#  Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography 

 



##  Gardner Fellowship 

 

 

       ![Two walls of an exhibit join at the center. One wall is painted in an abstract ocean, the other appears as a rock face. There are frames photos of varying sizes in a straight line along both walls.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/peabody/files/caspian_exhibit_rgf_hero.jpg?itok=3ZSRHBLr) 

 

 



 

 



 

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 The Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography funds an “established practitioner of the photographic arts to create and subsequently publish through the Peabody Museum a major book of photographs on the human condition anywhere in the world.”

 The same body of work may also be featured in a photographic exhibition at the Peabody Museum. A series of art books of selected fellows' work is published by the Peabody Museum Press and may be purchased from the museum.

 **The Fellowship committee invites nominations from a rotating panel of curators, educators, and independent photo professionals from around the world; nominees are reviewed and selected by a committee of four.** The Fellowship provides a generous stipend and is unique in its dedication to funding professional documentary photography.

 The Fellowship was given by Robert G. Gardner (1925–2014), award-winning documentary filmmaker and author, whose works have entered the permanent canon of non-fiction filmmaking. Gardner’s works include the documentary films *Dead Birds* and *Forest of Bliss* and the book *Gardens of War*. With the Peabody Museum Press he has published Making *Dead Birds* (2007), *Human Documents: Eight Photographers* (2009), and *Just Representations* (2010). In the 1970s Gardner produced and hosted *Screening Room*, a series of more than one hundred 90-minute programs on independent and experimental filmmaking. The series, considered an invaluable historical record of modern cinema, has been transferred to digital format, for archival preservation by the Museum of Film and Broadcasting in New York City. Robert Gardner received Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Harvard University, and was director of the Film Study Center from 1957 to 1997. He was also founder and long time director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts and taught the Visual Arts at Harvard for almost 40 years. Gardner is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

 **The Peabody Museum does not accept unsolicited materials or applications for this fellowship.**



 

##  Current and Past Fellows 

 



  [### Munem Wasif

 ](/munem-wasif) 

   ![2023.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/gf_2023.jpg?itok=bYwjdaf3) 

 

 

 

  [### Lee Kai Chung

 ](/lee-kai-chung) 

   ![2022](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/gf_2022.jpg?itok=0CrfcfAH) 

 

 

 

  [### Wendel A. White

 ](/wendel-white) 

   ![Year 2021](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/gf_2021.jpg?itok=C7gKXowu) 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 [ See all fellows arrow\_circle\_right ](/current-and-past-fellows) 

 

 

 

 

##  Related Publications 

 



  [### Avenue Patrice Lumumba

 ](https://prestelpublishing.penguinrandomhouse.de/book/Avenue-Patrice-Lumumba/Prestel-com/e316420.rhd)By Guy Tillim



 

   ![ave_patrice_lumumba_cover](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2024-12/ave_patrice_lumumba_cover.jpg?itok=DpC0BrwG) 

 

 

 

  [### House of Love

 ](/publications/house-love)By Dayanita Singh



 

   ![house_of_love_website_cover.png](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/peabody/files/house_of_love_website_cover.png?itok=nhsxi-Fd) 

 

 

 

  [### Piksa Niugini: Portraits and Diaries

 ](/publications/stephen-dupont-piksa-niugini-portraits-and-diaries)By Stephen Dupont



 

   ![cover image of Piksa Niugini Portraits and Diaries](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2025-03/dupontcover.jpg?itok=RCQLApd-) 

 

 

 

  [### Caspian: The Elements

 ](/publications/caspian-elements)By Chloe Dewe Mathews



 

   ![A painted book cover, its blue waves and orange accent look like the ocean.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/peabody/files/caspian_cover.jpg?itok=0B_8b38z) 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

##  Related Exhibitions 

 



  [### Avenue Patrice Lumumba: Photographs by Guy Tillim

 ](/past-exhibitions)*Photograph of the City Hall offices, Lubumbashi, DR Congo, 2007 © Guy Tillim.*



 

   ![man in DR Congo office.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/avenue_patrice_lumumba-dr_congo_guytillim.jpg?itok=EKY58uc8) 

 

 

 

  [### House of Love: Photographic Fiction, Dayanita Singh

 ](/past-exhibitions)*An image from Being of Darkness in House of Love: Photographic Fiction, Dayanita Singh*



 

   ![taj mahal.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/taj_300_0.jpeg?itok=rX_Mlxbr) 

 

 

 

  [### Stephen Dupont: Papua New Guinea Portraits and Diaries

 ](/past-exhibitions)*From the series "Portraits" © Stephen Dupont, part of his Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography work.*



 

   ![A child plays a yellow drum. Standing against a black background, their body is painted black and white, splitting their body vertically down the middle.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4921/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/peabody/files/boy_with_drum_by_stephen_dupont.jpg?itok=wjeBfkRz)