FORMAT PORTFOLIO REVIEW

Ângela a.k.a “Berlinde” is an artist and independent curator, with PHD studies in photography from Universidade do Minho, Portugal and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Ângela is Co-Founder of the Portuguese PhotoFestival Encontros da Imagem, an International Photography Festival in Braga Portugal. She has commissioned contemporary photography throughout Europe and Latin American countries, particularly in Brazil. Currently she is artistic advisor of the FotoFestival SOLAL and counselor of the Photography Program at the Secretary State of Culture of Ceará, and curator member of  Photographic Museum of Fortaleza, Brazil.

She is especially interested in documentary and photo essays as well artists working on the intersection of photography and other media to include in the European and Latin American institutions and festivals.

Anna is the director of FOTEA and the Uganda Press Photo Awards, a unique educational photography platform and annual competitions for East African photojournalists and photographers. She also works as a Photo and Web editor at ZAM Magazine. Anna has collaborated with a diverse range of partners, has curated and assisted many exhibitions and has worked on innovative visual storytelling initiatives. She is passionate about developing alternative educational models and networks for visual professionals on the African continent and beyond. She is a frequent nominator and jury member for initiatives including the Joop Swart Masterclass, CAP Prize, FORMAT, Belfast Photo Festivals and Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards. She is based between Kampala and The Hague.  

Anna is open-minded but particularly interested in work originating from or engaging with the African continent and its diaspora. She’s also keen on seeing work responding to topics of resistance, authoritarianism, marginalized communities and diverse viewpoints. 

Anne is the Director of Impressions Gallery, a charity that helps people understand the world through photography, and act as an agent for change. She is the 2022 recipient of the Royal Photographic Society Curatorship Award, which recognises excellence over a period of time in the field of photographic curatorship, through exhibitions and associated events and publications. Anne’s current research includes environmental responsibility and sustainable practices within photography.

Anne is interested in seeing work across all genres (documentary, portraiture, landscape, to name just a few) that explores considered issues such as identity, race, gender, politics, and sustainable practices

Photo by Carolyn Mendelsohn

Arianna is a freelance professional working with photography at a wide range. From 2012 to 2021 she was the artistic director of Cortona On The Move, international festival of visual narrative. Since 2016, she is the photography curator at PhEST, a festival on contemporary photography and arts in Puglia.   

Arianna’s relationship with photography started in 1998 as Archive Director at Magnum Photos, NY; and then, back in Italy, as photo editor for Colors magazine. From 2004 to 2011, in Milan, she worked as editorial consultant and curator for exhibitions and special projects. For 4 years she was photo consultant at D, the weekend supplement of La Repubblica. For almost 10 years she was the director of OjodePez, a bilingual documentary photo quarterly published by La Fabrica in Madrid.  

Based in Barcelona since 2012, Arianna is active as consultant, teacher, curator and editor. She participates in photo events and festivals around the world as speaker and portfolio reviewer; and she is regularly invited on jury panels and selections committees for international institutions and organizations. Arianna is intrigued by the amazing stories told through images. She is interested in contemporary documentary and original storytelling: visions on the current world and stories of humankind living on this planet, and beyond.  

Arianna is interested in contemporary storytelling, experimental documentary. Stories of our world and visions of mankind living on this planet, and beyond.

Photo by Paolo Verzone.

Asha Iman is Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography. She focuses on interdisciplinary projects that advocate cross-cultural solidarity across geographic or political distance. Veal’s recent curatorial projects and exhibitions include: Beautiful Diaspora/You Are Not the Lesser Part at MoCP (2022); Martine Gutierrez at MoCP (2021); RAISIN as a partner program of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (2021); Dream at Hyde Park Art Center (2021); and more. Her previous work includes curatorial, publication, and research projects in Chicago, New York, Edinburgh, Vietnam, Juárez, Havana, and Tokyo; as well as serving as Associate Festival Producer for playwright Eve Ensler’s V-Day global movement to end violence against women and girls (New York). She has been a juror and nominator for contemporary arts organizations and residencies including Arts + Public Life at University of Chicago Arts, Center for the Study of Race Politics Culture at University of Chicago, and more; and was recently on the boards of Experimental Sound Studio and Heaven Gallery. Her projects have been featured and supported by international organizations such as Pakhuis de Zwijger Amsterdam, Istituto Italiano di Cultura Chicago, Alfred Landecker Foundation/Humanity in Action, BMW Foundation, and more. Asha Iman is faculty for Arts Administration & Policy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 

She is most interested in seeing: narrative projects, portraiture, documentary photography, and performance. 

