RPS International Photography Exhibition 164 Guide by Royal Photographic Society

Cordelia

LEIA ANKERS

Cordelia is blind in one eye, deaf and has cerebral palsy. Cordelia’s independence is easiest achieved in water as she can move alone without the support of her wheelchair. The hydrotherapy pool is

Cordelia is blind in one eye, deaf and has cerebral palsy. Cordelia’s independence is easiest achieved in water as she can move alone without the support of her wheelchair. The hydrotherapy pool is her place of freedom.

Wrinkles

From the series Not Priority

JADE ANNEST

Wrinkles

From the series Not Priority

JADE ANNEST

Andrée Brisciano, 76, at home, Nice, 2021. This image is part of a series in which the artist questions our gaze upon bodies getting older. She does so by photographing her own grandmother.

MARIAMA ATTAH

The wrinkles in Jade Annest's photograph are like the topography of a long-lived life. This photograph of Annest’s grandmother, taken after lockdown, has a light and endearing aesthetic echoed in the softness of Annest’s grandmother’s neck. The round mirror is like a magnifying glass encouraging us to lean in more closely and to take a longer look. Wrinkles frames someone who is often invisible to photography and presents a phase of a life that is frequently ignored. Through this, Annest has created and captured a moment through photography which encourages us to have empathy for those we might otherwise not see at all.

Spotlight

Selector’s

Vogue House

FREDERIC ARANDA FRPS

Vogue House

FREDERIC ARANDA FRPS

Vogue House is a portrait of the House of Gorgeous Gucci, a leading House on the international Ballroom scene. It was a rare occasion when the members of the international chapters of the House were all together, the day before an annual Ball. A House is a group of people united in family-style support networks under 'mother' or 'father'. Houses compete together at Balls as part of the Ballroom Scene, a mainly African-American and Latino underground subculture originating in New York City that celebrates and prioritises LGBTQIA+ people of colour. During these events, people notably showcase 'voguing', an improvisational dance inspired by posing like a fashion model.

From the series My Hijab Has a

JODIE BATEMAN

Voice: Revisited

is a necessary investigation into the experience of Muslim woman from an autobiographical perspective as western society continuously feeds the stereotype of oppression. This is typically followed by acts of banning the niqab, burkini and even banning the hijab in professional places in some countries. This series challenges society to see Muslim women differently. The artist takes inspiration from historical paintings that are famous for their objectification of women. She poses herself and her sister to mimic the mannerisms and gestures of the paintings but challenges these conventions by having the subjects fully clothed and looking directly back at the viewer confronting the

From the series My Hijab Has a Voice: Revisited

JODIE BATEMAN

My Hijab Has a Voice: Revisited is a necessary investigation into the experience of Muslim woman from an autobiographical perspective as western society continuously feeds the stereotype of oppression. This is typically followed by acts of banning the niqab, burkini and even banning the hijab in professional places in some countries. This series challenges society to see Muslim women differently. The artist takes inspiration from historical paintings that are famous for their objectification of women. She poses herself and her sister to mimic the mannerisms and gestures of the paintings but challenges these conventions by having the subjects fully clothed and looking directly back at the viewer confronting the audience and outdated stereotypes.

For John

From the series Visible Obscured

LAURIE BECK PETERSON

The gum-bichromate prints of trees and woods in Visible Obscured are part of a series that explores the symbiotic relationship between process and subject matter. Woods and trees, evolved over centuries. The cambium of trees grows in rings, then divides to create new tissue. Some of this tissue dies each year to become part of outer bark. The trees themselves grow, die, and eventually become soil, out of which grows more trees. Layering and revealing, adding and subtracting, all play a role in this slow yet dynamic process. Mirroring and interpreting this in gum-bichromate affords me the opportunity to align myself with elemental forces of nature.

For John

From the series Visible Obscured

LAURIE BECK PETERSON

Two Pair Section

From the series We All Fall Down

LAURIE BECK PETERSON

, documents

what remains – the spaces we leave behind. This series looks to the landscape, documenting the literal spaces left behind from felled ash trees, destroyed by the emerald ash borer infestation. The images themselves point to the devastation of a forest, but they also serve to reveal the dynamic nature and impermanence of the landscape. Printing in cyanotype, I elevate these forgotten tree stumps to sacred objects – a kind of ‘totem’ that serves as an historical

Two Pair Section

From the series We All Fall Down

LAURIE BECK PETERSON

My cyanotype works on ash wood from We All Fall Down, documents what remains – the spaces we leave behind. This series looks to the landscape, documenting the literal spaces left behind from felled ash trees, destroyed by the emerald ash borer infestation. The images themselves point to the devastation of a forest, but they also serve to reveal the dynamic nature and impermanence of the landscape. Printing in cyanotype, I elevate these forgotten tree stumps to sacred objects – a kind of ‘totem’ that serves as an historical document, and as an omen.

