Announcing the VII Mentor Program 2021-23 Cohort

November 12, 2021

VII Academy is delighted to welcome into VII Photo Agency’s new Mentor Program ten gifted young photographers with diverse experiences chosen from nearly 300 applicants from 65 countries.

Photo by Joshua Irwandi / VII Mentor Program. The body of a suspected coronavirus victim, wrapped in yellow infectious waste plastic bags and wrappers, lies on the patient's deathbed awaiting a body bag in a hospital in Indonesia on April 18, 2020. — Photo by Joshua Irwandi / VII Mentor Program. The body of a suspected coronavirus victim, wrapped in yellow infectious waste plastic bags and wrappers, lies on the patient’s deathbed awaiting a body bag in a hospital in Indonesia on April 18, 2020.

Photo by Nada Harib / VII Mentor Program. Mass graves at Harouda farm, March 24, 2021. Tarhuna, Libya.

Photo by Debsuddha / VII Mentor Program. A portrait of the interdependency of siblings Gayatri and Swati Goswami which has grown at a greater scale, day by day, with their age and solitariness. The image has captured in the Goswami sisters' residence in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, on July 10, 2020. — Photo by Debsuddha / VII Mentor Program. A portrait of the interdependency of siblings Gayatri and Swati Goswami which has grown at a greater scale, day by day, with their age and solitariness. The image has captured in the Goswami sisters’ residence in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, on July 10, 2020.

Photo M'hammed Kilito / VII Mentor Program. Mohammed belongs to one of the four families still living in the village of Ait M'hanned next to the oasis of Tighmert, Morocco. The village had previously been home to a hundred families. He explains that because of global warming, lack of work, lack of hospitals and schooling for children, most families have moved to cities like Guelmim and Agadir. — Photo M’hammed Kilito / VII Mentor Program. Mohammed belongs to one of the four families still living in the village of Ait M’hanned next to the oasis of Tighmert, Morocco. The village had previously been home to a hundred families. He explains that because of global warming, lack of work, lack of hospitals and schooling for children, most families have moved to cities like Guelmim and Agadir.

Photo by Kimberly dela Cruz / VII Mentor Program. 15-year old Jazmine Durana cradles her month-old daughter Hazel at the wake of her partner John “Toto” Dela Cruz on February 2, 2017. He was killed by men in black masks on January 26, 2017 in Navotas, the Philippines. She said she heard the suspects accuse Toto of stealing and using drugs before shooting him four times. Toto was 16 years old.

Photo by Juan Pablo Ampudia / VII Mentor Program. A girl plays with soap bubbles outside her hut in a Quilombo, a remote settlement originally founded as a refuge for runaway slaves and their descendants, near Cachoeira, Brazil, on February 19, 2017.

Photo by Sharafat Ali / VII Mentor Program. The relic of Prophet Muhammad is displayed to thousands of devotees on the eve of Eid-i-Milad, the birth anniversary of the prophet, at the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar, Kashmir, December 12, 2016. Faith is believed to have been a significant source of healing for the direct and indirect victims of decades-long violence in Kashmir.

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Photo by Grace Ekpu / VII Mentor Program. "My body art is like a sense of freedom; it allows me to show my creative side without saying nothing," said Alani at home in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 25, 2021. — Photo by Grace Ekpu / VII Mentor Program. “My body art is like a sense of freedom; it allows me to show my creative side without saying nothing,” said Alani at home in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 25, 2021.

Photo by Marko Risovic / VII Mentor Program. Two men from the region of Urosevac in Kosovo, leave the monastery of Visoki Decani on Christmas Day, January 7, 2016, after receiving a donation of two piglets from the Serbian Orthodox Church.

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The VII Mentor Program is an important commitment from the VII Photo Agency photographers to transfer knowledge and experience to a younger generation of photographers. The first program of its kind, it has developed some of the brightest new talents in photojournalism since its 2008 launch.

Newly redesigned for 2021 in partnership with VII Academy, the Mentor Program will provide a structured professional environment, including Hostile Environment Awareness Training, for these emerging new talents in the industry. Four of them are alumni of VII Academy programs.

“Early in my career, I was mentored by Tim Page, Gilles Peress, and Philip Jones Griffiths, and without their generosity, insight and motivation, it is hard to imagine that I would have found my way in this business,” says Gary Knight, the CEO of The VII Foundation. “Mentoring can be transformative and a key accelerator for a young photographer, but finding a mentor can be difficult. We designed this program fourteen years ago to diversify photography and to give young photographers from diverse backgrounds that opportunity. It has become a cornerstone of VII, and something that the VII photographers love participating in.”

The duration of the program is two years. During this time, mentees will have biweekly scheduled contact with program leader and VII photographer Ziyah Gafic. Mentees will be assigned to a practicing member of VII who will provide professional guidance and mentoring and work with editors, curators, and other established media professionals. VII Photo Agency will distribute and represent the photographers’ work for the duration of the program.

In addition to this intake of young photographers, we will soon announce the Leica Women Foto Project x VII Mentor Program winners, and other mentoring initiatives at the VII Mentor Program and VII Academy.

Announcing the VII Mentor Program 2021-23 Cohort

VII Academy is delighted to welcome into VII Photo Agency’s new Mentor Program ten gifted young photographers with diverse experiences chosen from nearly 300 applicants from 65 countries.

The 2021-23 VII Mentor Program cohort is:

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