VID Grant

Jury Members

Emilia van Lynden, Chair of the 2023 VID Grant Jury

Emilia is Head of Marketing, Communication and Publications at Manifesta Biennial – one of the leading biennials for contemporary art and urbanism. She was Artistic Director of the Unseen Photo Fair, Festival and Platform from 2017. Her main role at Unseen was to create a platform which would showcase and nurture emerging photographic talent. In 2019 she wanted a new challenge, and left Unseen to work independently as an art consultant. In August 2019 she took on her current role with Manifesta..

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Liza Premiyak
Liza is a London-based freelance journalist and photo editor. Currently, she serves as a photo editor on Getty Images’ busy London picture desk, providing essential support to photographers navigating the dynamic landscape of news. She has contributed her writing on photography and visual culture to various publications, including The Art Newspaper, The British Journal of Photography and Magnum Photos. For the past eight years, her focus has been on understanding what it means to live, create, and protest in Eastern Europe. Until 2022, Liza was Managing Editor at The Calvert Journal where she looked after the online publication’s photo stories and ran the New East Photo Prize, broadening perceptions of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, and Central Asia.

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Tasneem Alsultan
Tasneem is an investigative photographer and storyteller. Her work largely focuses on documenting social issues and rights-based topics in Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf region through a gender lens, challenging stereotypical perceptions of the Middle East and portraying a region and people that do not conform to expectations. Her work is published in New York Times, National Geographic and many international exhibitions.

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James Estrin
James is a photographer, writer, filmmaker, and academic. He is a New York Times senior staff photographer and founder of Lens, The New York Times photography blog. Through Lens, Estrin has chronicled a turbulent period in photojournalism and has featured photographers from diverse backgrounds around the globe. Estrin was part of a team that won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for a national series of articles entitled “How Race Is Lived In America.” He is also the co-executive producer of the documentary film “Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro” which appeared on HBO in November 2016. In 2013, Estrin created the New York Portfolio Review, an annual event in which photographers from around the world meet with internationally prominent photo editors, critics, curators, book publishers, video producers and gallery owners in private meetings.

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Besa Luci
Besa is the chief editor and co-founder of Kosovo 2.0, a print and multimedia
magazine creating uncompromising journalism that listens to people’s experiences, explains complex realities, provides context, and provokes conversations in Kosovo, the region and beyond. Since 2010, Kosovo 2.0 has been a leading outlet in introducing profound storytelling and compelling visuals on the region’s political and social transformation. Besa is actively involved in public conversations and initiatives pertaining to media innovation, journalistic excellence, and cultural development. She is also a documentary film producer and writer. Besa is a board member of Manifesta 14, the European Nomadic Biennial’s 2022 Prishtina edition. She is also a board member of Dokufest, the International Documentary and Short Film Festival. Besa was a Teaching Assistant at the Journalism Department, University of Prishtina between 2013-2019.

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Lotte Sprengers
Lotte is an educator and since 2006 connected to The Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK). Having fulfilled many positions within the organization, amongst others that of teacher and coordinator, Lotte Sprengers is since 2015 Co-head of Photography. She is the founder and former head of the Master Photography & Society, and is currently a member of the Interim Academy Directorate. In all her work, there is a strong emphasis on sustainable didactical and pedagogical curriculum development. Lotte Sprengers studied at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, where she obtained a BA Art Education in 2005, and a BA Photography in 2006.

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Ziyah Gafic
Ziyah was born in Sarajevo and grew up during the city’s siege. He briefly became a refugee in Italy before returning home, crawling through a tunnel under Sarajevo airport to his father, a figure in the city’s resistance. He is currently the Director of VII Academy an award-winning photojournalist, author, TED speaker, and contributor to National Geographic magazine. His photography focuses on societies locked in a perpetual cycle of violence and Muslim communities worldwide. Over the past 24 years, he covered major events in over 60 countries in the Middle East, Caucasus, Balkans, Arabian peninsula, Africa, and Asia. His work has received some of the most coveted prizes in photography from World Press Photo, Visa pour l’image, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Prince Claus Fund, National Geographic Society, Magnum Foundation, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Ziyah’s reportages were published on cover stories of The Telegraph Magazine, The New York Times, GEO, National Geographic, La Repubblica, Le Monde, Liberation to name a few. He authored several books: Muslims of New York, Troubled Islam: Short Stories from Troubled Societies, Quest for Identity, and Heartland.

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