Rose

From the series The Extraordinary

GUY BELLINGHAM FRPS

Rose is an acrobat. This tintype is from an ongoing series of portraits of circus performers. I wanted to immortalise her strength, tenacity and determination. She is incredible.

My background is in circus, a world full of wonder, danger and excitement and it’s full of fascinating characters. Incredible performers like these deserve to be celebrated for their strength, tenacity, creativity and for bringing so much joy to the world. These people sometimes risk their life for our entertainment, so it feels befitting to capture the souls of these extraordinary individuals and immortalise them. Often overlooked, these people are heroes to me. This is the testament I believe they deserve, to be Rose From the series The Extraordinary

GUY BELLINGHAM FRPS

Rose is an acrobat. This tintype is from an ongoing series of portraits of circus performers. I wanted to immortalise her strength, tenacity and determination. She is incredible.

From the series When My Hair is Black, I Get Laid More Often

BOIHUGO

This series explores the exclusion, desexualisation and fetishization towards East Asian queer. The solidarity and sisterhood within our community as a solution, and nuanced manifestations of masculinities. The amateur-like on-camera flashlight is an intentional choice to achieve a pseudo photojournalism aesthetic, bringing out a kind of revealing urgency, it is also an attempt to decolonize/queering photography as a technology that has been institutionalized and dominated by white men.

From the series When My Hair is Black, I Get Laid More Often

BOIHUGO

From the series On Divorce

HARRY BORDEN HonFRPS

Our culture is obsessed with finding romantic love and yet about 50 per cent of marriages end prematurely, often with people feeling

This project aims to understand and normalise something a lot of us find ourselves going through. The portraits (of around 50 people) are accompanied by thoughts and observations in the first person. The testimonies transcribed from interviews made on the day of

From the series On Divorce

HARRY BORDEN HonFRPS

Our culture is obsessed with finding romantic love and yet about 50 per cent of marriages end prematurely, often with people feeling shame and stigma.

Barbara and Jane Barbara and Jane

From the series Moving Beyond Hate: Experiments in Recycling SHAISTA CHISHTY

From Hate to Hope is rooted in the physical and metaphorical act of transformation. Having studied Islamophobia and its insidious nature, I have accumulated a collection of anti-Muslim books. With changes in my practice and spiritual life, I am no longer prepared to read them, to expose myself to hate.

In the transgressive act of tearing out the pages and re-using them with purpose, I have embarked on a personal journey of experiments in metamorphosis, decoration and envisioning alternative futures.

From the series Moving Beyond Hate: Experiments in Recycling SHAISTA CHISHTY

MICHAEL PRITCHARD FRPS

Some photography just seems right in its timing and approach. For me Shaista Chishty’s work Moving beyond hate: experiments in recycling is such a piece. It deals with the complex issue of Islamophobia and hate in a way that recycles the haters words and turns them back to them by recycling (itself another significant contemporary topic). Shaista’s approach is to turn those words in to artwork by overlay them with more positive symbols and motifs. In this case we are looking at cyanotype – one of photography’s earliest processes dating from 1841 –overlaid on torn pages of hateful words. By recycling, reusing and adding a new layer their work turns something that is negative in to a positive. It has a beauty, and a depth for those who want to learn more.

Selector’s Spotlight

Local Graveyard, Sarajevo

NICHOLAS CONSTANT

A local graveyard around the hills of Sarajevo. With a complex

Local Graveyard, Sarajevo

NICHOLAS CONSTANT

A local graveyard around the hills of Sarajevo. With a complex government and mines still scattered around the landscape, Bosnia’s future is uncertain. The conflict in Ukraine brings about more uncertainty for the countries division and highlights its instability. This is the only time the Bosnian blue appears in the series – fading into monochrome.

Birling Gap, East Dean, East Sussex

ALEX CURRIE

Birling Gap, East Dean, East Sussex

ALEX CURRIE

This is one of a series of images documenting the slow demise and decline of a row of houses as the sea slowly reclaims the land. The last house is no longer there and was demolished to stop its collapse into the sea.

