Noémi Szécsi (b. 1998) is a half-Hungarian, half-Romanian photographer, currently living in Budapest. She studied photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest, from which she holds an MA. A member of the Studio of Young Photographers, Hungary, Szécsi’s projects are centred on specific groups of people living on the margins of society – from gravediggers to far-right protesters, to the witches she is currently working with. Her conviction is that the medium of photography offers no universal truths, but it does maintain a mediating and sensitising power. For the artist, the camera is a passport to the places where she interacts with people, allowing her to experience these different positions.
Over twenty years ago, Jaakko Kahilaniemi, who was barely eight at that time, inherited 100 hectares of forest. The abstraction which this represents for a child, is followed by an indifference which it evokes for an adolescent. After all, this is hardly very exotic for a Finn: forest covers more than 70% of the country, totalling 26 million hectares. Fairly recently, this photographer decided to return to this heritage in order to explore its twists and turns. This series, called 100 Hectares of Understanding retraces his journey towards an appropriation of this land which is too big for a single – young – man. Photography thus becomes the location where the experience of the landscape can be filtered as it is travelled through, physically, mentally, and sentimentally. These explorations blend physical crossings and digital incursions, photographed panoramas and painted landscapes. The photographer combines these vast misty lands with a still life of a small wooden log resting upon a scale, or simple twigs upon a black background: from the infinitely big to the infinitesimal, each photograph constitutes a piece of an important memory game whose perimeter, one might imagine, increases as the photographer walks and the man grows up.
Daria is a lens-based artist currently living and working between Kyiv and Paris. Originally from Odesa, Ukraine, Daria came to France to pursue an M.A. in Photography & Video at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Paris, graduating in 2023.In her artistic practice, Daria explores the connections between past and present, focusing primarily on the youth and cultural, social and political contexts in which young people live.Her work was exhibited across Europe and the U.S., including La Villette (Paris), Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool), Hangar (Brussels), Mystetskiy Arsenal (Kyiv), The Gallery at Dobbin Mews (New York). Daria is a finalist of the 39th Hyères festival (2024), Palm* Phot Prize (2022) and a recipient of Beyond the silence grant by Magnum Photos & Odesa Photo Days (2024), as well as a grant for contemporary documentary photography from CNAP.
Zsuzsi Simon (b. 1988) is a photographer and videographer living and working in Budapest. In 2015, she graduated from the Intermedia Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts. Her research interests cover questions of feminism, body image and activism. The ways in which women think about the world is also central; she is particularly interested in the image of the female body and the expectations that come with it. Through close collaboration with groups of women – and a trademark blend of humour, provocation, irony and honesty – Simon aspires to break down various taboos. More recently her work has explored masculinity, and the role of the male muse from a female perspective. Simon is a member of Secondary Archive, which brings together women artists from Central and Eastern Europe for greater visibility.
Website: linktr.ee/zsuzsannasimon
Instagram: zsuzsi___simon
Kvet Nguyen (Hoa Nguyen Thi) is slovak-vietnamese artist based in Bratislava. Cultural clash of two different realities is the basis for every thinking process and eventually the dominant subject in her works.
She completed her master’s degree in photography at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava within she attended interns in Plymouth College of Art in England and the Royal Academy of Art in Netherlands. Her works have been exhibited in slovakian and international context (Soda Gallery, Čepan Gallery, OFF Festival, Nitra Gallery, Karlín Studios in Prague, Galeria Promocyjna, Krakow and at the presentation of photo books in Poznań (2017), and at LIVRE PARIS (2019) in France.
https://kvetnguyen.com/project/you-are-allowed-to-mix-apples-and-pears-here/
His work has been recognized by several public and private institutions, such as the Salomon R. Guggenheim (USA) or the Sasakawa Foundation (Japan-Scandinavia). He has exhibited in numerous countries like: Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, UK, Slovakia, Norway, Russia or Singapore.
His practice is focused on new approaches to the idea of contemporaryy landscape, he has develop different bodies of work such us Metropolis (2018-2019), De Magnete (2016-2018), Environments (2014-2016), Velocidad de las Ventanas (2015) or Almost Black (2011-2015).
Gorospe combines his work as an artist with the study and understanding of the image from a theoretical point of view.
He collaborates in different projects as a curator and photo-editor.
Since 2008 she is based in Spain where she works as a freelance photojournalist, combining her personal projects with the teaching of photography. She has published in BuzzFeed News, El Pais, XL Semanal, L'Obs, Equal Times, 5W magazine, Interviú, El Periódico de Cataluña, 7k magazine, Gazeta Wyborcza and Polityka among others.
Her projects address discrimination and societal dysfunctions in western society. She also works on youth radicalization and the raise of right-wing movements in Europe. Lately she has started to investigate the construction of national identity in post-Soviet regions in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union.
She has won different awards, such as the Third Prize in POY Latam 2015 (Mexico); she has been awarded with the Grant Programa Crisálidas Signo Editores Grant 2019 (Spain), with a Helge Humelvoll Scholarship (USA 2017) and with the “Photojournalism Grant 2015” (GrisArt International School of Photography, Barcelona), among others.
