WE ARE
The RPS Women in Photography Group Magazine
November, 2021
About RPS Women in Photography The RPS Women in Photography Group's objective is to facilitate the celebration, education and collaboration of women photographers. We are not a genre. These are our stories. We are the discussion that drives a greater awareness of the importance of women photographers past, present and future. The group welcomes all photographers, women and men; amateur and professional.
RPS Women in Photography Member-Only Magazine
Table of Contents
Committee
Teri Walker
(Chair)
Charlotte Jeal
(Social Media Manager)
Ruth Morris
(Social Media
Manager)
Julie Derbyshire
(Member Adviser)
Teri Walker
(Interim Editor)
Vacancy
(Treasurer)
Vacancy
(Events Manager)
4 Chair’s Welcome
5 Featured Photographer:
Mhairi Law
9 Madre by Marisol Mendez 14
Featured Photographer: Kathy Anne Lim
18
Fast Forward with Anna Fox
20
Overview: Women in Photography Social Media
Vacancy
(Secretary)
Cover Photo: Together by Jan Beesley, ARPS 3
Welcome to WE ARE Teri Walker, Chair, RPS Women in Photography Group We are delighted to be launching WE ARE, the RPS Women in Photography Magazine. This inaugural edition wouldn’t have been possible without the support of many talented photographers from around the world. Their stories share a common theme of women who are passionate about their work; women who are pushing the boundaries with their art by being inventive and experimenting with new ideas and approaches. We thank everyone who contributed their time by sharing their stories and work with us. I would like to congratulate Jan Beesley whose photograph Together is the winner of our Cover Photo Competition. About Jan’s work: “I love trying different ways of expressing myself creatively and enjoy the playfulness of using creative camera techniques such as multiple exposure and camera movement to capture my impressions”. Thank you to Jan and all of our members who entered the competition. As we wind down another year, the WIP Committee has been very busy on your behalf planning programmes for 2022. Charlotte Jeal and Ruth Morris continue to keep our social media platforms fresh and relevant. They have recently launched our WIP Facebook group which gives our members another tool for collaborating and sharing across this community. Charlotte shares her guidance of how to get the most from engaging with our social media tools in her article on page 20. Please, JOIN us on both Instagram and Facebook if you haven’t already done so. Julie Derbyshire and I have been reaching out to photographers to build our events calendar. We are striving to present a variety of member and professional led events in 2022. We would also like to include workshops that offer our members an opportunity to learn new skills and techniques. The plan is to continue with the majority of our events being online to give all members in the UK, and abroad, the opportunity to participate. We’ll announce new events as they are scheduled. You can view what’s coming up and register to attend from our Events page.
The next issue of WE ARE will be published in March. If you would like to include an article, or have a recommendation for an upcoming feature, please get in touch with our Editor at wipmagazine@rps.org to discuss. In the meantime, we’ll continue to send email updates to keep everyone informed of what’s coming soon. I hope you enjoy the magazine! All the best, Teri
4
Mhairi Law
Island Tales Mhairi Law
Mhairi Law is an award winning photographer based on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. She uses medium-format film to capture island landscapes and evidence of human interactions within it. Mhairi created The Scottish Analogue Directory, dedicated to artists throughout Scotland who use analogue photography techniques within their professional creative practice. The first of its kind in Scotland, this online community of artists is used to connect, inspire and celebrate analogue photography as a science of historical significance and, most importantly, of contemporary artistic relevance.
WE ARE interviewed Mhairi about her new project.
5
RPS WIP: What was your inspiration and motivation behind setting up the Scottish Analogue Directory? Was it a lockdown conception? ML: The Scottish Analogue Directory has been an idea I’ve been playing with for some time now. There’s a wealth of analogue artwork being made across Scotland and in more recent years since the opening of Island Darkroom, I’ve been curious as to how to seek them all out - so I suppose the idea partly began through my own curiosity to see who else was out there. Although it wasn’t the main reason for creating the directory, the COVID lockdown gave me the shove that I needed to get it started. Many people were feeling so disconnected from their usual support systems, and many artists were losing out on events or exhibitions which, apart from anything else, can be a great chance to connect and discover new artists, as well as showcasing work. I felt that The Scottish Analogue Directory could be a great way to help with some of these difficulties, even in a small way, and if it took off we’d have a great resource at the end of it.
