Vital Impacts Is Mobilizing The Next Generation of Environmental Photographers

The women-led non-profit is providing a series of grants and a mentorship program for aspiring environmental artists.

Buffalo walk along a hill on Turtle Mound Buffalo Ranch on November 9, 2020 on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. Photography: Tailyr Irvine. Courtesy of the artist and Vital Impacts.

Visual storytelling has become immensely popular with the rise of social media and the different ways we are able to document and impact solutions. As climate change continues to enact devastating challenges around the globe, environmental storytelling is a vital way to visualize the dramatic changes we are seeing on a global scale. The nonprofit organization, Vital Impacts, is dedicated to using visual storytelling as a way to support conservation. 

The women-led non profit was founded by National Geographic photographer, Ami Vitale, and journalist and filmmaker Eileen Migoni. Both women have spent their careers reporting on the environment and producing visual media related to supporting the planet. The duo has been working together for over a decade organizing conversations around sustainability and developing fundraising for organizations including Conservation International, the Jane Goodall Institute, Big Life Africa, Great Plains Foundation, Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, Ol Pejeta Sanctuary, and Girls Who Click, among many others. 

The settlers of the Quelcancca community return carrying the flag of Peru from one of the headwaters of the watershed, located at over 4000 meters above sea level, where they collectively planted over 23,000 queñal seedlings. Photography: Musuk Nolte. Courtesy of the artist and Vital Impacts.

For the past year, Vital Impacts has been supporting visual environmental storytelling with grants and a mentoring program, giving support to emerging storytellers dedicated to showcasing work related to the environment. This year, they will be selecting one photographer who will receive a $20,000 professional grant, as well as six photographers to receive $5,000 grants, all of which have created documentary projects that are solution-based, and focused on local environmental stories. Additionally, ten emerging photographers will be selected for an intensive mentorship program, with all applicants invited to join an online mentorship series.

Previous grant winners include Tailyr Irvine, Musuk Nolte, and Edgar Kanaykõ Xakriabá. Tailyr Irvine is a Salish and Kootenai photojournalist born and raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. Her work focuses on providing in-depth representations of the lives and complex issues within the diverse communities that make up Native America, including the change of stewardship of public lands — many of which were taken illegally — back to tribal nations. “Land Back, a movement pushing to shift the stewardship of public lands — many of which were taken illegally — back to tribes, is gaining traction in the United States,” the photographer says. “The Bears Ears National Monument in Utah is one of the most popular in discussion. I [wanted] to document what happens to wildlife and conservation when we return land to the original stewards by following the bison herd at the National Bison Range on the Flathead Reservation in Montana.”

Musuk Nolte is a Peruvian-Mexican photographer, documentalist, and editor. His work strives between documentary and artistic photography to approach social issues, such as memory and environmental depredation.

Edgar Kanaykõ Xakriabá is a freelance photographer who belongs to the Xakriabá indigenous people in Minas Gerais, Brazil. His work focuses on the struggle and resistance of the Xakriabá indigenous people who strive to preserve their homeland, originally one of Earth’s savannahs with the greatest biodiversity, where now only fifteen percent of its vegetation remains. “Headdress in power, forest standing,” a portrait of Célia Xakriabá, from the photographer’s Corpo-território series, works to give visibility to the struggle of the Xakriabá people, the earth’s protectors and its continuity. For them, the earth is considered a mother. That is why [documenting] it is increasingly necessary.

‘Headdress in power, forest standing,’ a portrait of Célia Xakriabá from the series Corpo-território. Photography: Edgar Kanaykõ Xakriabá. Courtesy of the artist and Vital Impacts.

In addition to emerging artists, Vital Impacts also partners with businesses that lead with environmental responsibility and that value sustainability within their business models. Outside of the grant, they have created a number of mentorship programs to support storytellers. They recently created a year-long visual storytelling mentorship for Kenyan conservationists who are working towards protecting endangered wildlife and ocean habitats in Kenya. 

Vital Impacts also hopes to make an impact on the next generation of environmentalists through their student speaker series. Partnering with Changemaker Talent, children from fifth to eighth grade have the opportunity to learn from world class scientists on a variety of stages. Providing educational moments for our youth that are dedicated to sustainability is extremely important when looking at helpful steps to take for the future of our planet.

Vital Impacts’ mission is focused on using art to create real impact. “Photography is an incredible tool for capturing both the beauty and fragility of our natural world,” co-founder Ami Vitale told BlackBook Presents about another recent project, a print sale the non-profit held in collaboration with environmental and photographic icon, Jane Goodall. “[…] Photos and stories that showcase successful solutions give people hope, and in the face of environmental challenges, hope can inspire action.”

With their grants and mentorship program, Vital Impacts works to make tangible environmental change through art. Applicants can apply online to the Vital Impacts Grant now through September 15.