Finalist of the Grand Press Photo 2019 and 2012 in Poland and of the 19th FotoPres la Ciaxa (2013); she was also nominated in 2018 and 2017 Edition of Photography Magazine Grant (London). She has participated in festivals such as PhotOn 2019 and 2018 (Spain), Imaginaria 2019 (Spain), UCL Festival of Culture in London (2017), FOTONOVIEMBRE Tenerife (2015) and the VIII Biennal de Xavier Miserachs (2014) among others.
Peggy van Mosselaar is a documentary and visual storyteller motivated by curiosity and human interest. Van Mosselaar creates photographic and video works based upon the stories and memories of the people she meets. The artist graduated from PhotoAcademy, Amsterdam and Foto Vakschool, Rotterdam. Peggy has exhibited at Loods 6, Amsterdam; Museum Hilversum, Hilversum; and SKVR, Rotterdam. In August-November 2022, she will present her work in FOTODOK’s group exhibition Part of Me… Shaping Mental Spaces.
During Photo London in 2018, They were my landscape (MACK) was launched.
Kiely was nominated for the Paul Huf Award, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award and selected to be in the British Journal of Photography Ones to Watch, Talent issue (2018).
Paulina Tamara is a Chilean-Norwegian artist based in Bergen. With an MFA in Photography from the University for the Creative Arts, London, her works address questions of gender creativity, (queer) culture, and the act of performing for the camera. Tamara’s interests lie in the space between femininity and masculinity; her ongoing archival project, The Others, portrays Norway’s queer community, whilst her Undress series offers an investigation into the female gaze – made collaboratively with a series of queer cis-woman. In recent years, her works have been exhibited at the likes of Copenhagen Photo Festival and Norway’s National Museum of Photography.
Emese Bíborka Szakács studied at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. She is currently pursuing a degree in Art History at the University of Pécs.Her interests focus on the past and present of experimental photography, as well as the cultural role of new media. As a staff member of the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, she is involved in organizing international exhibitions and professional programs. She also works as a curator and writer within the frameworks of the Studio of Young Photographers (FFS) and the Studio of Young Artists’ Association (FKSE), contributing to the professional development and realization of several exhibitions in recent years.
Inuuteq Storch, born in 1989, Sisimiut, Greenland. Based in Copenhagen and Sisimiut.
I studied at Fatamorgana – The Danish School of Art Photography in 2010 and at the International Center of Photography in New York in 2016. After that, I published the following books: Porcelain Souls, Flesh and Mirrored – Portraits of Good Hope.
My work is based on identity searching, which means the subject is usually around being from Greenland.
I work with my photography and archives.
Konstantin Zhukov (1990) lives and works between Riga and London. After graduating from Riga Secondary School of Design and Art, Zhukov continued his studies at Central Saint Martins and London College of Communication in the United Kingdom.
He has participated in exhibitions and book art fairs including Paris Ass Book Fair at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Strange Perfume at South London Gallery, Queer Frontiers by Artiq and Pride in London, Riga Photography Biennale: NEXT 2021 and Riga Photomonth. Most recently, Zhukov has opened a solo show Black Carnation part 2 at ISPP gallery in Riga and is preparing to take part in the fourth edition of Paris Ass Book Fair at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris.
Konstantin’s work has been published internationally both online and in print in such publications as i-D, CAP74024 and Arterritory. His work "An essay on self-confidence and homoerotic Islamic poetry”, originally published in Jezga magazine Vol. 2, was translated into Russian and published on Открытые (o-zine.ru) – a pioneering LGBTQ+ publication based in Moscow.
Vera Hadzhiyska is a Bulgarian multidisciplinary artist, curator, and photography lecturer based in Portsmouth, England. Her practice explores themes of migration, cultural and national identity, history, and collective memory. Her work begins autobiographically, tracing family narratives and shared traumas. Through the use of photography, archival documents, audio and video installations Vera examines historical and political events in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe, their impact on people’s lives and identity.
As a curator, Vera has worked extensively with the Rethinking Eastern Collective, showcasing contemporary visual artists who challenge and redefine perceptions of ‘Eastern Europe.’ Over the past four years, she has also been active in promoting contemporary Korean art and photography in the UK.
Vera holds BA and MA degrees in Photography from the University of Portsmouth and has exhibited internationally across Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, France, Kosovo, the UK and South Korea. Her work has been recognised with numerous awards and grants, including the VID Foundation for Photography Award (2020), Danny Wilson Memorial Award (2022), Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice Grant (2021), Belfast Exposed Future Curators Award (2023), and British Korean Society Grants (2023 and 2024).
Catalin Anghel (b. 1984) is an artist based in Timisoara, Romania, who works in the fields of photography and mixed media art. He obtained his Photography degree in Dublin at Institute of Photography in 2011. He moved back to Romania in 2014 and in the same year he organized his first event ‘Fotocultura – Timisoara European Cultural Capital’ | photography contest and exhibition. In 2017, he started 'Wedtrotter' - a documentary series which follows the best wedding photographers in the world. His latest project is 'Imagine Timisoara Festival' (2019) – an event who got together over 200 photographers in 2 days of conference, workshops, photography contests and exhibitions.