It also feels really positive to be instigating something Scotland-wide from somewhere that isn’t often considered to be at the centre of things. There’s a thriving artists community here in the Outer Hebrides and I now have the pleasure of representing some of them as part of The Scottish Analogue Directory.
WIP RPS: aimed at?
How does it work and who is it
ML: The Scottish Analogue Directory is aimed at artists throughout Scotland who use analogue photography processes within their professional creative practice - although this doesn’t have to be the main medium of their work. The idea of aiming this solely at professionals means the artists know they’re being represented alongside their peers. It also means that the virtual space (specifically The Scottish Analogue Directory) doesn’t become too saturated - I find that with many online groups there’s the danger of feeling lost within it. I wanted to keep the space more personal so that the artists feel that when they speak, they’re being heard. You can sign-up by visiting the About page on the Island Darkroom website and following the information there to give me an email. I’ll be periodically adding artists as I receive entries, there’s no deadline and artists are always welcome!
What are you hoping to achieve with it now that it’s launched? RPS WIP:
ML: I wanted to build a virtual space where professional artists working in analogue mediums could interact and discuss work, as well as discovering new people along the way. My hope is for The Scottish Analogue Directory to one day become an extensive online resource, a go-to place to see what analogue photography is being made in Scotland and who is making it.
Post-COVID, I also hope that being able to link these artists in this way now means possible collaborations and connections away from our screens too.
RPS WIP: Can you tell me a little more about your own analogue work and what you like about this photographic medium? ML: My photographic learnings are all rooted in analogue. The digital images that I have taken in a professional capacity have never satisfied me as analogue does. I enjoy the practical side of printing my own images in the darkroom as well as the incredible quality of imagery that film is capable of. Viewing a darkroom print, I’m aware of it as an object in its own right, in the sense that it has been created by, and has a connection to, an artist in a very tangible way. RPS WIP: Have you had many people sign up to the directory? ML: There was a brilliant response to the initial call-out! Encouraging artists to sign up will be an on-going process, all the better to create an even richer tapestry and representation of all Scottish analogue artists. RPS WIP: As a resource, what can those listed hope to gain from being part of the directory? ML: As an artist on The Scottish Analogue Directory, you will have your listing posted publicly on the Island Darkroom website and access to the private directory facebook group. The aim of the facebook page is to create open dialogue between all the analogue artists - share news of events, ask for technical advice, seek out a potential collaborator - it is what people make it! Periodically I will also select artist from The Scottish Analogue Directory to be featured on Island Darkroom’s social media channels, and artists will also be added to the directory Newsletter which will share featured artists, news on Scottish photography, award opportunities and photography exhibitions. RPS WIP: Who are the female analogue photographers that you most admire? ML: My influences come from varied places, past and present; Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen of the Eyes as Big as Plates duo, who I’ve had the pleasure of assisting on an Isle of Lewis shoot they undertook in 2019. Historical photographers such as Fay Gowdin I always return to, and I admire the work of so many of my peers such as Frances Scott, Morwenna Kearsley and Arpitah Shah. RPS WIP:
Where can people see more of your work?
ML: You can see my personal projects on www.mlawphotography.com and visit www.islanddarkroom.com for more photographs and links to The Scottish Analogue Directory! RPS WIP: Is the directory linked in any way to the other workshops and residencies that you offer at Island Darkroom?
ML: Currently, The Scottish Analogue Directory is a standalone project, but I so hope for one day to instigate residencies through the analogue artists involved here on the Isle of Lewis. Unfortunately, the residencies I organised through Island Darkroom last winter had to be cancelled due to COVID, so I’m pretty tentative to get excited about anything that might involve people travelling at the moment - watch this space though!
