To accompany this year's submissions Source has asked a number of respected figures from
the world of photography to select their favourite sets of images from all the work submitted.
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Special Guest Selection by: Lu Bowan Photography Consultant & Head of Talent @ Making Pictures Overview: It has been a pleasure to take some time to review the graduates work, and an exceptionally hard task to select just 6. There were some, which really stood out and left me with an excitement and intrigue for their future development and evolution. There were clear themes and trends with approach and practice: Time and memory, presence and absence alongside the idea of self-exploration and self-portraiture. I was stirred by the discovery of fresh and distinctive perspectives on the documentary and reportage genre. All submissions demonstrated a passion to explore their own visual language in different ways. I was reminded of what a pivotal moment graduating is for any photographer, and equally how important it is to keep on developing your ideas and pushing visual boundaries and narratives. Moving beyond influence. I spent some time looking at websites for some of the submissions and delving a little deeper, the idea behind Making Pictures Award was reinforced as there still seems to be a huge gap that needs to be bridged between graduating and guiding students in how to present themselves in a way that allows them to be commissioned both creatively and commercially - whilst remaining distinctive. In the future it would be fantastic to see courses factor more emphasis on what happens next in the final year alongside the actual creation of work. Well done to everyone and here are my 6. |
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University of South Wales, Newport - BA (Hons) Documentary Photography
Selector's Comment: An engaging and curious series, one that I kept returning to, each time observing a little more detail. This personal photographic journey through the region of Castilla La Mancha captures moments and cultural obscurities with striking and distinctive compositions imbued with subtle humour. At times leaving you unsettled with a sense of intrigue and a narrative beyond this captured moment. Throughout there is a sense of moving in and out of the modern day and the past, which is reflected in the artist's aesthetic in these at times surreal, but poetic images. |
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Middlesex University - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: This abstract documentation of intimate moments shared with refugees in Calais as they are in a state of limbo holds a sensitivity and less obvious representation of a poignant subject matter. The artist's choice to give her subjects anonymity and explore the more mundane carefully juxtaposed with still life allows a slowed down story telling, which unfolds through that which can't be seen. These faceless moments allow the viewer to form a deeper sense of each individual's experience and identity, in some way allowing us to connect through a more imagined empathy rather than the literal interpretation or response that often comes with the documentary and reportage genre. |
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London College of Communication - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: Limbless bodies evoke a sense of beauty and destruction. Emma has created an unnerving stone-like serenity in these portraits, which paired with the sculptural representations which separate the body from it's natural form, fragment our sense of the familiar creating a space, a void which separates us from the experience of corporeal form and issues of the boundary of our own bodies arise. By cropping off the head the artist presents these depersonalised images of the body as an intriguing object. |
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IADT Dun Laoghaire - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: I found myself fascinated by Vera's imagery, there is a displaced strangeness tangled with a theatre of performance and desire. At times the role-playing aspects shift between gender, leaving a sense of confusion or loss of identity and the sense of self. Vera's (confrontational) gaze is maintained throughout, unsettling and demanding our attention. You can't help but consider the artist's Eastern European origins - bringing up themes of Western sexualisation of Eastern European women along side the effect of colonialism on individual identity. |
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Falmouth University - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: I was struck by the rawness in Aimee's work, and whilst this type of photo-therapy is no newcomer to the visual arts (I was reminded of Jo Spence) - embracing the camera's ability to capture our self-image and using it to heal holds a uniqueness to subject alongside an intense and intimate window into the world and experience of the individual in question. Sparked by a series of major operations, Aimee responds to her illness and treatment through photography. Her work exemplifies her vulnerability, her powerlessness as a patient and there is a sense of her regaining ownership of her body by documenting herself. The resulting images are confronting, intimate and uncomfortable - but open. |
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Manchester School of Art - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: This playful exploration of male vulnerability experiments with form and metaphor whilst being reminiscent of surrealist representation and explorations of masculinity and the idea of the 'convulsive beauty'. What I liked about this series was the focus on the male - there is an imagined fragility of the male body through a series of staged performances and oddities that leave a discomfort. |
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Lu is the Head of Talent at Making Pictures, a leading photographic agency in London. She is also founder of Bowan Creative acting as an independent photography editor and consultant. She joined the Making Pictures family in 2012 - recent projects include launching the MP Award and collaborating with Southbank Centre and Hannah Starkey to create 'Acts of Looking' digital projection and online platform, which champions and explores female image-makers of our time. She works closely with photographers to develop their commercial and artistic careers and during her 14 year career she has edited & produced photography books, exhibitions and multimedia projects for artists including Corinne Day, Valerie Phillips, and Nick Ballon. She is currently working on a title with Niall O'Brien. |
Emma Bowkett » |
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