Sayumi Marguerite

CAMILA DE MELO

Sayumi Marguerite

CAMILA DE MELO

Sayumi Marguerite was born and lived in one of the countries that kills the most trans women in the world.

Ghosts Of The Underground

From the series Human traces in the city

CHRIS DRUMMOND

Ghosts Of The Underground

From the series Human traces in the city

CHRIS DRUMMOND

This series collects together the unintended, anonymous, collective traces of everyday life in our streets and cities. None of these traces have been sought out- but have been discovered as part of my everyday urban life living and moving through the city.

These traces of the human body and its movement through space, captured upon its surfaces, feel timeless and primal. Their forms suggest the origins of art making, human representation and expression. They carry a sense of life and time in stark contrast to the machined, rectilinear newness of our modern cities.

Ellie, 2021

From the series Encounters

JOSH

EMPSON

is an exploration and documentation of young woman. Spending time with each person using an 8 x 10 inch camera to make pictures together there is a mutual understanding between the photographer, sitter and viewer. The series explores the everchanging confidence within the young women and their own acceptance to allow the camera to truthfully describe

Ellie, 2021

From the series Encounters

JOSH EMPSON

Encounters is an exploration and documentation of young woman. Spending time with each person using an 8 x 10 inch camera to make pictures together there is a mutual understanding between the photographer, sitter and viewer. The series explores the everchanging confidence within the young women and their own acceptance to allow the camera to truthfully describe their physical characteristics.

RYAN PRINCE

I love a black and white portrait and I think this image is striking. For me the body language of the subject says so much. The hands behind her back and her legs crossed yet looking directly at the camera! It reminds me of the uncertainty and discomfort of adolescence as you are trying to figure who you are and who you want to become.

Selector’s Spotlight

From the series Diminished Frequencies

JOEL FORD

Diminished Frequencies documents minicab offices in London, UK. These buildings are disappearing from the urban landscape, a result of the technological progress that defines our age and has led to the rise of companies such as Uber and Lyft. The offices presented in this series are then a kind of living anachronism, markers of time passing.

They are often shabby and unkempt, plonked down in the middle of the pavement on a high street or tacked on to a pre-existing wall. They have been part of the fabric of the city for generations. For how much longer is anyone’s guess.

Abbey Cars Capital Cars

From the series Diminished Frequencies

JOEL FORD

Islington Cars Castle Cars

Kyle was refusing to cut his hair…

IMOGEN FORTE

In 2019 I put my stuff into storage and spent the summer tracing the English coastline-documenting the people and places I encountered.

I met Kyle on the seafront in Clapton-on-Sea. It was his long, bright

I spoke to him and his family and they told me that his grandfather used to cut it for him. His grandfather had recently died and Kyle had refused to get a haircut ever since. This was 4 years ago now and Kyle’s yet to get a trim. I’m still in touch with his family and we hope to take a follow up picture when (or if…) he decides to get

Kyle was refusing to cut his hair… IMOGEN FORTE

In 2019 I put my stuff into storage and spent the summer tracing the English coastline-documenting the people and places I encountered.

I met Kyle on the seafront in Clapton-on-Sea. It was his long, bright red hair that initially drew my attention.

From the series Magic Lantern SARA HANNANT

These antique lantern slides came to me by chance when purchasing a magic lantern projector. The images depict West Nigeria and include British missionaries who probably showed the slides in lectures one hundred years ago. I felt compelled to transform the images in honour of the people and their belief systems before colonialism and its imposed notions of science and religion. Using experimental digital techniques, I dug deep into the materiality of the photographs to alter the aesthetics and give new agency to the images. I present a critique which challenges the original ethnographic tropes and offers a magical storytelling.

God-fearing

From the series Magic Lantern SARA HANNANT

Comparison Celestial

White Gaze

Lou & Paisley

From the series Young Fathers

OWEN HARVEY

Although outdated stereotypes of parenting between men and women are starting to change for the better, I still rarely see the important representation of young men as a loving father figure. These images are a selection of young fathers and guardians, who portray the gentle, influential, and caring relationship

Lou & Paisley

From the series Young Fathers

OWEN HARVEY

Gayoung

From the series Fearless Flowers.