MADRE
Marisol Menendez
What MADRE Taught Me by Marisol Mendez
Marisol Mendez was born in Bolivia and received a BA in Audio visual communication in Buenos Aires and a Masters in Fashion Photography at the University of the Arts London. Her work has been exhibited across Europe, Argentina and Bolivia and has also been featured internationally. She was selected as the PHmuseum 2021 Photography Grant New Generation Prize winner and was one of last year's recipients of the Michael Reichmann’s Project Grant awarded by Photolucida. Her ongoing and thought provoking project ‘Madre’ was conceived to challenge the representation of women in Bolivia and to celebrate the diversity and complexity of her culture through the portrayal of its women. In the series, family photos act as windows to the past but are deconstructed to subvert meaning and add layers of symbolism. In the portraits, women are depicted as multiple confronted versions of Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary but repossessed to reflect Andean traditions. Piecing together past memories and current observations, the project explores the influence of race and religion in shaping the perception and representation of Bolivian women. When I imagined my future as a photographer, I envisioned a luminous and well-equipped studio with a creative team nourishing my ideas and helping me bring them to life. I dreamt about the outfits I’d wear to gallery openings and was most excited about seeing, touching, and smelling the printed photographs. The reality is not only less glamorous, but also far removed from the idea of success we associate with the life of an ‘artist’ (I use the word with irreverence). I work from my room. My equipment consists of my laptop, a Pentax K100 and a Nikon F3. Instead of collaborating with colleagues and creatives, my mom and her boyfriend assist me with shoots. And although MADRE has been my most visible project to date, landing magazine covers and being selected for renowned photography festivals, I’ve only gotten to see it through screens which means no touching or smelling printed work, no grand openings or opportunities to dress fancy. But all that doesn’t really matter. If you make images for the sake of a publicised lifestyle you’ll probably end up with empty work, fleeting in nature and not very fulfilling. If you instead dedicate yourself to a project you believe in enough so as not to give up when things get difficult, you’ll realise that true satisfaction lies in the process. The process of creating, of birthing an idea, the process of sharing it and witnessing its transformation.
10
In Bolivia, photography has a lot of limitations. Stylistically, it clings to an old school style of documentation and, in terms of working conditions, institutions are scarce, incentives lacking, and facilities almost non-existent. But in spite of these difficulties, MADRE proved to me that carrying out an ambitious idea has more to do with being resourceful than having a ton of resources. When I started, I had a clear notion of what I wanted to do but a faint one of how to do it. Because I didn’t know the path, I made my own and learned a lot as I went along. Each journey is different and will present its own set of challenges, but I want to share some insights I gained during mine, hoping they inspire you to commit to your ideas and to execute them.
MADRE steered me away from fixed structures allowing me to exercise freedom. I learned that a personal project gives you space for experimentation and time for introspection. It allows you to investigate something that interests you under your own terms. So, be bold. It’s an opportunity to make up your own rules, to experiment with language, and build universes. It’s also a moment to reflect upon your own practice, to ask yourself questions about what you’re trying to say, how you’re saying it, and why. Another thing I learned is a long-term project demands flexibility and discipline. Things won’t always go according to plan and, more often than not, you’ll have to adapt, re-route, and summon creativity to overcome problems and shortcomings. Stay open and embrace uncertainty or, as the saying goes, ‘expect the best but prepare for the worst’.
12
Also, things don’t just happen. You have to make them happen. Put in the work and be responsible. You have to be your own producer and cheerleader. Have a game plan and remain strategic if you want your project to be seen. Even if you don’t want to exhibit your work, it’s always beneficial to share it with other people. Whether it’s peers, colleagues or mentors, having someone else look at your project nurtures it and it’s an easy way to see if your ideas are effectively translating into your images. Workshops and portfolio reviews are great places to receive more specialised advice and nowadays, you can access key figures of the industry from your room. Finally, build resilience. Don’t give up if someone doesn’t immediately like or understand what you’re doing. We all dread the lines ‘we loved your work BUT’. There’s usually many of those before a ‘congratulations’ appears. So be patient but stay active. Keep submitting, researching, and improving your project. I still have moments where I doubt my work, my photographic abilities, even myself. But I push through because I believe in the story I’m telling through MADRE. I push through because, even when my circumstances are not the easiest, they’re still privileged. Not everyone gets the chance to tell their story.