Phoo by Benita Nnenna Nnachortam

Baiba Tetere is a researcher of visual culture, lecturer at Riga Stradiņš University and Head of the Latvian Museum of Photography. As a co-founder of the ISSP association, she has regularly organised photography education and art projects since 2006. Her career intersects the history, education and commercial fields of photography – she has worked at the Latvian Museum of Photography (2000 – 2002), the Latvian State Archive of Cinematographic and Photophono Documents (2008) and as photo editor at the international monthly magazine Cosmopolitan (2002 – 2007). Baiba studied History of Photography at De Montfort University, England, and obtained her doctorate from the University of Greifswald, Germany, where she studied early anthropological photography in Latvia in the late 19^th century.

Baiba is interested in all kind of production and creative reflections in the field of photography; always looking at the relationships between past and present and contemporary ways of engaging with archival images.

Image credit: Ailsa Bowyer

Ben is the Director of Stills: Centre for Photography, a gallery with production facilities that was established in 1977 and is based in the heart of Edinburgh. His curated exhibitions for Stills have included presentations of work by Anna Atkins, Kate Davis, Margaret Watkins, kennardphillipps, Lewis Baltz, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman and Jo Spence. Each year, Ben curates exhibitions highlighting new talent in photography from Scotland. He has also developed an annual series of displays showcasing photographic objects from rarely seen public and private archives and collections.

From 2003-13, Ben was Curator of Contemporary Art for Glasgow Museums where he curated numerous temporary exhibitions and collection displays for the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). From 2007-12, he was Lead Curator on Glasgow’s Art Fund International collecting project.

Ben is interested in all work, particularly in: content raising awareness to social and political issues; innovative practice and approaches to content, technique and display; links to Scotland; content that draws upon the history of photography, archives and collections.

Photo by Flannery O’Kafka

Cindy is a Curator, Cultural Producer and Writer currently based in Nottingham, UK.

She studied Communication, Media & Cultural Mediation at University Paris 8, France (2014), including a fully funded year Erasmus studying at Panteion University in Athens, Greece. She also did a Master’s in Cultural Events Management (2015) at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.

She is the Curator and Special Projects Producer at the New Art Exchange, the largest contemporary art space in the UK focusing on underrepresented practices in the arts.

Cindy previously worked at Nottingham Contemporary in the Exhibitions and Public Programmes departments (2017-2018). She is also part of a Nottingham-based collective, SheAfriq, a group of creative Black women that programme a diverse range of events in and out of institutions to reclaim their space within the city.

Photo Credit: Richard Chung

Claire is Festival Director at Photo Fringe, co-director of Corridor and independent curator and producer. Committed to supporting lens-based artists and curators especially amplifying those voices from the fringe, Claire is particularly excited by creating new ways to connect artists with audiences and co-producing unique encounters in unexpected spaces. 
 
Projects include: Photo Fringe 2022: Real Utopias; @fleshandblood___ (ongoing); Days of Wonder (2022); Altered (2021); Photo Fringe (2020); In Focus with Anna Farley (2019); Peckham 24 (Photoworks, 2019); Brighton Photo Biennial (2018); two editions of the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards (Photoworks, 2017-19); Brighton Photo Fringe (2016); HOUSE Biennial (2014 – 2017); Ex-offenders with David Goldblatt (Multistory, 2012-2013); Pictures from America: Rochester (Magnum, 2012); Open for Business (Multistory and Magnum Photos, 2011-2012); Black Country Stories with Martin Parr (Multistory, 2011-2014); various at The Public (2003-2008); Radio:Active Handsworth (2002).

Photo by Zoltan Borovics.

Dagmar is the UK Photo Editor of the German weekly stern magazine. She proposes story and feature ideas, commissions and buys work for stern and writes features about culture and photography for this renowned publication. Dagmar also contributes to the magazine’s associated titles such as the monthly VIEW, the bi-monthly stern CRIME and others, and runs K&R Media, a photo agency and correspondents’ service for various German and Swiss media clients such as Die Zeit, Brigitte, the Swiss broadsheet NZZ and the broadcaster ARD. She is passionate about discovering and developing new talent and has held workshops and talks about editorial photography and its role in storytelling in the UK and abroad. Dagmar is also Director of K&R Media, a photo agency for German and Swiss media.

