Griffin Museum of Photography

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Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture - Honorable Mention
Robert Coombs, Sarah Cooper, Matt Eich, Sam Geballe, David Lombeida and Rebecca Moseman

September 22 – October 31, 2022

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The Arnold Newman Prize for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture is a $20,000 prize awarded annually to a photographer whose work demonstrates a compelling new vision in photographic portraiture. The Prize is generously funded by the Arnold & Augusta Newman Foundation and proudly administered by Maine Media Workshops + College.

This year, there was one winner, and three finalists featured in the Main Gallery at the Griffin Museum. We would also like to highlight the group that rounded out the top ten portfolios for the prize. These artists are artists of merit, and showcase creativity, imagination and stunning images all worthy of recognition. They appear in alphabetical order.

Robert Coombs, CripFag

Sarah Cooper, Between these Folded Walls, Utopia

Matt Eich, Bird Song Over Black Water

Picture 058
Picture 008

Sam Geballe, Self Untitled

David Lombeida, Resistencia

In May of 2021, Daniel was protesting in Bogota, Colombia where he was struck by a tear gas canister, losing his right eye. Daniel poses with an eye patch that he now wears after the incident. The tear gas canister also broke his right cheekbone, nose, and ten teeth. Daniel has now become an activist for other victims who have occurred eye injuries due to protesting. Daniel states, “We are not delinquents…We are people who fight for something, for love, for education, for a future for us and for our families.”
In May of 2021, David was struck by a tear gas canister participating in a protest in Cali, Colombia. The canister fractured his skull leaving an indentation on his right cranium where the bone remains missing. David has undergone multiple surgeries to recover, including a brain operation to remove fragments of his skull that pierced the frontal lobe. Having a long and extensive recovery David lost his job due to his injury. David recounts the incident remembering, “the whole time I thought I was going to leave the children alone, without a father, like I grew up.”
Ojitos is one of many women who participated in the “primera linea” or frontline of the protests in Cali, Colombia. She sits with her gas mask which she used as a protester and first responder in the strike. During the national strike, police would go to hospitals looking for victims of gunshot and/or teargas to arrest them or worse. In response, Ojitos turned her home into a medical clinic so protesters would feel safe seeking treatment. She recently fled the country for safety concerns and states, “right now the persecution continues, and the disappearances continue. They keep profiling the guys. The harassment continues.”
Sotu is a frontline protester who has been captured, tortured and beaten multiple times by police officers in Bogotá, Colombia. Sotu poses with a broken baseball bat and a metal rod he uses in the strike. Sotu was taken by police officers and burned with hot needles to discourage him from protesting. In the words of Sotu, “I’m going to keep fighting and I’m not afraid of anything, Not the government, not being shot or anything, but what makes me more afraid honestly, is if the people never wake up.”
Maria poses with a collection of hats from her son, Michael, who was shot and killed by police officers in the neighborhood of Siloé in Cali, Colombia. Siloé was one of the neighborhoods most affected by the national strike in Cali. Michael was 24 years old and leaves a 2-year-old daughter behind. Maria says, “The police really attacked them very badly this time. With firearms and it shouldn’t have been like that, but they attacked them. By orders of the state itself, they do it and it ended up with many young people killed and many disappearances.”
Rayito is well known for her Pikachu costume when protesting in Bogotá, Colombia. She poses with a spray bottle used to help frontline protesters who are subjected to heavy tear gas. Rayito is a university student in Bogotá and has been subjected to tear gas, beatings, and witnessed the death of a community member during the national strike. Rayito states, “We have to fight, we have to show that we fight for what is ours… and that nobody rules over us. So, you always have to fight, fight to the death, if necessary, for everything.”

Rebecca Moseman, The Irish Travelers, A Forgotten People

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