13
Kathy Anne Lim
Kathy Anne Lim (b.1991) is a photographer & visual artist with roots along the eastern shores of Singapore. Her poetic documentary work focuses on themes of memory, technology and displacement— contents of which mix absolute certainty and misty ephemerality. She studied Visual Communication (Dip) at Temasek Polytechnic Singapore and Photography (BA Hons) at London College of Communication, University of Arts London. Her work has been exhibited and published in Singapore, North America, United Kingdom and Italy. She also works as a freelance researcher, photo editor & content producer working previously for The Guardian & Bookmark Content.
14
RPS WIP: How long have you been photographing? KAL: As a teen I began photographing for my school newspaper. This was formative of my first experience into publishing and led me to pursue a Diploma in Visual Communications followed by BA in Photography at London College of Communication. In terms of working in photography through various forms such as through commissions, working for different companies through photo editing, photo research or content production - its been about 10 years. It hasn’t been a straightforward path, but every role has been formative to my personal practice and visual literacy. RPS WIP: practice?
How has the past year been for you and your
KAL: Moving back to Singapore in the early part of 2020 from London, it was exciting to create new work and rediscover the city as there were several projects I had been marinating on which are based here in Singapore. ‘White Noise’ for example was shown at the Singapore International Photography Festival 2020. The project was awarded the Women Photograph Grant 2021. As the series is based on human impacts on the environment, a single image from ‘White Noise’ was selected as part of Decade of Change 2020, a global environmental initiative conceived to harness the universal power of photography to galvanise climate action. The award culminated in an international photography exhibition to Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change, Hong Kong from June - November 2021 and at The Nest Summit in New York in September 2021. The lockdown, has given me the time to be able to reflect on my practice, research and to work on constructing new images - as a visual artist, creativity doesn’t cease due to physical limitations. RPS WIP: Can you tell us a little about your practice?
My conceptual documentary work focuses on themes of technology and displacement. Projects often start with a considered approach of research, referencing literature and wrestling with the concept. It often takes a duration of time to articulate a complex photographic narrative. But once this has been shaped, and I raise the camera to take a
photograph, the shooting process itself is more fluid and serendipitous. Working with photographic film is how I can most easily see colours and define volumes of light, there are chemical crossovers through development and a sense of time you get from film exposures - I quite like to preserve the calculated experimental aspect of taking a photograph. I try to encourage the viewers to think about their position in relation to the world, to create a signalling or communication with the viewer instead of dictating the narrative; imposing my ideas in a quiet way on a surface - developing something which would have to do with their own emotions or feelings. RPS WIP: What inspires your work? KAL: For me, there are multiple entry points to being inspired to create work; The pivotal question for me remains in seeing how far the envelope can be pushed within the photographic medium; such as chasing a visualisation of a feeling or emotion and seeing how to best represent that within the imagery. Too, in turn, mirror and disrupt our expectations on the complexity and continuity of human nature. That being said - there are no dreams which come true without obsession. Sustaining and nurturing that objective obsession is often more crucial than the initial spark of inspiration. RPS WIP: Where is your favourite place or favourite thing to photograph? KAL: Stories that have not been seen before, or of a quotidian subject matter, thinking about how something can be seen in a different light, which toes the line between fact and fiction. In ‘White Noise’ the images are focused on fumigations which are commonplace in Singapore, a city set on the equator with a high population density. The country faces concerns with diseases transmittable by insects such as Dengue and Malaria, using chemicals to keep them under control. This antagonism between the ominous clouds presence, and its departure within a commonplace habitat, is what creates an intrigue for me. RPS WIP: Who is your favourite female photographer and why?