Dagmar would like to see work from a wide range of photographic genres, especially if it has a strong narrative which may appeal to a more mainstream international readership. Photojournalism, documentary, street photography and portraiture are her main focus. She is interested in conceptual and fashion photography too, though generally not in architecture.

Francesca is the Visual Editor of Global PhotoVogue and co-curator of PhotoVogue Festival (2016-2022), the first conscious fashion photography festival dedicated to the common ground between ethics and aesthetics.

In 2018, she curated a series of talks on contemporary photography for the Affordable Art Fair (Milan), co-curated the exhibition “Italian Panorama” at Armani/Silos (Milan), and was a juror of the Ooshot Award (Paris). She was a portfolio reviewer of the Blink Portfolio Review (New York, 2018-2019), juror of Photolucida’s Critical Mass (2018-2022) and Fresh Eyes (2019-2021). In 2019 she took part in “Scouting for India” (Mumbai), Vogue Talents’ project in collaboration with FAD International Academy, co-curated the photography exhibition “Future Shock” (Milan) and was guest editor of Personne magazine (ISSUE 02).

In 2020 she was a juror of the PHmuseum 2020 Mobile Photo Prize, Photoville FENCE and did portfolio reviews for Eddie Adams Portfolio Review, Perimetro Collective Review and Italy Photo Award. In 2021 she was a member of the jury of LensCulture Portrait Awards and did portfolio reviews for Fotografia Europea – Reggio Emilia, SI Fest – Savignano sul Rubicone, Eddie Adams Workshop and PhMuseum Days.

Francesca regularly collaborates with several photography festivals and schools as portfolio reviewer and lecturer.

As art director she has curated advertising campaigns for Benetton, Huawei, Yuzen and special projects for Off-White, Audi, Diesel, Dyson, Mazda, Martini, Natuzzi, Regione Puglia, Sensai, Xiaomi.

Francesca would like to see reportage work.

Before joining Fotofestiwal, Franek co-founded TIFF International Photography Festival. He devoted a large part of his work to bringing up aspects related to the photobooks and popularizing them in Poland. This interest resulted in several exhibitions, lectures and cooperation with prominent figures from the world of photography and the publishing scene of photobooks. In the Fotofestiwal collective he is responsible for the festival program, coordination of exhibitions, events and publications.

I’m interested in wide range of fine art, documentary photography and mixed-media work. I would be happy to review unpublished photobooks and give advices on editing, sequence and design. I am always looking for young or emerging photographic talents for possible future collaborations. Please no commercial portfolios, architecture or nude-photography.

Created in 2010, the Guernsey Photography Festival brings together major names in international photography with a host of emerging talent, for a packed month of exhibitions, projections, talks, educational workshops and community events on the island. The festival is now firmly established as one of the most important and successful cultural events in Guernsey and has positioned itself amongst the best festivals of photography in Europe.

The festival concentrates mainly on contemporary photography including documentary and conceptual work. Jean-Christophe can offer various platforms for photographers through the festivals range of exhibitions, talks series and artist in residence programmes. The festival has developed close relationships with other major international festivals, galleries, agencies and publishers so JC can recommend people when appropriate.

For JC, a strong portfolio has to be coherent, innovative with a strong sense of artistic integrity. He is particularly interested in individuals who keep developing and maturing their work and strive to keep producing high quality projects over time. Reviewing a portfolio is above all about opening a dialogue with the artist. It is about creating an environment of attentive listening in order to deliver clear guidance and advice.

Photo by Peter Franklin/Guernsey Press

John is one of the editors of Source magazine. He studied Documentary Photography at Newport and Fine Art Photography at Glasgow School of Art and still makes his own work. In each issue Source publishes three personal projects by photographers on its ‘portfolio pages’. His role is to be on the look out for new work for this section of the magazine. This includes work by photographers in the early stages of their careers, recent graduates as well as more established photographers.

To give us editorial focus work needs to made by photographers from or based in the UK or Ireland. Source has quite a broad remit in terms of what they publish. In general its personal projects resolved over an extended series of images. The archive section of their website gives you a sense of what they do. He is happy to look at longer edits of work in progress or completed work.