MARCIN T. JOZEFIAK

Not For Everyone

This series explores gender, sexuality, gaze, and identity in South Korea. Adorned with flowers, the human body represents universal innocence, timelessness, and purity. The project studies one's relationship with their body and the inner fight with the image pressured by the conservative society, where certain beliefs and standards are forced on the younger and fast-growing society. It's about capturing the openness, acceptance of your body, sexuality and acceptance of the self-created modern image of

Gayoung

From the series Fearless Flowers. Not For Everyone

MARCIN T. JOZEFIAK

Highrise Tennis in Mongkok, Hong Kong

NICHOLAS KITTO ARPS

Despite being one of the most densely populated locations on Earth, space has still been made for a multi-level block of tennis courts in

Highrise Tennis in Mongkok, Hong Kong

NICHOLAS KITTO ARPS

Despite being one of the most densely populated locations on Earth, space has still been made for a multi-level block of tennis courts in Mongkok, Hong Kong.

From the series Xing Fu Gan (Sense of Happiness)

ANGELA LAM ARPS

This series is about the homes of university students from Chang Shun in Guizhou. It was shot between 2018 and 2019, just before China announced it had met its target of lifting all its people out of extreme poverty in 2020. One of the students I visited said wildflowers give her a sense of well-being. This inspired me to revisit the concept of ‘home’ vis-à-vis the often stereotyped perception of ‘poverty’. I am very much impressed by the time and care they put into crafting a comfortable home. Their love and care for their homes shine through the minute details.

From the series Xing Fu Gan (Sense of Happiness)

Kitchen Study Desk

ANGELA LAM ARPS

Dining Table Dressing Table

From the series LAST CHRISTMAS (of Ceausescu)

ANTON ROLAND LAUB

This series poses questions about the justice discourse in Romania and examines the dysfunctional dynamics and institutional memory of the Romanian revolution three decades later. I visited museums that bear witness to the events of that time and questioned their claimed transparency. The focus is directed at the agency of things, at what they reveal or conceal, investigating constructions of power and the latency of controversy related to injustice and disorientation.

30 years after the system change, an EU resolution was passed, calling on the Romanian state to officially process the past events. While the overthrow of the other East European dictatorships in 1989 was mostly peaceful, Romania’s revolution ended in a bloodbath. Leaders called upon civilians to fight against nameless ‚terrorists‘, leading to a great deal of friendly fire. The events of those violent days remain shrouded in mystery and intrigue, leaving the question: was it a people’s uprising or a staged coup d’état?

From the series LAST CHRISTMAS (of Ceausescu)

ANTON ROLAND LAUB

UNDER 30s IPE AWARD

From the series Empty Nest

SIQI LI

Empty Nest is an intimate story about family, parenthood, aging and the sorrow of separation. When children leave home, parents experience a sense of grief and loss of identity, as often in familial relationships we define ourselves to the roles we play within the family. This work explores the larger and more complex longing, intimacy and insecurities in family life, and shed-light on the traumas the one-child-policy has imposed on many Chinese families. While navigating the intricacies that emerge through our past and memories, it is a reflection and discussion on accepting new identities in familial relationships and the less talked about negotiations in family life.

Mothers Dress

Comfort Blanket

Siqi Li (b.1998) is an artist based between London and Beijing whose practice is primarily based in Photography. Her work embodies sensitive meanings within aesthetically engaging image making, exploring themes around loss, separation and belonging through intimate storytelling that projects and responds to a larger cultural and society context.

The Death of a Beautiful Thing The Boy

The

UNDER 30s IPE AWARD

From the series Empty Nest SIQI LI

From the series Cracks in the Ice

JASON LINDSEY

As I look to the future, to the world that my son will inherit, and to the forest where I live that may soon be on fire, climate change and the immediate impact on the environment constantly weighs on my mind. is a metaphor for the precariousness and vulnerability of those I love and speaks to the profound loss from global warming and a planet under siege. The inspiration came from my 15yr old son, who asked about Climate Change and what the world will look like in the future.

Cracks No. 15

From the series Cracks in the Ice

JASON LINDSEY

Cracks No. 1

As I look to the future, to the world that my son will inherit, and to the forest where I live that may soon be on fire, climate change and the immediate impact on the environment constantly weighs on my mind. Cracks in the Ice is a metaphor for the precariousness and vulnerability of those I love and speaks to the profound loss from global warming and a planet under siege. The inspiration came from my 15yr old son, who asked about Climate Change and what the world will look like in the future.

Selector’s Spotlight MICHAEL PRITCHARD FRPS

The lantern slide was used extensively in schools and universities, and in institutions such as churches, childrens’ clubs, mens’ and womens’ groups to educate, entertain and to proselytise. Slide sets provided a means of seeing and understanding the world.