KAL: There are several female photographers who have
been inspirational to my practice in different ways, such as the visual tonality of Jo Metson Scott’s images, the intimate fragility of Diane Arbus’s eye, the playful and imaginative approach of Cristina de Middel, the journalistic sensitivities of Sim Chi Yin, the critical poeticism of Esther Teichmann and the vernacular serenity of Rinko Kawauchi. I would certainly be hard pressed to pick just one. RPS WIP: Any words of advice for female photographers starting out? KAL: Get regular sleep, eat your vitamins (especially during this time of uncertainty). Put your health first and foremost, and follow your intuitive, inner artistic voice. RPS WIP: Where can we see your work? KAL: ’White Noise’ is currently being presented in a group show as part of Vantage Point Sharjah 9 at Sharjah Art Foundation UAE until 18 December 2021. The project will be part of an upcoming publication project 'When Nothing Happens: Reframing the Everyday’ initiated by H55, supported by Singapore National Arts Council slated to be published in 2022. RPS WIP: What’s next for you?
KAL: I have been experimenting with moving image and working with found images as the next foray into developing projects. Currently, I am working on a pictorial survey of the Southeast Asian migratory landscape based off of my family archive. As the granddaughter of two multi cultural ethnicities, it acts as both a geographical study and an inquiry into ancestry.
by Anna Fox Born in 1961 and completing her degree in Audio Visual studies at The Surrey Institute, Farnham in 1986, Anna Fox has been working in photography and video for over thirty years. Influenced by the British documentary tradition and US ‘New Colourists’ her first work Workstations (published by and exhibited first at Camerawork, London 1988) observed, with a critical eye, London office culture in the mid Thatcher years. Later work documenting weekend war games, Friendly Fire, was exhibited in the exhibition Warworks at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Netherlands Foto Institute and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. Her solo shows have been seen at The Photographer’s Gallery, London, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Shanghai Center of Photography and her work has been included in numerous international group shows including Through the Looking Glass (Barbican Art Gallery), Centre of the Creative Universe: Liverpool and the Avant-garde (Tate Liverpool) How We Are: Photographing Britain (Tate Britain) and Home Sweet Home at Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles. Fox has published numerous monographs and her latest book is a second edition of My Mother’s Cupboards and My Father’s Words, Here Press 2020. Anna Fox is Professor of Photography at University for the Creative Arts (UCA) at Farnham and leads the Fast Forward Women in Photography research project. In 2019, she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. Please refer to her website for further information about her body of works.
RPS WIP: Thank you Anna for taking time to speak with the RPS Women in Photography members. Can you please give us some background about what the Fast Forward project is and how it originated? AF: Hello, it’s good to be speaking to the RPS and the Women in Photography group in particular. Fast Forward started in 2014 when Karen Knorr and I were discussing the situation for our women MFA photography graduates. Karen and I work together on the UCA MFA Photography course at Farnham. We realised that we have sometimes had up to 100% women in our year groups, yet still we did not feel that enough women were getting out there and working as photographers and we wanted to find out why. We looked at the recent history of major photography shows in the UK and they had rarely included more than 10% women in their exhibitions. The Royal Academy The Art of Photography show of 1989 exhibited 98 photographers with only four women – totally shocking. Then in 2003, Cruel and Tender at Tate Modern exhibited 24 photographers and only three women.
