Photo News – The Photographers’ Gallery announces FreshFaced and WildEyed finalists and The World in London project

Technology is getting the better of me. Just when I thought I’d got everything under control, the trackpad on my computer decided to take a sabbatical and refused to function. Time for another service…

News from The Photographers’ Gallery about the FreshFaced and WildEyed finalists and a reminder to catch its major Olympic project The World in London. You can catch the exhibition, see images above, in Oxford Street until 30 August and/or follow this link to some of the installation shots.

The World in London website has short podcasts and written testimonials from the sitters or photographers as well as links to each of the photographers’ websites/online presence, including Melanie Stidolph who took the portrait of Mauritius-born Corina Armel.

The Photographers’ Gallery presents FreshFaced+WildEyed 2012, its annual exhibition targeted at recent graduates from BA and MA visual arts courses across the UK where photography has formed the main component of their practice. The work will be on show at The Photographers Gallery from 15-30 September.

It’s interesting that the competition is for both undergraduates and postgraduates as, in my experience, there is often quite a difference in the types of work produced. How many are postgraduates and how many are undergraduates? On a quick scan, there are five BA students and the rest are post grads.

I recognise the names of post-grad photographers Emma Critchley and David Birkin (he showed work at Hotshoe Gallery way back) as well as Chloe Sells who I selected as the winner of the Hotshoe Photofusion Award last year. Twenty-two photographers were chosen from an open submission of hundreds of applicants for a competition that “aims to draw attention to innovative new talents from a range of photographic fields”.

I’m pleased to see that more institutions and competitions are offering prizes with a longer shelf life such as year-long mentoring schemes – not just short-term cash or equipment fixes. This year there will also be an online image gallery.

The selected finalists are:
Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir incorporates found images into her interpretation of home, her country of origin – Iceland.
David Birkin combines original and appropriated images to examine the production and dissemination of war photography.
Helen Goodin and Chloe Sells apply darkroom processes to images exploring the nature of light and the creation of abstract landscapes.
Alison Bettles and SeoYeoung Won use constructed photographs and studio installations to investigate photography’s relationship with sculpture and painting.
Jonny Briggs’ staged scenes seek to recapture forgotten childhood memories and Elisavet Tamouridou attempts to retrace her family’s lost history following the 1922 Greek genocide and displacement.
Maria Gruzdeva will showcase her documentary study of the Russian Border Guard Service community while Emma Critchley’s series of underwater images address more conceptual ideas about the fragility of life.
Additional featured artists include: Brendan Baker & Daniel Evans, Anders Birger, Paula Gortázar, Gemma Marmalade, Marianne McGurk, Nadège Mériau, Vilma Pimenoff, Minna Pöllänen, Martin Seeds, Alison Stolwood and Helen Thompson.

To read more about the judges and for a full list of finalists (with their website details where possible) see over…