“This award has helped further the reach of a project that is dear to my heart and also highlights an issue that is critical to the future of our planet. Since the award, the project has been featured in National Geographic Traveler in China and I have been invited to exhibit at the F2 Foto Festival in Dortmund, Germany. I have also showed my work at the London Business School Photography Awards exhibition. The goal of my career is to do important work and have it find an audience - the LensCulture Award has helped me in this and that is the greatest impact I could ask for.”

“After participating in the competition I was contacted by a number of respected publications with a proposal to publish my series including The Guardian, The Observer, Wired and a number of other websites for the arts.”

“I also did a solo exhibition in a gallery in Bogotá of the award-winning wok and selected to be the recipient of the Mary Ellen Mark memorial scholarship at ICP. I will be moving to NYC in August to study in the New Media Narratives program. After seeing the article that was published on LensCulture, I was contacted by a high school in Colombia and invited to review studio projects.”

“Most recently I started the ‘Artist in the Marketplace’ fellowship program at the Bronx Museum for the Arts. I think it was this work and the recognition of LensCulture that propelled me into this opportunity. I am launching my first solo exhibition this year at Kingswell Art Museum and [this week] an 8-page spread of my work was published in the SVA Visual Arts Journal, New York. It’s just been a whirlwind! I think the biggest thing that came out of it was that actress Zoe Saldana discovered my work via the exposure. She decided to showcase my work at her event and flew me out to LA. It’s all because of LensCulture is willing to recognize photographers and lens-based artists who are really pushing the narrative and addressing the stories being told by people of color. This award has me more confidence to take chances knowing that there are platforms like LensCulture that are not afraid to recognize and acknowledge my work.”

“Being part of one of the LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards was a big part of my career as a photographer. I have been published in several digital and print magazines such as Photo World Magazine China, Blink Magazine Korea, This Colossal Magazine, among others. I was also selected for several international awards such as Voies Off Arles and Prix Levallois, both in 2019.”

“Since my LensCulture award in 2018, many things have been happening. An architecture studio and independent collectors have approached me, stating that they have long been interested in my artwork. My work ‘Studies on the Dignity of the Human Person’ was exhibited in Berlin during European Month of Photography. This year, a New York curator contacted me about a feature he was writing about new directions in street photography, he wants to write about my work. The LensCulture Award has definitely ‘unlocked the doors’ for me! I’ve started to be recognized in my professional career, and it seems everything has started flowing.”