![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/111_original_file_I1.jpg?crop=654%2C491%2Cx0%2Cy5&originalHeight=532&originalWidth=654&zoom=1&width=720&quality=85%2C50)
4 minute read
DPOTY 2021 - Student Category Commended
DPOTY 2021 - Student Category Commended
Alexander Komenda
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'Tiramisu'
The term Tiramisu can be understood as a pick-me up or cheer me up. Visual stanzas, gathered into a multi-narrative piece, that are a testament to connecting with those closest to our living space, and what can be accomplished as a team through wit, spontaneity and action. Friends, roommates and neighbours. What’s closest to home, the opposite of the photographer’s obsession to exoticize - fellow foreigners that convene in the familiar feeling of being somewhere new. Covid-19 and the stark winter darkness of the 60th degree.
Exploring via dialectic, with emphasis on the collaborative process where the subjects provide ideas on where and how to be photographed; casting aside the dictatorial picture-maker; a wolf leading from behind. Members of the Chinese student community in Espoo, Finland, aiming at subverting stereotypical categorizations of what’s typically viewed in the media and a chance at writing their own tale.
The undertaking itself as a healthy social support system that culminates in a document that is situated between fact and fiction - sporadically implementing a collective imagination that shapes experience, interconnectivity and memory. A familiar life ritual at a crossroads of larger global phenomena. An opportunity to knock at the neighbour’s room and showcase the thrill of togetherness; a simplicity slowly dissipating via virtual hyperconnectivity. A chance to reimagine quotidian surroundings, the stairs used weekly to do the laundry, the bed that’s slept on, the expressions that are manifested after a profound statement or an embarrassing instant. Sitting at the common room table, sharing home-cooked meals, continuing the evening’s gathering by placing the mirror uncannily in an attempt to reveal something new.
www.alexanderkomenda.com
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/101_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
Jimmy Bi in the reeds, Espoo, Finland, 2021.
Alexander Komenda
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/102_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
Jing Li in Jimmy Bi’s room, Espoo, Finland, 2021.
Alexander Komenda
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/102_original_file_I1.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
Dreams of outer space and socks, Espoo, Finland, 2021.
Alexander Komenda
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/103_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
Xiao and the Snowman, Espoo, Finland, 2021.
Alexander Komenda
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/103_original_file_I1.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
Xiao, Espoo, Finland, 2021.
Alexander Komenda
Nicole Mullan
''North with the Spring
North with The Spring is an on-going body of work which explores issues around Irish Diaspora and losing one’s identity after migration.
It looks at the familiar through a new perspective, one that changes and alters over time but is always present and never forgotten. It often results in feelings of placelessness; living in-between worlds, neither existing fully in Ireland or in England, reflecting a constant shift or movement between places we call home.
It highlights religion and borders as both physical and emotional boundaries, a reflection of my own identity, a constant search for belonging.
www.nicolemullan.com
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/105_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
Stranded
Nicole Mullan
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/106_original_file_I1.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
The Vanishing Irish
Nicole Mullan
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/106_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
Double Exposure
Nicole Mullan
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/107_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
Maritime Sale
Nicole Mullan
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/107_original_file_I1.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
The Crossing
Nicole Mullan
Nico Froehlich
'South of the River'
Growing up in Britain as a child of immigrants, I would hide certain elements of my life and upbringing. As an adult and a photographer, I actively seek out and champion the very things I obscured and disregarded as a youngster.
South of the River is an ongoing, long-form project that incorporates various genres and approaches. Partially social realism, partially biographical, but ultimately a celebration of the working-class spirit and the enriching diversity of South East London. The streets I call home…
nicofroehlich.com
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/109_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
from the project 'South of the River'
Nico Froehlich
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/110_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
from the project 'South of the River'
Nico Froehlich
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/110_original_file_I1.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
from the project 'South of the River'
Nico Froehlich
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/111_original_file_I0.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
from the project 'South of the River'
Nico Froehlich
![](https://stories.isu.pub/94881926/images/111_original_file_I1.jpg?width=720&quality=85%2C50)
from the project 'South of the River'
Nico Froehlich