We decided it was time to push the boundaries and we headed straight for a meeting with Shoair
Mavlian and Simon Baker at Tate Modern to see if we could work together to do something positive for women in photography. We came up with the idea for a seminar to test the water and this preceded our first conference at Tate Modern in 2015. Our Head of School at UCA, Sarah Jeans, supported the project from the start (and named it) and our first conference was a collaboration between Fast Forward, Tate Modern and London College of Communication at University for the Arts, London working with Professor Val Williams. The conference was fascinating. Our call for papers had been very broad in its description as we wanted to discover what kind of research was going on, and we received over 230 abstracts which is unusually high for an academic conference. After the conference, I was awarded a Leverhulme International Networks Award which enabled us to run a series of research workshops on women in photography with partners in Brazil, the US, India, Finland, Nigeria and the UK. These workshops brought together photographers, editors, curators, museum directors, academics, researchers and writers primarily from the field of photography, to discuss the issues for women and to introduce ideas and work from the region. Through the workshop process, many stories about women
photographers were revealed and this contributed to our third conference at Tate Modern where our call for abstracts was more specific and focussed on encouraging submissions from the wider world. This was important as we had learned so much through the travel and collaborative workshops about the lack of global knowledge on women photographers. 2019 was the right time to be looking outwards instead of inwards. In 2017 we also co-organised a conference at the National Gallery of Art in Lithuania that looked at the Baltics and at countries where less attention had been drawn to their photography histories and communities. RPS WIP: Why is it important to focus on Women in photography specifically? AF: Because there are lots of women photographers whose stories are not as visible as their male counterparts and they need to be more visible in order that we have a fairer, more interesting history of photography discussed, exhibited, published and recorded. It is vital that we can recall and record the stories of women in photography as a legacy for the work we have made and as role models for future emerging photographers. RPS WIP: What impact has the Fast Forward project had on women in photography to date? AF: We have seen many new enterprises and research projects start, new competitions and awards emerge. We have seen a greater consideration for the wider world (which means more women photographers) in exhibitions and publications. Art photography publishers have increased their women photography titles from an average of 5% in 2014 to around 30% now (these are averages). Numerous magazines and journals have run whole issues and also articles about women photographers – the attention around us is growing all the time.
RPS WIP: What do you hope to achieve with the Fast Forward project in the next five years? Ten years?
AF: We will continue to apply for grants to do further projects and create new networks in new regions of the world. We have started a UK based manifesto for women in photography: https://manifesto.fastforward.photography/ and we want to take it global. I have recently been awarded an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and, together with our project manager Maria Kapajeva, and researcher Elizabeth Ransom, we are developing a mentorship project for 24 refugee women working with an extraordinary group of ground-breaking organisations: Impressions Gallery; National Galleries of Scotland; Autograph; Women for Refugee Women and Work Show Grow. It really is Onwards and Upwards – there is no limit! RPS WIP: only?
Is the Fast Forward project for women
AF: No, women in photography is a subject – everyone is interested in it – our projects, website and social media is for everyone to gain new knowledge from. We all need to know about women in photography RPS WIP: How would women photographers participate in the Fast Forward project? AF: Subscribe to our newsletter, https://fastforward.photography/subscribe-to-ournewsletter/ Check the website regularly for articles, opportunities, events and news https://fastforward.photography/ Follow us on Instagram and promote us too https://www.instagram.com/womeninphoto/ We have a Facebook page and we tweet – get with the program! Please subscribe – all genders welcome!
by Charlotte Jeal
Did you know that Women In Photography are active on both Instagram and Facebook? Have you followed and joined yet? You can find us on Instagram at @rpswomeninphoto and on Facebook Groups at RPS Women in Photography. Our Social Media accounts have been created for the use of our members to showcase your amazing work as well as bring your attention to other female photographers, talks that may be happening and articles we, as a community, think are interesting. We want you to join us in sharing content, either sharing it yourself on the Facebook group, ‘hash tagging’ your Instagram images, or sending us content that we can share on our Instagram account. The RPS WIP social media team have been working on your behalf to regularly create new content. The latest is our #SaturdaySpotlight campaign on Instagram, shown here. We have already featured four amazing female photographers. Get in touch if you’d like us to share your story. Please take advantage of these platforms. We celebrate with each other and learn from each other as we do. We hope to see you over on our Social Channels soon!
Tips for How to Use our Social Media Instagram 1. Join @rpswomeninphoto 2. Use #rpswipmember when you post on your account and our team will share your post on our feed 3. Contact wipmedia@rps.org for their assistance in creating posts for you
Facebook 1. Join the Group RPS Women in Photography 2. From a post that you would like to share (yours or an interesting article that you’ve seen), click on ‘share’ in the bottom right corner of the post 3. Click ‘share to a group’ 4. Click on RPS Women in Photography Group 5. Comment and click ‘post’ when you are ready to share
RPS Women in Photography Social Media; Join the Conversation
Patron: HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Incorporated by Royal Charter.
© 2021 The Royal Photographic Society. Registered charity number: 1107831.