Karen is the Creative Director of Shutter Hub, the UK based photography organisation providing opportunities, support and networking for creative photographers worldwide. She founded the organisation to create a supportive community for photographers and to provide a platform for the development of ideas and careers.

She is dedicated to creating fair access to photography and opening up opportunities for everyone. She’d love to see work by creative photographers who are looking for support and direction, who want to exhibit their work, develop their networks, and connect with others.

Karen has spoken at industry events and locations such as FOAM Museum, London Art Fair, FORMAT Festival, and the Festival of Creative Industries; curated exhibitions at London Photomonth, Cambridge University, and St Bride Foundation, to name just a few in the UK, and taken shows to Belgium, Denmark, France, Israel, Portugal, Romania and The Netherlands. She’s reviewed portfolios in the UK, Europe, Canada, the US and Israel; at Unseen Amsterdam, FORMAT International Photography Festival, Belfast Photo Festival, London Photomonth, The Photographers’ Gallery, Getty Images Gallery, Exposure Photo Festival, Griffin Museum of Photography and the Photographic Resource Center, and more.

Karen is a consultant, curator and collaborator who works to bring innovative ideas and fundamental kindness to every project. She has won awards for photography, writing and community development. In 2019 she was named the Digital Influencer of the Year at the Holland Press Awards. Karen is experienced in working with museums and galleries, developing exhibition spaces, and collaborating with organisations such as The National Archive, English Heritage and Cambridge University. She also founded and co-directs the charitable organisation Toiletries Amnesty.

Lee Elkins is the founder and Creative Director of The Lost Light Recordings. Established in 2018, Lost Light Recordings is an independent publisher that works with photographers to realise projects through the medium of the photobook. The books he has created under the imprint since 2018, including Cian Oba-Smith’s Andover & Six Acres, Sadie Catt’s Woodstock and the forthcoming Harrowdown Hill by John Spinks, explore the political landscape and its effect on people and place.

Passionate about creating authentic expressions of photographers’ work, Elkins collaborates creatively with both established photographic artists and new talent to create distinctive photobooks. Elkins manages the whole process of creating a book with intense detail: from the editing down and sequencing of photographs with the artist, the graphic design, materiality, personally overseeing the printing, to hand binding the books. This attention to detail calls on Elkins conviction that a photobook is more than a book of photographs, which in the right hands can become a complex intellectual dialogue between photographer and reader and his experience as a master bookbinder in the printing industry. Elkins worked as a bookbinder for twenty years in Frome, Somerset, for one of the UK’s most significant printers before gaining a first class BA (Hons) in Photography from the University of the West of England and an MA in Photography and the Book from Plymouth University.

Lee Elkins is Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of the West of England, Bristol.

Lee has an interest in any project that plays with narrative, any book work, images and text and documentary.

Currently Louise leads a national and international contemporary arts and photography programme across 1500 forests, working at the forefront of the global climate crisis and exploring the vital intersection between art, science and biodiversity, at Forestry England, including Earth Photo. Previously Louise was Artistic Director of QUAD, a center for contemporary art and film for 20 years. Director of FORMAT International Photography Festival for 18 years, which she co-founded in 2004, currently Patron of FORMAT. 

An independent curator since 1998 directing commissions, publications, performances and exhibitions. A Guest Curator for international exhibitions/festivals including Dong Gang (Yeongwol) South Korea; Photoquai Biennale Musée du quai Branly Paris; Les Rencontres Arles, Discoveries; Dali Photo, China; Venice Biennale EM15; Photo Beijing, and LishuiPhoto China; Korea International Photo Festival.  An international award nominator, she has also contributed to numerous publications as producer/writer/editor and a regular juror, portfolio reviewer, speaker in Europe, America, Africa & Asia. 

Markéta is a director of Fotograf Gallery, Festival and editor-in-chief of Fotograf Magazine based in Prague. She has ongoing experience as a portfolio reviewer or jury member for different competitions. She is also an independent artist working with photography as a tool of conceptual art. Her author’s book What You See Is What You Think was published as the artistic part of the doctoral thesis under the title Oppositional Reading of Public Space, which she defended at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 2019. She studied photography at the Faculty of Art and Design at the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. She is the head of the Documentary Photography Studio at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) since 2016. She attended several artists residencies as in Centro de la Imagen – FONCA, Mexico city, Mexico and Artist in residence, Rotor – Association for Contemporary Art, Graz, Austria.