Lindsey’s repurposing of slides with such a specific subject matter brings them back to their original purpose. He extends this by using their materiality, vulnerability and susceptibility to damage and a loss as a metaphor for the glaciers that they depict. Cracks in the ice provides a tangible historical reference point and a contemporary relevance to the impact of climate changes on the world’s glaciers and ice sheets.

Rhea, Piccadilly Theater, Beirut, Lebanon, 2021

(Homage to Fouad El Khoury)

From the series Where Do I Go?

RANIA MATAR

The past 2 years have been extremely difficult in Lebanon, starting with the 2019 uprising, to months of coronavirus lockdown that proved disastrous for the country, and finally to the August 4, 2020 Port of Beirut explosions, that caused further catastrophic damage.

Piccadilly Theater was a staple of art and performance in the 1960s.

Rhea, Piccadilly Theater, Beirut, Lebanon, 2021

(Homage to Fouad El Khoury)

From the series Where Do I Go?

RANIA MATAR

For me the theater embodied a time when the possibility of dreaming was still possible. Shooting there was a challenge, I felt all of a sudden the frustration or the incapability to dream.

I was covered in dirt, all over my white dress, which was feeling: like a ghost.

Piccadilly Theater was a staple of art and performance in the 1960s. It later caught fire and is now abandoned.

In Rhea’s words:

For me the theater embodied a time when the possibility of dreaming was still possible. Shooting there was a challenge, I felt all of a sudden the frustration or the incapability to dream. I was covered in dirt, all over my white dress, which was feeling: like a ghost.

From the Series Afghan Women –

Facial De-recognition

JENNY MATTHEWS HonFRPS

These images are a response to Afghan women losing their identities when the Taliban took over control of Afghanistan in August 2021. It is no longer safe for women to be photographed. Once again they are fading into the background.

The meditative process of sewing is an opportunity to assess the history I have lived through, and deal with the frustration and sorrow of knowing that for many Afghan women the freedoms they had gained have been curtailed. Each image is dedicated to a specific group of women who have seen their dreams crumble, their opportunities dashed.

Dedicated to teachers, pupils and students

Dedicated to Poets and writers

From the Series Afghan Women –Facial De-recognition

JENNY MATTHEWS HonFRPS

From the series Tree Huggers from the Future

GEORGE McLEOD

On a recent walk in my favourite area of woodland I came across a group of time travelling eco tourists, appearing one by one from a brilliantly bright space suspended over a small pond.

They had come back to our time to study trees and invited me to document their research. Apparently they knew I would say yes.

Twice now our trips have coincided, almost as if they knew where and when I would be going on holiday, and I must admit, I hope our paths cross again, as I find them strangely photogenic.

From the series Tree Huggers from the Future

THftF03

GEORGE McLEOD

On a recent walk in my favourite area of woodland I came across a group of time travelling eco tourists, appearing one by one from a brilliantly bright space suspended over a small pond.

They had come back to our time to study trees and invited me to document their research. Apparently they knew I would say yes.

Twice now our trips have coincided, almost as if they knew where and when I would be going on holiday, and I must admit, I hope our paths cross again, as I find them strangely photogenic.

THftF01 THftF02

RYAN PRINCE

Since the moment I saw this series Tree Huggers from the Future it has stuck in my mind, this work speaks to the science fiction lover in me. I think it is a very clever and humorous way to address this sort of environmental topic and I think there can be a distinct lack of humour in photographic work so I appreciate this project because of that. The dreamy nature of the images and the neon lights against the backdrop of the forest transport me to a different time and place.

Selector’s Spotlight

Killa

From the series MADRE

MARISOL MENDEZ

celebrates the diversity of Bolivian culture, focusing on the representation of women and the performance of femininity. The project takes a critical stance that questions both my personal

Killa is the quechua word for moon. In Incan mythology marriage goddess Mama Killa was regarded as a defender of women. In 2019, Bolivia was among the countries with the most feminicides in Latin America. In spite of this, each year more Bolivian women are raising their voices against machismo to fight misogyny. I wanted Vanessa Galindo to reflect this ripening of female rebellion.

Killa

From the series MADRE

MARISOL MENDEZ

MADRE celebrates the diversity of Bolivian culture, focusing on the representation of women and the performance of femininity. The project takes a critical stance that questions both my personal and national history.

From the series Land Loss

MAX MIECHOWSKI

The British east coast is the fastest eroding coastline in Europe. Landslides and rising sea levels eat away at the soft foundations on which life here has been built. I expected to find storms, rough seas, ruined houses falling into the waves. A sense of urgency from the people living on the edge of a landscape, where entire towns have been lost to the North Sea. Instead, the land felt still, the waters were calm, and time moved slowly.

