Conflict photographer Kyle Ludowitz wins Dorothea Lange Fellowship

For the 12^th year in a row, a student from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism has earned one of the university’s most esteemed grants. Photojournalist and second-year J-School student Kyle Merrit Ludowitz (’17) was selected as the sole recipient of this year’s Dorothea Lange Fellowship.

The fellowships were created in 1981 by Lange’s late husband, Paul S. Taylor, to encourage UC Berkeley graduate students to use photography in their scholarly work.

Professor Ken Light, chair of the committee for the Dorothea Lange Fellowship, said the committee looks for applicants whose work, like Lange’s body of photography, shows “a deep concern with humanity.”

“She spent her life as a photographer looking deeply at humanity and conditions in which people were living, and had great social concerns about America,” said Light.

Ira Jacknis of the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology; Drew Johnson, curator of photography at the Oakland Museum; Melani King, web producer at the UC Berkeley Office of Public Affairs, and photographer Peter DaSilva also selected the winner.

In his winning application Ludowitz, who’s originally from Los Angeles, submitted seven photos from the West Bank of Palestine. He took the photos as a freelance photographer on his first international assignment in 2010-2011.

Ludowitz has proposed to embed with a border militia group in Arizona to document the activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Texas.

“I feel like I haven’t heard or seen too many reportages that actually talk about what it’s like to be on the other side [and report on the] people actually in charge of going in and breaking up families and deporting them,” said Ludowitz. He received $4,000 for the project, which will also serve as his master’s thesis, and he hopes his work will paint a more nuanced picture of border agents.

“When we do talk about ICE people or border patrol agents, we generally demonize them. I’m hoping to photograph them to make a human connection,” said Ludowitz.

In celebration of the fellowship, a one-man exhibition featuring eight of Ludowitz’s photos will be exhibited in North Gate Hall from Feb. 3 through May 15.

By Katherine Rose (’17)