Fotograf Magazine is a periodical mapping the world of contemporary photography. Every four months comes out special-themed issue dedicated to photography, visual culture and contemporary art. Fotograf Gallery is space dedicated to solo exhibition projects of contemporary art artists using medium of photography as well as artist with photographic background. Fotograf Festival is annual occasion to meet special-themed and curated photographic exhibitions in Prague as well as professionals, theoreticians and artists passionate about the medium.

Markéta is the most interested in reviewing conceptual art projects, experimental projects, public art projects, documentary photography crossing boarder of its classical attitude. She is also interested in independent publishing, artists books and zines. As an magazine editor and festival co-founder she is interested in wide range of approaches in sense of depiction world around us in a distinctive way.

Michael Itkoff is a Cofounder of Daylight Books, a non-profit organisation dedicated to publishing art and photography books. For two decades, Daylight has been dedicated to publishing art and photography via its print and digital publishing programs. By exploring the documentary mode along with the more conceptual concerns of fine-art, Daylight’s uniquely collectible publications work to revitalise the relationship between art, photography, and the world-at-large. 

Michael has been deeply involved in the publishing industry in both print and digital media and has written for the NYTimes Lens blog, Art Asia Pacific, Nueva Luz, Conscientious blog and the Forward. Before starting Daylight, Michael spent time at the Annie Leibovitz Studio, Aperture Foundation and Rizzoli International Publications.  His monograph, ‘Street Portraits’, was published by Charta Editions in 2009. 

Nicola works as a Producer, Curator, Project Manager, Mentor and Consultant, specialising in photography, and is co-founder and Director of GRAIN Projects. She trained as an art historian, has an MA in History of Art, and a background in the visual arts, including in commissioning, exhibitions, collections, public art, artists education and professional development.

As Director of GRAIN Projects she leads on commissioning new work, curating exhibitions, developing artist’s and photographer’s training, development and networking opportunities and producing events and symposia. She is interested in working with emerging and established artists and photographers.

Recent projects include collaborations with Photoworks, Creative People & Places – Appetite, New Art Gallery Walsall, Herbert Art Gallery, FORMAT International Photography Festival, Redeye Photography Network, Brighton Photo Fringe, Library of Birmingham and The Hive Arts Centre. She has worked with artists and photographers including Anthony Luvera, Edgar Martins, Indre Serpytyte, Tom Hunter, Mark Power, Helen Marshall, Sam Laughlin, Kate Peters, Arpita Shah and Maryam Wahid.

Nicola is interested in seeing fine art photography and bodies of work that have a clear subject or story to tell, which the photographer explores in an original way. This could be within documentary, portraiture, still life or fine art. She is interested in a wide range of photographic genres including emerging practices. She is not interested in seeing fashion photography, photojournalism or architectural photography.

Sarah Gilbert is a photo editor at the Guardian with specific responsibility for features. She spent the previous three years based in NYC as the US picture editor, and is highly experienced in commissioning and producing all types of photo shoots including portraits, news, reportage, fashion and lifestyle across print and digital platforms.

Previously she was a freelance editor working with various publications and a stint as picture editor for Conde Nast.

Sarah’s specific areas of interest are reportage and projects based around reportage, social issues, and above all, human stories.

She is NOT interested in fashion or fine art photography.

Sebah Chaudhry is Festival Coordinator at FORMAT. She is a key member in the delivery of the biennale festival, working on exhibitions, events, the UK’s largest portfolio review and other FORMAT projects in the UK and internationally. She also works on numerous international festivals. Sebah has previously worked with Fotofestiwal, Łódz; Fotobookfestival, Kassel; Rhubarb-Rhubarb, Birmingham; Dong Gang, South Korea; Hamburg Photo Triennial; Fotobild, Berlin; and Fotofest, Houston. She is currently working on an exhibition taking place in October at Photo Beijing, China.

Sebah is interested in seeing all kinds of work, except nudes and still life.

**Stella will be reviewing with Giovanni Okot**

Stella is the programme coordinator at the Uganda Press Photo Award, where she manages the Awards and oversees a busy calendar of talks, workshops and discussions.

