Source: Graduate Photography Online 2024 - MA/MFA Selections

Each year as part of Graduate Photography Online we ask a number of professionals from the world of photography to review all the MA/MFA work submitted and choose their favourites. We hope this makes an interesting introduction to the project as a whole.

How is it possible to choose only six artists from such an extensive list of excellent projects? Whether tackling complex issues like climate change, global conflict or violence, to deeply personal reflections on grief, belonging and identity, the works in this broad selection reinforced photography’s unique ability to articulate a sweeping range of stories. It struck me that much of the work is very personal, and I am grateful to all the students for presenting their vulnerability and passion for their subjects in such creative and technically competent ways. The photographic medium has been continually evolving since its introduction in the 1830s and I think the classes of 2024 have brilliantly heeded the call to continue driving the medium forward, tying together the past, present and future of photography in fascinating ways.

Selected Photographers:

Selector's Comment: I have never seen photographs printed in this way and thought the use of screens drew strong metaphorical links between the project’s themes of intimacy, home, dating and interconnectivity. The screens physically encourage us to reflect on what we reveal and conceal from others, and to consider the sides of ourselves that we share and choose to keep secret, online or otherwise. The scale of the works also contributes to its success. With the figures nearly life size, it creates the effect of walking through the sitter’s private spaces, reinforcing questions around who should have access to our private lives in an increasingly digital world. It’s an exciting way to experience photography.

Selector's Comment: I came back to look at this project several times. It’s an impactful approach to self-portraiture, which powerfully memorialises and campaigns for a wide and distant group of people. While the work is obviously emotionally resonant, it is conceptually clever too. By employing a print process commonly used to produce masses of images and referencing real newspaper headlines, it materially draws attention to the scale of the injustices facing Dalit peoples in India with an interesting theoretical link to photography’s versatility.

Selector's Comment: While I doubtless would not understand how it is possible to extract a grain of silver from a photographic negative, it is a captivating thing to contemplate! It is important to reflect on the fact that photographs are impermanent objects, destined to fade away over time, and the formalised abstraction of this project forces us to think about this in a juxtaposed and creative way. There was also something fascinating to me about the repeated action of extraction and how this links to memory – the light sensitive silver having now been extracted twice, once from earth and once from the negative, now being intertwined with concrete, another substance which relies on extractive processes but that will far outlast any silver-based image.

Selector's Comment: Of the many applications and uses of photography, its role in shaping cultural practices (like the one Sarr is exploring), is often among the most interesting to me. The series resonated with me for this reason, but also because of the vital questions it raises about the ‘emphasis placed on marriage as the pivotal step in a woman’s identity.’ There is a poignant universality to this reflection which results in pictures that act as an indirect protest against societal conventions felt and expected of women across many parts of the world. While the pictures convey a feeling of solemnity, they are also imbued with empowerment and personal conviction.

Selector's Comment: I found this work enjoyable to engage with because of its contemplative and tender narrative tone. You can feel the photographer’s respect for his grandfather and his lived experience through his thoughtful and subtle approach. The formalised certitude of the images echoes the ‘long hot days’ they spent together, reflecting on 95 years of life and their mutual journeying towards self-discovery and belonging. I think the photographs have wider resonances too - an almost Proustian effect whereby a rush of personal memories is triggered in the viewer by just looking at the photographs.

Selector's Comment: Although the project is rooted in personal anguish and exclusion, there is an unmistakable sense of joy imbedded within these images. They are a radical act of love, resulting in a body of work that is bold in its conceptual and visual opposition and memorable for its strong formal quality and emotional significance. While this is probably just one step the photographer has taken in a wider practice of self and community acceptance, a shared sentiment of liberation and individualism erupts from each picture.