2016-12-13

8443 - Autograph Media: A new photographic agency specialising in race and cultural diversity

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GREAT BRITAIN. London. 1966. Muhammad Ali being driven to pre-fight training. © Thomas Hoepker / Magnum Photos / Autograph Media.
 
Launched 7 December 2016, Autograph Media is the new photography licensing agency specialising in all aspects of race and cultural diversity. Initially serving the UK, USA and other English-speaking markets, the agency will host a growing collection which provides rare, new and alternative perspectives on both historical and contemporary people and events.
Autograph Media’s carefully curated collection is the result of partnerships with prominent individual photographers and established agencies including Magnum Photos, Africa Media Online and Getty Images. The agency’s collection covers a wide range of subjects , from the abolition of slavery to the recent refugee crisis. It offers the opportunity to discover images and stories of the most influential people in politics, social justice, music, film, sport, TV and youth culture.

Autograph Media is targeting media publishers, broadcast and film industries. Steve Blogg, formerly a senior director at Getty Images and Dr Mark Sealy MBE, director of Autograph ABP, a leading visual arts organisation with a gallery based at Rivington Place in Shoreditch, spearhead the new agency.

Mark Sealy comments, “Today’s launch is truly historic. No one else does what we’re doing. We will be providing content that enables new and different perspectives on global events to emerge.”

“At Autograph Media we want to ensure that it doesn’t take decades for people and their stories to be recognised by making the very best images of them easily accessible. People like Bessie Coleman, an American, who in the 1920s became the first black woman to qualify as a stunt pilot. Such stories aren’t widely known and form part of our offer entitled ‘Missing Chapters’.”

Hamish Crooks, Global Licensing Director at Magnum Photos says, “When Autograph Media approached us, we knew instantly that it was something we wanted to be a part of. We hope this partnership will show audiences a different side of Magnum and highlight some of our amazing photography that they may not have already seen. We’re delighted to be a part of this industry-leading initiative.”

Award-winning photographer Gideon Mendel says, “I’ve spent my career travelling the world photographing the struggle of the human spirit against a variety of difficult circumstances, from apartheid to HIV/AIDS and global flooding. I believe Autograph Media will become the destination for discovering images like mine and the stories of new and inspirational people who are underrepresented in mainstream media publications.”

The website is also home to Document, a blog which confronts important cultural, political and socio-economic issues and provides inspiring alternative perspectives to known chapters, from the past to the modern day.