Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Jurors Withdraw in Protest of TD Bank Funding | PDNPulse

Four jurors for this year’s Magenta Foundation Flash Forward emerging photographer competition have withdrawn in protest of the competition’s major sponsor, TD Bank Group. TD is one of several financial institutions that have provided financing for the Dakota Access Pipeline, the $3.8 billion oil pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois that is the subject of ongoing protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other indigenous people and their supporters. Three photography organizations, Authority Collective, Natives Photograph and Women Photograph, also wrote an open letter to the organization asking it to reconsider its funding from TD Bank. At issue is the disconnect between Flash Forward’s effort to promote indigenous photographers while accepting funding from a bank that is directly financing a project that harms indigenous communities.