As part of this role she also collaborates with the FOTEA Foundation, which is the organiser of the UPPA, and oversees the Award’s integration with FOTEA’s broader educational programme and its strategic aims.

As well as her role with UPPA, Stella has assisted in the production of independent photography exhibitions as well as grants and other activities. She also occasionally serves as a reviewer for photography competitions such as Market Photo Workshop’s JUSTPHOTO contest.

A former magazine employee, Stella is passionate about helping emerging photographers in Uganda and the broader region to expand their technical skills and broaden their understanding of the medium in order to tell better stories.She believes that continued learning and conversations around photography is key to giving diverse voices a role in shaping the region’s socio-economic and political discourse.

Stella and Anna are open-minded but particularly interested in work originating from or engaging with the African continent. They are also keen on seeing work responding to topics of resistance, authoritarianism, marginalized communities and diverse viewpoints.

Stephen Burke is a photographer, artist and creative producer living and working in Birmingham, UK.   

He is the Project Producer for GRAIN Projects, and is experienced in commissioning new work, artist development, exhibitions, publications, public art and socially engaged projects. He has worked with a broad range of artists & photographers including; Julian Germain, Anthony Luvera, Arpita Shah, Nilupa Yasmin, Maryam Wahid, Murray Ballard, Emily Graham, Polly Braden, Lydia Goldblatt, Sam Laughlin, Kate Peters, Stuart Whipps, Marco Kesseler and Chris Hoare.  

Stephen studied BA Photography at Falmouth University graduating in 2012 and completed an MA in Documentary Photography & Photojournalism at Westminster University in 2017. He is a Visiting Lecturer at Birmingham City University.

He is interested in all work, particularly in: Documentary Photography, Socially Engaged Practice, Collaborative Practices, Community Engagement, Portraiture, Editorial. Stephen is keen to support emerging artists & photographers. 

Tanvi works with images as a photo editor, curator, and writer based in New Delhi, India. Among her interests are South Asian visual histories, research methodologies in image-making as well as the notion of fiction in photography, particularly in the current political landscape. 

She has served as the Creative Director of The Caravan, a journal of politics and culture published out of Delhi. She is part of the photo-editorial team of PIX, a South Asian publication and display practice. She works as an independent curator and has been part of the curatorial teams of Photo Kathmandu, Delhi Photo Festival and BredaPhoto.  

Her writing on photography has been published in various platforms including Aperture, FOAM and The Caravan. Tanvi has served on multiple juries, including World Press Photo, Chennai Photo Biennale Photo Awards and the Catchlight Global Fellowship. She is currently part of the first international advisory committee of World Press Photo. She has recently been appointed as curator for the Louis Roederer Discovery award for the 2023 edition of Recontres d’Arles.  

Tanvi is interested in seeing projects with relevance to politics, society and culture. Medium can be anywhere from traditional documentary to visual research to contemporary/experimental practice, as long as there is a comment on society as well as imagined futures. Not interested in pure aesthetic experiments, fashion or fine art photography.

Photo Credit: Aditya Kapoor

Vincent is a researcher and curator focusing on photographic and archival practices, particularly in and from South Asia. His work is rooted in collaborative practices, centring process alongside outcome and mobilising the exhibition form to explore complex and multi-layered narratives.

He won the FORMAT Festival Open Call Award in 2021, with a curated group exhibition entitled COLLABORATION > CONTROL; and curated the Archive of Public Protests and Turbine Bagh exhibitions for the 2021 edition of Peckham 24 together with Iona Fergusson, with whom he also convened the festival’s talks and events programme. For the 2022 edition of Peckham 24, he curated Rohit Saha’s 1528, as well as the talks programme, again in collaboration with Iona Fergusson. Subsequent projects include a group exhibition curated with ZONE 6 Press for London Design Festival, and a presentation of Offset Projects’ Guftgu publication at Photobook Cafe.

Vincent is a MPhil/PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at UCL, where his research focuses on  archival and museological strategies, looking at their relationships to collective memory and narrations of history. His research is fully funded by the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (AHRC).

Vincent is interested in discussing projects that have a clear sense of narrative. He is interested in seeing work across a range of genres. He is just as interested in ongoing work-in-progress projects as finished ones. Given his dual research/curatorial focus, he is also happy to discuss image/text, research practice in photography, and project development more broadly. A further area of interest is book projects and independent publishing.

