FOTOfusion 2021 to Spotlight Steber

Broken Heart Pump, Haiti, 1991.
(Photo Credit: Maggie Steber)

(PRESS RELEASE)_(West Palm Beach, FL – January 25, 2021) Fatima NeJame, president and chief executive officer of the world-renowned Palm Beach Photographic Centre (PBPC), today announced that the nonprofit organization’s 26th annual and first virtual FOTOfusion will spotlight photojournalist Maggie Steber, who will receive this year’s prestigious FOTOmentor Award.
 
“Even in the middle of this dreadful pandemic, this year’s FOTOfusion will be more dynamic than ever, with five days of virtual presentations by 40 extraordinary photographers that people can enjoy right from their home,” says NeJame. “This will be a great opportunity for professional and hobbyist photographers to engage, connect, and network with some of the leading names in digital photography, as well as hear from ‘presidential poet’ Richard Blanco.”
 
In conjunction with FOTOfusion 2021, the Palm Beach Photographic Centre is presenting a major new exhibition:
 
Maggie Steber
From the Heart
February 16 to April 30
FREE Virtual Opening Reception on February 18 at 6:30 pm
 
This exhibition by Miami-based documentary photographer Maggie Steber, a Guggenheim Fellow and Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2019, presents a broad brushstroke of her work done in 70 different countries. From photographing the birth of a new day for Haiti to the melancholic voyage of her mother’s memory loss to her many National Geographic Magazine stories, it also includes images from her latest personal project, The Secret Garden of Lily LaPalma.

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​Named as one of National Geographic’s “11 Women of Vision” in 2013, Steber’s honors include the Lucie Award for Photojournalism 2019, Overseas Press Club President’s Award 2019, Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award in 2020 for commitment to the craft of visual journalism that advances the profession, the Leica Medal of Excellence, World Press Photo Foundation and Pictures of the Year Awards, the Medal of Honor for Distinguished Service to Journalism from the University of Missouri, the Alicia Patterson Grant, the Ernst Haas Grant, and a Knight Foundation Grant.
 
Steber has worked in the small nation of Haiti for 30 years. Aperture published her monograph on Haiti entitled Dancing On Fire. Her work is published in multiple platforms and publications and is exhibited in dozens of festivals and galleries throughout the United States and overseas. Her photographs are also included in the American Women Collection at the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Richter Library and many private collections.
 
Previous FOTOmentor Awards winners include Carol Guzy, Vincent Versace, Howard Schatz, Douglas Kirkland, Walter Ioos, Jr., Joyce Tenneson, Laurence Gartel, Ralph Gibson, Gordon Parks, Sebastiao Salgado, Arnold Newman, Ruth Bernhard, David Hume Kennerly, Duane Michaels and David Rubinger. 
 
40 Virtual Presentations

Maggie Steber will give one of the four virtual keynote lectures during FOTOfusion 2021, along with photographers Keith Carter and Joyce Tenneson, as well as world famous poet Richard Blanco, who read one of his poems at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2012.
 
American photographer and lecturer Robert Farber will open FOTOfusion 2021 with a premiere FREE virtual presentation, A 50 Year Unanticipated and Unique Career… From Nudes to Beauty, From Fashion to Conceptual, and Re-Imagined.  Farber is globally recognized through his best-selling books, fine art exhibitions, lectures, interviews and award-winning advertising campaigns.
 
Richard Blanco will discuss the marriage of poetry and photography based on his book, Boundaries, a collaborative project that features work by contemporary landscape photographer Jacob Bond Hessler. Together, they investigate various sociopolitical issues that shadow America. Selected by President Obama as the fifth inaugural poet in U.S. history, Blanco was the first Latino, immigrant and gay person to serve in such a role.
 
Among the other photographers that will be giving virtual presentations are Craig Blacklock,  Susan Currie, Jack Davis, Jill Enfield,  Laurence Gartel, Alissa Hessler, Lewis Kemper, Erika Larsen, Richard Liebowitz, J Thomas Lopez, Robin Loznak, Scott Mc Kiernan, Robert Pledge, Robin Rayne, John Reuter, George Schaub, Matt Stock, Adam Stoltman, Mickey Strand,  Jeremy Sutton, Richard Tsong-Taatarii, and Vincent Versace.
 
Portfolio reviews will also be done using a virtual platform.