Coastal Path

Butterfly

From the series Land Loss

MAX MIECHOWSKI

Faith Safety Pin

One in Three Women

NIEVES MINGUEZA

The United Nations estimates that one in three women will experience gender-based violence, but the fact it often happens in private makes such violence hard to quantify, visualise, or define. Often, stories about domestic violence go undocumented.

One in Three Women

assemblage which unfolds the subject of gender violence over different panels. The visuals represent the tension between the increasing visibility of violence against women and girls in general and the persistent invisibility of such abuse in everyday life. In addition, the project addresses wider gender issues such as the male gaze, and power dynamics within society.

One in Three Women

NIEVES MINGUEZA

One in Three Women is a fragmented visual, textual and cinematic assemblage which unfolds the subject of gender violence over different panels. The visuals represent the tension between the increasing visibility of violence against women and girls in general and the persistent invisibility of such abuse in everyday life. In addition, the project addresses wider gender issues such as the male gaze, and power dynamics within society.

From the series Silences

CARLES MITJÀ FRPS

Believing the silence is also a state of nature. These prints belong to a work in progress series of landscape pictures trying to connect with the presence of silence. Presence manifested by the landscape itself and the own way to look at it. Pictures are presented as hand-pulled Heliogravures or Photogravures on Copperplate. This hand-made procedure reconnects the photographer with the picture taking moment, being also a part of the image building process.

From the series Silences

#1

CARLES MITJÀ FRPS

Fern #2 Grass #2 Ice

From the series Still Waters MARK O’HALLERON

Still Waters combines photography and text to explore the threats posed to the UK’s waterways resulting from our failure to deal with raw sewage.

Its genesis was the £90 million fine handed to Southern Water in 2021 for dumping 16-21 billion litres of raw sewage into protected waters over a six-year period. The investigation was the Environment Agency’s largest and, in its own words, uncovered ‘very serious widespread criminality’.

Using the location of CSOs (Combined Sewer Overflows) in my home county of Sussex, I spent several months visiting and photographing these CSO sites to raise awareness of their environmental impact.

Ashington From the series Still Waters MARK O’HALLERON

Still Waters combines photography and text to explore the threats posed to the UK’s waterways resulting from our failure to deal with raw sewage.

Using the location of CSOs (Combined Sewer Overflows) in my home county of Sussex, I spent several months visiting and photographing these CSO sites to raise awareness of their environmental impact.

Goring-by-Sea

Dante

MYKHAYLO PALINCHAK

Monument to Dante Alighieri with sandbags on it to protect against Russian shellings, Kyiv, Ukraine on March 26, 2022.

Dante

MYKHAYLO PALINCHAK

Monument to Dante Alighieri with sandbags on it to protect against Russian shellings, Kyiv, Ukraine on March 26, 2022.

MARIAMA ATTAH

The destruction of artworks in times of war is a brutal and unsettling attack on citizens and cultural legacy. It makes people's histories difficult to understand and even more difficult to remember and appreciate. Here, a sculpture of Dante is draped in its marble form with the edge of his robe gathered in one hand and a scroll in the other. Sandbags now buffer the statue forming additional layers draped across his face and around his feet. The threads of the sacks run into the seams of the robe becoming a brief part of the history of the sculpture. Heritage shows us what it looks like to preserve art and culture at a time of oppression and aggression and how to hope for a more peaceful future.

Selector’s Spotlight

From the series RiMEMBRA

MATTEO PIACENTI

Memories in the form of snapshots follow one another in in an attempt to give back to the public an identity of its own, extracted from the bodies of others. Matteo Piacenti collects years of exploration, discovery and modelling of himself, carried out in the depths of others and then mirrored on their surface. The result is a self-portrait under construction, with strong distinctive features: the search for structure through naturalness, the sculptural line defined in tongues of light, the mass emerging from an abysmal background, the intensity of a gaze that often acts as a focal point between tangles and harmonies of limbs.

Untitled. Naples, Italy

Matteo. Milan, Italy

From the series RiMEMBRA

MATTEO PIACENTI

Untitled. Rome, Italy

Memories in the form of snapshots follow one another in RiMEMBRA, in an attempt to give back to the public an identity of its own, extracted from the bodies of others. Matteo Piacenti collects years of exploration, discovery and modelling of himself, carried out in the depths of others and then mirrored on their surface. The result is a self-portrait under construction, with strong distinctive features: the search for structure through naturalness, the sculptural line defined in tongues of light, the mass emerging from an abysmal background, the intensity of a gaze that often acts as a focal point between tangles and harmonies of limbs.