Photo by Munem Wasif.

Vivienne is Founder and Director of Seen Fifteen and Peckham 24 – two organisations at the forefront of contemporary photography in Peckham, South London.

Seen Fifteen hosts a dynamic programme of exhibitions dedicated to the work of contemporary photographers, with a specialist focus on photography’s “Expanded Field” and artists who push the boundaries of the medium.  Artists working with Seen Fifteen include Maya Rochat, Laura El-Tantawy, Alexander Mourant and Martin Seeds.  Originally from Northern Ireland, Vivienne has recently initiated a curatorial project, The Troubles Generation, examining the legacy of The Troubles through the work of artists brought up during or in the aftermath of the conflict.   The series has so far included solo exhibitions of work by Martin Seeds, Gareth McConnell and Audrey Blue.

Vivienne is also Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Peckham 24 festival.  Launched in 2016, Peckham 24 has been firmly established as a must-see part of the programme of events that celebrate photography city-wide during Photo London.  With a focus on supporting new talent and experimental artists working with photography, the festival creates a vibrant takeover of a number of warehouse and gallery spaces across Copeland Park and Bussey Building in the heart of Peckham’s artistic scene.

Wang is the Director and Curator of Lishui Photography Festival. Lishui Photography Festival is an international photography celebration co-hosted by Lishui Municipal People’s Government and China Photographers Association (CPA). As China’s only photographic celebration named as “photography festival” by the State Council, it has been held for ten consecutive sessions since the year of 2004. The goal of the festival is “to create a well-known city of photography, to expand international exchanges, and to show the charm of Lishui”.

Wang is also the Director of China Photographers Association, a Member of Curator Committee of China Photographers Association.

Lishui have partnered with FORMAT for a number of years and often showcase FORMAT photographers’ work at their festival. Wang will be reviewing with Isabella Xueke Wang who is the Head of the International Department. They will also be joined by a translator.

Yining graduated from LCC, University of the Arts London and is a curator and writer of photography. Her work is principally focused on the way in which photography is able to freely straddle the boundaries of art, responding to and raising questions about contemporary and historical social issues through effective, diverse, and interdisciplinary means. Yining’s exhibitions have been held in museums, art spaces, and photography festivals in China and Europe including: the 3rd Beijing Photo Biennale (2018, CAFA Art Museum, Beizhen Cultural Industries Center), The Port and The Image: Documenting China’s Harbor Cities” (2017, China Port Museum), A Fictional Narrative Turn (2016, Jimei Arles International Photo Festival) and 50 Contemporary Photobooks from China 2009-2014 (2015, FORMAT15 Festival, UK).

Her publications include Photography in the British Classroom, and The Port and the Image.

In the last five years, Yining has been looking into the effectiveness, diversity and interdisciplinary of practitioners’ use of photography as a medium when responding to and proposing social issues related to history and the present. As a reviewer, she is good at discussing the works with practitioners who encounter problems in the project progress and helping them push the project forward. As a curator, Yining is happy to find photographers from all over the world to expand her research framework and hopes to provide opportunities for photographers to show in China. She is looking forward to seeing artists from all disciplines, both emerging and established. She is not interested in seeing fashion and commercial work.

Yumi is an independent photography curator, editor, researcher, consultant, educator, and publisher who focuses on the development of cultural exchanges that transcend borders. 
 
She collaborates with local and international artists who live and work in areas affected by conflict, natural disasters, current social problems, human rights abuses, and women’s issues. She often works with human rights advocates, international and local NGOs, humanitarian organizations and as well as being involved as a nominator and juror for the international photographic organizations, festivals, and events. 
 
She is now based in Tokyo and also a co-founder and curator for the Reminders Photography Stronghold which is a curated membership gallery space in Tokyo enabling a wide range of photographic activities. In addition to the RPS in Tokyo, in November of 2020, she established a new RPS offshoot “PAPEROLES” in Kyoto and will lead a full-fledged activity. 

Yumi is more interested in visual story-telling, the work created with good research, with multiple layers to visualise the subject matter. She is interested in looking at images and talking about how they could develop the work, new approaches or alternative ideas for doing more, so all are welcome if the artists are open for the input. Some might be interested in photobook making, that Yumi could only talk about from her experience but not from the photobook industry in general.