fund, in association with Aperture and Google’s Creator Labs, click here.