MFAH Launches $50,000 Edelman Impact Award in Photography, Names Yael Martínez First Winner

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) has established the Edelman Impact Award, a $50,000 unrestricted prize for early- to midcareer lens-based artists addressing social issues. Mexican photographer Yael Martínez, based in Guerrero, is the inaugural recipient. The award was founded by former Chicago gallerist Cathy Edelman, who opened her gallery in 1987 with Nan Goldin's "Ballad of Sexual Dependency" and later represented Annie Leibovitz, Joel-Peter Witkin, Richard Misrach, and Allen Ginsberg. In 2018, she co-founded the nonprofit CASE Art Fund, which uses photography to advocate for children's human rights. Martínez's work documents resilience in Mexican communities affected by organized crime, employing material manipulations like scratching and poking holes in prints. Alongside the cash prize, MFAH curators will select some of his photographs for the permanent collection. The jury comprised Lisa Volpe (MFAH Curator of Photography), Deborah Willis (NYU professor), Susan Meiselas (Magnum Foundation president), and independent curator Corey Keller. MFAH Director Gary Tinterow noted the museum's photography collection of 38,000 objects has supported emerging photographers and socially engaged art since becoming a separate department in 1976.