The Alexia Foundation exists to illuminate social injustice, to respect history lest we forget it, and to understand cultural difference as our strength–not our weakness. The foundation administers as many as seven production grants and scholarships annually, to empower individuals to use documentary photography to drive change.
Created in 1989, The Alexia Foundation honors and celebrates Alexia Tsairis, a Syracuse University photojournalism student who was murdered in the terrorist attack of Pan Am Flight 103, as she returned to the U.S. after spending a semester in London. The airplane, targeted by the Libyan government, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, killing all 259 people aboard, and 11 on the ground. The Alexia Foundation allows Alexia’s legacy to live on. In its 30 years, The Alexia Foundation has awarded 166 grants totaling more than $1.5 million.
Year after year, the photojournalism work and photojournalists we support receive the industry’s highest accolades. They have been honored by World Press Photo, POYi, Visa Pour L’Image Perpignan, The National Press Photographer Association’s Best of Photography, the W. Eugene Smith Fund, the Prix de Paris, The International Center of Photography Infinity Award, the Canon Female Photojournalist Award, the Pulitzer Prizes and more.
Homage and immersion into the power of documentary photography, From Tragedy to Light, 30 Years of The Alexia, is a compendium of the powerful history of The Alexia Grant, and its quest to support photojournalism that drives change.
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