Each year as part of Graduate Photography Online we ask three curators to review all the MA/MFA work submitted and to make some recommendations. These are published both in a supplement in the magazine and here on our website. We hope this makes an interesting introduction to the project as a whole.
Olivia
Arthur
Magnum Photographer
Plymouth University - MA Photography
Selector's Comment: Beccy Strong's photographs of her son in 'Wild at heart' have a freedom and emotional connection that give them a raw energy and beauty. The images seem to let the subject lead them and not to force preconceived feelings about adolescence. I enjoyed looking at these images because I felt the photographer was enjoying the process of making them and that they were more free than a lot of the other work as a result.
Manchester Metropolitan University - MA/MFA Photography
Selector's Comment: James Goodchild's eerie dark seascapes in 'Mamiaith' are both intriguing and evocative. In their obscurity, they become not so much pictures of a place but pictures that evoke a certain feeling of being in a place, of being a little lost but finding ones way through the darkness, always looking for something just out of sight. I liked the feeling that they left behind and though the technique is clearly very particular, the images themselves are interesting enough to keep the viewer looking and going on a journey through this strange landscape.
University of South Wales - MA Documentary Photography
Selector's Comment: Sandra Junicic's work in 'Splinters in the eyes' drew me in for its exploratory wanderings and the feeling in the images. The title suggests something brutal, but the images themselves are quite gentle and melancholy, reminiscing on a brutal past without being overly direct about it. I like that she combines images from the three cities indiscriminately as if their history of divisions are now less important than their shared sadness for the past.
Ulster University - MFA Photography
Selector's Comment: Victoria Dean's 'The Illusion of Purpose' shows a series of towers purportedly used as communications systems of the past. The towers, walls and blocks are clunky and large but rendered as sculptures of some sort in these images with their gentle colours and formal framing. I found myself wanting to know what use they had had in the past but perhaps just seeing them as physical objects in this way is a more interesting way of reflecting on how much things have changed.
University of South Wales - MA Documentary Photography
Selector's Comment: Lisa Brunzell's pictures of Abba impersonators, dressed up for their performances but photographed backstage, on a sofa or in a living room make them look almost like mannequins. These somehow sad living dolls shot with a harsh flash and the images of objects relating to their performances make a picture that is a far cry from the lively enthusiasm of an Abba performance and that makes them intriguing. Nothing looks quite real but the sparkle of the seventies outfits is unmistakable.
Ulster University - MFA Photography
Selector's Comment: Kesley Lennon's portraits of young women in Ireland are delicately made with a light and colour palette that reflect the subject. The women seem fragile and sad but perhaps there is something else that they are all looking to that seems to be way beyond the frame and setting. Though she describes them as 'moments' implying a brevity, I see something much quieter, longer and stiller.
Selection by Anna Sparham »
Curator of Photographs - Museum of London.
Selection by Thomas Dukes »
Curator - Open Eye Gallery Liverpool.
University of Brighton
MA Photography
Manchester Metropolitan University
MA/MFA Photography
Plymouth College of Art
MA Photography
Royal College of Art
MA Photography
University of South Wales
MA Documentary Photography
Ulster University
MFA Photography
University of Westminster
MA Photography Arts
University of Westminster
MA Documentary Photography and Photojournalism