Claire Martin won, last week, the prestigious Inge Morath Award, which rewards a woman photographer with $5000 to continue a photographic project. Martin won for her ongoing documentation of marginalised communities within prosperous nations.

Martin used to be a social worker before turning to photography in 2007. She answers BJP's news editor's questions on her win and the difficulty of making a name for yourself in a field that is dominated, deservedly, she says, by top level photographers.

BJP: Can you tell us about the project you submitted to the Inge Morath Award?
Claire Martin: I submitted images form both my Downtown East Side series and from my Slab City series because although they focus on different communities, they share common qualities. The Downtown East Side is located in Vancouver, Canada. The ten block radius is home to a host of social problems including extreme poverty, an AIDS rate estimated at over 30% and the leading cause of death is overdose. Slab City is a squatters community located in the Colorado Desert in California. Residents of this community live in some of the worst conditions in the USA with no access to electricity, sewage, water or waste disposal. Mental illness, addiction and poor coping strategies are the common factors that brought these people to their respective communities. So I am trying to create visual media and conversation on issues of mental health, addiction and poverty and their place in developed countries.

BJP: Why did you decide to focus on poverty and addiction in the first place?
Claire Martin: Well, I studied social work straight out of school and always thought I'd do something in that type of capacity. I think I am just a bleeding heart, I just see injustice in daily life. For me I can't walk around blindly enjoying my privileged life and not feel bad for those that suffer. I am aware that I am one of the lucky ones. So I guess it's just my nature to want to work with the under privileged. With regards to Addiction in particular - I have watched someone I love very dearly suffer terribly with addiction and the deep frustration at not being able to fix the problem for this person turned into a kind of obsession I guess. I just wanted to understand, to empathise and to express my grief at the situation. Being that I am not a genetic scientist or a neurologist, I figure that trying to create compassionate awareness through visual imagery is about all I can do. I'd love to do more, I am trying to publish a book where proceed can go back to research on addiction.

BJP: What have you learnt from it?
Claire Martin: It's an impossible problem.

BJP: What does the Inge Morath Award represent for you? What will you do with the $5000 grant? What is your next project?
Claire Martin: It's great to receive recognition for what you do. And to receive it from the entire Magnum collective feels pretty good! Documentary work is so difficult to publish and very hard to create without funds. Often it seems like only an idiot would try to pursue this path in the real world, and I am sure when I explain myself to most people they see me that way. So awards like the Inge Morath make you believe it is possible. Even if you don't win it, knowing that there is an industry that supports it, no matter how small is encouraging. So I guess to me it represents hope and faith that others care as passionately as I do about documentary photography and that following your passion can be realistic too. The grant stipulates that I continue to develop the story I submitted so I am going to research a similar community in Australia to create a triptych that develops the idea's I expressed above.

BJP: Do you feel such grants are a prerequisite for photographers who want to spend time and resources to go in-depth into a story? How have you been financing your work so far?
Claire Martin: I absolutely agree. If you want to make it financially sustainable it appears to be a must. As I have said there is a very limited market that actually pays for documentary photography and it's dominated by the top level photographers (deservedly). I think not only does it make things financially viable, but it brings a level of awareness to your work and helps your reputation as a photographer.
The work I submitted for the grant was mostly self financed. I photographed in the Downtown East Side in my spare time while working as a Chef in Vancouver. I incorporated a stay in Slab City into a road trip through Canada and the States before I came home to Australia, of course squatting is fairly cheep living, so neither of the projects cost an arm and a leg. The popularity of these personal projects has spurred documentary and editorial work in a professional capacity, so I feel I came to it through the back door in a way. I didn't start these projects to make money, I photographed in this way to create meaning in my life.

BJP: You’ve been selected as an Emerging Talent for Reportage by Getty Images, how has that impacted your career?
Claire Martin: It’s about a year that I’ve been on the Reportage Emerging Talent website and it's a very passive relationship. It is really a showcase for my work and bit of recognition. But all these things give me the impetus to keep going. To segue into your next question, I became a affiliated with them at the same time I moved home to Perth and there is not a great deal to document here that is of international interest. So I think had I been more stimulated in my environment photographically I would have pushed the relationship further in this last year.

BJP: You’ve recently relocated to Australia. Why? How has it changed your work? Do you feel it’s possible to make a name in photography without living in photography-heavy cities such as New York, Paris or London?
Claire Martin: I moved home, because it is home. I left behind some family problems that I couldn't ignore much longer. I have had trouble understanding where Australia's International relevance is, especially after working to establish myself in an international market, although I have recently been asked to join Oculi, a collective of Australian documentary photographers who have representation through Agency Vu and Redux. Their strength is in their regional focus and since I have been establishing myself in Australia I am now finding that internationally, editors are contacting me when they need a regional story. So being isolated can pay I guess. Long answer short though, yes I do think being in Perth of all places makes building a name in photography significantly more difficult. In the next year I will probably move to help facilitate my career. Really I love to travel and experience and try and understand different cultures, so I could end up anywhere. The possibilities are endless!

For more on Claire Martin, check her website at clairemartinphotography.com.