Leica Society International is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 LSI Photography Grant in the amount of $7500 and a Leica M11 with a lens (courtesy of Leica USA).

Congratulations to Tommaso Protti! He will also have a Leica Gallery Show in Vienna, in May 2025.

Our runner up, Mustafa Bilge Satkin will also be featured in the Leica Gallery in Vienna in May 2025

Tommaso Protti is an Italian-born photojournalist who has been based in Brazil for almost a decade. His work focuses on themes such as crime, the environment and rural conflict.

Protti received his education in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Rome Tre, and later obtained a MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the London College of Communication.

Protti's long term project, Terra Vermelha, documents the Brazilian Amazon and its intersecting social and environmental crises. In 2019, he was honored with the Carmignac Photojournalism Award for his coverage of the region. Protti has also received other awards, including the Getty Images Reportage Grant, and the World Report Award. Protti's work has been exhibited internationally and featured in several publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, Washington Post, Le Monde, Geo Magazine, Newsweek, Internazionale, Der Spiegel, Stern, Liberation and The Guardian, among others.

The Path Project - Artist Statement

In April 2024, I embarked on an eight-day journey through the Darién Gap, a treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama, tracing the route of hundreds of thousands of migrants risking everything to reach the United States. In 2023, around 520,000 migrants crossed this deadly corridor, including 113,000 minors. The dangers are immense—exhaustion, disease, injury, robbery, and even death, with many perishing unreported and unrecovered. This experience deeply moved me and inspired me to document the broader journey these migrants undertake. The trek through the Darién Gap is just the beginning. Survivors face an additional 4,000 kilometers through Central America, passing through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico before reaching the U.S. border. Having witnessed their struggle firsthand, I feel compelled to document the entire odyssey, highlighting the extreme risks and hardships they endure in pursuit of a better life.

This project is vital for raising awareness about the dire situations these migrants are fleeing, and the immense courage required to undertake such a journey. By sharing their stories, I aim to foster empathy and understanding, connecting viewers to the complex realities these migrants face and the hope that drives them forward.

Runner-Up

Mustafa Bilge Satkin Mustafa Bilge Satkın is an award-winning documentary photographer based in Istanbul. He holds a PhD in Photography from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and has exhibited his work globally. His photography projects are part of the collections at Norway's National Museum of Photography, and the Istanbul Photography Museum. Focusing primarily on the Middle East, his work has been published by Redux Pictures and Getty Images. He has received several honors, including the 78th POY Environmental Vision Award, the Lucie Foundation "Photo Taken" Award, the Getty Images Editorial Grant, and the Sheikh Saoud Al Thani Project Award. As a member of Diversify Photo and a volunteer photographer for the UNDP, Satkın addresses issues of social injustice, climate change, and migration in his work, aiming to create a better world.

In the Shadow of Noah Project – Artist statement

My deep connection to Northern Mesopotamia, where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers converge, has profoundly influenced my work. As a child, I was exposed to narratives of displacement, particularly those resulting from the construction of the Keban Dam. These early experiences shaped my understanding of the significant and lasting impacts of human intervention on communities and the environment. The past four years, I have concentrated on capturing the transformations caused by these projects, which have submerged ancient settlements, displaced thousands, and disrupted the region's ecological balance. My work seeks to preserve the memory of these places and the resilience of the communities that continue to adapt despite considerable challenges.

This project also engages with the broader narrative of human resilience. The myth of Noah’s flood is reinterpreted through the contemporary experiences of those navigating the presence of water in their daily lives. Despite these challenges, their persistence and hope are a testament to the human capacity for adaptation and endurance. Through this project, I aim to highlight the importance of resilience and the potential for hope, even in the most trying circumstances.