Welcome Spring New York City Fellows Sofie Vasquez and Miles Henderson
Jafar Thomas, skate guard at Xanadu Roller Arts, waiting for the session to start, March 20, 2026. Photo by Miles Henderson.
Magnum Foundation is pleased to announce Sofie Vasquez and Miles Henderson as our newest New York City Fellows. Since 2011, Magnum Foundation’s New York City Fellowship has provided a launchpad for early-career photographers living and working in New York City. Recognizing the challenges of making a living as a working photographer, this fellowship continues to serve a unique dual purpose: supporting the development of the fellows’ photographic projects, while also providing them with paid work experience in Magnum Foundation’s office.
Matriarch Portoviejo. Photo by Sofie Vasquez.
Sofie Vasquez is an Ecuadorian documentary photographer and community archivist from The Bronx, New York. Her project Ecuador In NYC: You Are The Archive is a collaborative documentary photo series sharing family photos and memorabilia of Ecuadorians living in New York. “This project came from the question of ‘Do you need an institution to start preserving an archive?’... Entering a space with a flatbed scanner and the room to have a conversation is what allows the project to grow as a visual library of Ecuadorian history with active participation from the family archivists themselves.”
Morriah, Tanya, Tena, Paris, DeMiracle, during “Trains and Trios” at Xanadu Roller Arts, January 3, 2026. Photo by Miles Henderson.
Miles Henderson is a Brooklyn-based photographer and recent graduate of the International Center of Photography's Documentary Practices and Visual Journalism program. Miles’s project Wednesday Service asks how Black joy survives when the spaces that hold it disappear, tracing New York City's roller skating community from its only remaining rink back through the places that kept it alive. On receiving the fellowship, Miles shared “for me, the Magnum Foundation Fellowship is the chance to push the limits of what it means to be a documentary photographer. To learn how to let a project evolve beyond its original questions and listen to the images as they bring new perspectives forward, and new questions that we may never find the answers to.”
Throughout the fall of 2026, Miles and Sofie will split their time between supporting Magnum Foundation’s programming and pursuing their NYC-based photographic projects.
A warm welcome to both!
The New York City Fellowship is made possible with the support of the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation and the Select Equity Group Foundation.
