Magnum Foundation,
Magnum Photos, and the
Inge Morath Estate are pleased to announce Sara Kontar as the recipient of this year’s Inge Morath Award. Kontar will receive a $7,500 production grant to support the completion of her long-term documentary project, Therefore, I Cut.
Sara Kontar (B. 1996) is a Syrian artist, photographer, and filmmaker based in France since 2016. She holds a Master's degree in animation cinema from L’École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD). Her work focuses on her Syrian roots and the experience of exile as a refugee.
Kontar’s project, Therefore, I Cut. offers an intimate and personal exploration of exile, showcasing the mutual support and resilience of her mother and her community of friends in France as they cut each other’s hair, and seek to rebuild a new home.
We’ve been caught between two places, swinging in the middle, trying to build something like a home. During this time, I watch my mother with her scissors, cutting her friends’ hair as they always ask her to. She is not a hairdresser and never has been, but here in exile they only trust each other’s hands.
I listen to their conversations, about love and hate, joy and pain, many stories of the war and what they went through. Together they created this small family, a home with no ground. Here I stay in between and I feel that I could belong again.
“Are you afraid? It’s too late anyway. You will look beautiful, and it will grow back. In life, if you really want to do something, you shouldn't end up wondering what could have been. You should do it, even if you regret it later. At least you tried. But if you never do it, how would you know?” - Joumana 2023
Someone told me that we carry memories of the past in our hair, so I asked my mother to cut it all. 2021
Sara is an alumna of the
Arab Documentary Photography Program (ADPP), a joint initiative of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, the Prince Claus Fund, and the Magnum Foundation, and she was selected for this year’s inaugural ADPP Alumni Fellowship, in collaboration with For Freedoms. She is a member of VII Academy, where she is currently working on several new projects. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues including Palais de Tokyo, Centre Pompidou, and ArtExplora Festival. She is also a filmmaker, and her first documentary, 3350 KM, completed in 2023, explores family separation due to exile and is a candidate for the European Film Awards 2024. Sara is the founder of Al-Ayoun, a space for visual storytellers in Syria and the diaspora, aiming to connect Syrian storytellers and curate various exhibitions and screenings.
Kontar’s project was selected from a pool of 190 applications by the membership of Magnum Photos. Given each year to a woman or nonbinary photographer under the age of 30, the award
honors the legacy of their colleague, Inge Morath.
On receiving the award, Kontar shared:
“I am deeply honored to be the recipient of this year's Inge Morath Award. I am especially looking forward to continuing to tell our stories. Given the current global events and the challenges we face, it is becoming crucial to reclaim our stories and narratives. I am profoundly grateful for this support and trust, which empowers me to continue my work as both a woman and a refugee.”
If you weren’t here I would have really felt exiled. - Joumana 2022
“I don’t know why but I keep thinking about all of this pain, and that even-though it is a constant hurting, on the other hand we are feeling it, that reminds us that we survived, those who don’t feel are those who died” - Joumana 2023
I don't have many photos here, this album is empty. When I left Syria, I had an album for each of my children. I took the photos out and threw away the albums when we left. I looked for my old photos among the pictures, searched and searched but couldn't find them. I had thrown out my album thinking it was empty. I regret that I no longer have memories of myself from before, they were the most important and beautiful photos. - Majeda 2023
