Walaa Yassien (Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism '25) has been selected as one of two Magnum Foundation’s New York City Fellows for fall 2025. The program supports the development of photographic projects, while also providing paid work experience at Magnum Foundation’s office.
Yassien's project, Among the Grass, follows a Sudanese soccer team in New York and explores how rituals, gestures, and victories become ways of performing heritage and asserting community. While most have never been to Sudan, they carry its identity through their team while consistently winning the local league.
“I’m looking forward to meeting new people, learning from their perspectives, and developing Among the Grass in a deeper way,” said Walaa. “This fellowship gives me the chance to bring visibility to the Sudanese-American team I’m documenting, and I hope to shape the project into something that can reach a wider audience.”
Walaa is a Sudanese self-taught photographer who later studied Photojournalism in Denmark and New York. Her practice explores space, time, and memory, focusing on how individuals navigate their existence and the emotional landscapes that shape them. Through long-term projects and series, she uses photography as a way to reflect on identity, belonging, and heritage, often weaving dynamic movement into her work to capture both the stillness and flux of lived experience.
Throughout the fall of 2025, fellows will split their time between supporting Magnum Foundation’s programming and pursuing their NYC-based photographic projects.
Image: Walaa Yassien
Walaa Yassien