From the series Drag Daughters

MICHELLE SANK

Belinda' from the series Drag Daughters 2022 From the series Drag Daughters

MICHELLE SANK

These images were taken in Cape Town, South Africa as part of an ongoing project documenting the strong drag culture that emanated historically in the townships amongst these communities. These young men are becoming more accepted and empowered within contemporary society there, often having had to hide their identity in the past or being rejected by their families. All of those photographed expressed how dressing up has enabled confidence within their individual skins, and how they are now striving to make a difference within the societies they grew up in by encouraging others to embrace their Drag personas with pride.

Layla' from the series Drag Daughters 2022

From the series Drip by Drip we are fed with concrete ANNA SELLEN LRPS

With this series I question the Cold War legacy through the physical space of the bunker and my family archive. I use photography, oral history, archives and diaries to examine my own and my family’s lived experiences in the Soviet Union between 1952 and 1986. I am interested in the impact of the political decisions and the state-driven silencing and misinformation on people’s lives and identities, from one generation to the next, and what this means in today’s world.

From the series Drip by Drip we are fed with concrete ANNA SELLEN LRPS

From the series Herbarium-HER Choice

LESLIE SHERYLL

This series focuses on abortion rights and the diminishing options of a woman's right to choose. In these images, I incorporate herbs and ﬂowers that have been used as either a form of contraceptive, emmenagogue, or abortifacient by women throughout the centuries. Since the repeal of Roe vs. Wade women may have no other choice than to resort to using these (often dangerous) herbal remedies once again.

Aletha With Squirting Cucumber Plant

Annabelle With Pilocarous jaborandi

From the series Herbarium-HER Choice

LESLIE SHERYLL

Sadie With Cotton Bark Root Wilhelmina With Myrrh

From the series Tantric Yoga

DARREN SHEPHERD

This is from ongoing work documenting the workshops of Tantra4gaymen in Somerset. This is a Tantra School that started in 2006 and they are interested in the personal and sexual development of gay men. Tantric Yoga is a way of unleashing sexual energy using yoga. I’m photographing the men at the end of a week’s worth of workshops and I’m always struck by the intensity of the bonds the men have formed and the intimate way in which they express them.

From the series Tantric Yoga

DARREN SHEPHERD

MITSUKO TANIGUCHI

“If I can stop one Heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.” is a quote from a poem by Emily Dickinson.

In the kitchen, women's daily joys, pains, and wisdom are accumulated.

From

By photographing kitchens, I would like to make visible the unseen forms of women. I have been carrying on the project of photographing women's kitchens as my lifework since I was a student studying photography at university, and through this work I hope to contribute to the realization of gender equality.

MITSUKO TANIGUCHI

“If I can stop one Heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.” is a quote from a poem by Emily Dickinson.

In the kitchen, women's daily joys, pains, and wisdom are accumulated.

From the series If I can stop one Heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain

the series If I can stop one Heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain

From the series Flowers & Skulls

JASON SOFOKLEOUS

This series reflects on impermanence and is inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi where damage and imperfection are celebrated, highlighted with gold and become part of the history of an object. I wanted to see how I could apply this philosophy to the photographic print itself to accentuate its fragility and the Polaroid as an object lent itself perfectly to this.

From the series Flowers & Skulls

JASON SOFOKLEOUS

Calla lily Ferns Ramskull White flower

Grace, ready to swim in the Brighton sea

From the series The Force That Drives The Flower

GABRIELLA TIGOGLU

is a series exploring the life of a young family in the south of England; with a focus on the matriarch, Grace. It depicts her life, alongside partner Tom and their 6-monthold son, Billie. Documenting their everyday routine and domestic landscape, also sharing their physical journey from Brighton to Bath, transitioning from an alternative way of living to a secure and family-

The work represents the complex experience of motherhood whilst also challenging societal expectations and prejudice imposed upon women who decide to have children at a young age, with themes of Grace, ready to swim in the Brighton sea

From the series The Force That Drives The Flower

GABRIELLA TIGOGLU

The Force That Drives The Flower is a series exploring the life of a young family in the south of England; with a focus on the matriarch, Grace. It depicts her life, alongside partner Tom and their 6-monthold son, Billie. Documenting their everyday routine and domestic landscape, also sharing their physical journey from Brighton to Bath, transitioning from an alternative way of living to a secure and familycentric lifestyle.

