honorable mention
Todd R Darling united states
title
Silk City
Todd is passionate about helping communities under threat by utilizing his skills as a documentary photographer and his ability to communicate and implement ideas effectively to institute change. His extensive international business background and time as Director of an NGO married with his education and experience in visual journalism has honed his skills as a planner, communicator, and determined individual who can take an idea from inspiration to reality.
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entry description
Silk City is a survey of Paterson, New Jersey. It's down the hill from where I grew up. We were told not to go. I wanted to explore my home and my youth. So much of it spent down the hill. Paterson is stuck in a time capsule. It was founded in 1792 by Alexander Hamilton to be America's manufacturing base. The silk trade dominated amongst manufacturing of submarines, airplane engines for Wright aeronautics, Colt revolvers, and trains. While many of the old mills that produced silk still stand, the looms no longer hum along. Instead, people seek refuge in the mills from snow along the edges of collapsed roofs. Neighborhoods lined with 19th century mansions that belonged to silk barons now have rates of poverty and violence amongst the highest in the United States. Paterson, is an incredible place but it's a forgotten place that gets no love. My aim with my work is to establish a non-profit with proceeds from my work to be donated to small community projects or grass-roots activists that are the fabric that hold the community together.about the photographer
Todd R Darling was born in New York City in 1979. He works predominantly in still photography, but includes video in his work to create multimedia projects. He is currently studying Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism at the International Centre of Photography. In 2014, he began his career as a photojournalist covering the democracy protests in Hong Kong, where he had been living for 10 years. His work was published in Time Magazine, Grazia, and numerous online news sites. In 2015, he accepted representation by Polaris Images in New York and worked as their photographer in Hong Kong, covering breaking news events and feature stories for international publications. He is currently working on a documentary project about Paterson NJ, near the home he was raised. Todd received the 2017 Documentary Arts Fellowship to continue his work in Paterson.Todd is passionate about helping communities under threat by utilizing his skills as a documentary photographer and his ability to communicate and implement ideas effectively to institute change. His extensive international business background and time as Director of an NGO married with his education and experience in visual journalism has honed his skills as a planner, communicator, and determined individual who can take an idea from inspiration to reality.
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