From the series Gli Isolani (The Islanders)

ALYS TOMLINSON

The photographs in Gli Isolani (The Islanders) are made using analogue film with a large format plate camera. Over two years, Tomlinson documented the traditional costumes and masks worn during festivals and celebrations on islands of the Venetian lagoon, Sicily and Sardinia. Inspired by paganism, fables and folklore, the fantastical tales and precious costumes are passed down through many generations within these communities, where customs and run deep. The gestures and costumes depicted in the photographs draw on the relationship between man and the land, the sacred and the profane, and good and evil. They inhabit a hinterland between fiction and reality.

Is Sonaggiaos, Ortueri, Sardinia

Sos Merdules, Ottana, Sardinia

From the series Gli Isolani (The Islanders)

ALYS TOMLINSON

Le Maddalene, Militello Rosmarino, Sicily

Su Beccu e Su Aprazu, Ollolai, Sardinia

From the series loves you, mum

BÁRBARA TRAVER

All people are daughters or sons, and at some point in their lives they have looked at the face of their mother or the face of the woman who took them in and wondered more about her. In addition to being a mother, the person who has cared for, educated, protected, and even mistreated, has a life that the sons and daughters are unaware of. That is why one day the author decided, moved by an impulse, to portray her mother and thus, through these images, to answer in part the questions about this woman who had always been there for her.

From the series loves you, mum

BÁRBARA TRAVER

IPE AWARD

From the series Couchsurfing Hosts

NATCHA WONGCHANGLAW

Home is a very personal space for many individuals, but there is a group of people who are very courageous to invite strangers into their spaces. Their stories, life perspectives, and experiences fascinate me. In this environmental portrait series, Couchsurfing Hosts, I visited a group of people in New York City and the surrounding vicinity who open up their homes to travellers in exchange for the opportunity to learn and share cultures.

Less Question More Fun

Natcha Wongchanglaw is a Thailand-born, US-based visual artist, who incorporates herself and her experiences to explore the themes of home, culture, community, identity, and relationship between people and places. She earned her master’s degree in digital photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York and currently pursues her MFA in Art Studio at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

"Spend less time answering questions and more time having fun!"

Lesson Share

"Every time I meet someone new or have someone stay in my house (room-mate, guests, etc.) I feel there is a lesson that they have shared with me, by telling me about their life, by showing me a different way or a different lifestyle. Always feel enriched."

Live The World

"Traveling is my ultimate passion. I live to see the world, experience the world and live the world. It brings me joy, it gives me life and it keeps me in balance."

Spend A Day

"If I don’t spend a day or two with my quest it’s no fun for me at all and I just feel like I’m a hostel."

IPE AWARD

From the series Couchsurfing Hosts

NATCHA WONGCHANGLAW

Pangolin

From the series Endangered Species

ELIZABETH ZESCHIN

As a young photographer I was attracted to the alchemy in the darkroom. Three years ago I returned to my first love, film and to the format of my youth, the plate glass 8 x 10 view camera.

Pangolin

From the series Endangered Species

ELIZABETH ZESCHIN

I began to explore 19th-century photographic printing techniques, experimenting with the Salted Paper process pioneered by was shot on my handmade Austrian Lotus 8 x 10 view camera. The Booth Museum of Natural History in Hove kindly opened their archive to me, providing me with a space in which to set up a studio. I have always been fascinated by natural history and birds, in particular. What began as an idea to photograph live birds of prey, morphed into making what I hope would become heroic portraits of avian and other creatures in danger of and nearing extinction.

As a young photographer I was attracted to the alchemy in the darkroom. Three years ago I returned to my first love, film and to the format of my youth, the plate glass 8 x 10 view camera. I began to explore 19th-century photographic printing techniques, experimenting with the Salted Paper process pioneered by Henry Talbot.

Endangered Species was shot on my handmade Austrian Lotus 8 x 10 view camera. The Booth Museum of Natural History in Hove kindly opened their archive to me, providing me with a space in which to set up a studio. I have always been fascinated by natural history and birds, in particular. What began as an idea to photograph live birds of prey, morphed into making what I hope would become heroic portraits of avian and other creatures in danger of and nearing extinction.

From the series The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Chinese version

ZHAOHUI ZHU

The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Chinese version.

Under the dark clouds of COVID-19, the darkly comic tale has been postponed indefinitely in China.

From the series The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Chinese version

ZHAOHUI ZHU

The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Chinese version.

Under the dark clouds of COVID-19, the darkly comic tale has been postponed indefinitely in China.

Mag Maureen Pato Ray