Julia Gaes (b. 1993) lives and works in Hamburg. Her work is primarily focused on ideas of body image and identity. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Photography at the Fachhochschule Bielefeld in 2018, and received a Master of Arts in Photography at the HAW Hamburg in 2022. Gaes has exhibited her work at a range of international festivals, including the Triennial of Photography, Hamburg; Kolga Festival, Tbilisi; and Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam.
Wbsite: www.juliagaes.de
Scarlat’s work has been recognised and awarded in several national and international competitions, such as PHotoEspaña, the Emerging Photographer Fund (Magnum Foundation), World Nomads, Promoción del Arte at Tabacalera Cantera, Visa pour l’image, Matera European Photography, Artistas Novos, and Creación Injuve. In 2021 he received a bookmaking scholarship at Magnum Photos. This year he also has received a long-term mentorship scholarship at Magnum Photos, and he is currently working with Gregory Halpern and Alessandra Sanguinetti for this project.
Scarlat has always been interested in working with his family from Romania. After leaving in 2005 at the age of 11 and having spent 15 years away, his relationship with them has changed. In his projects, he like to insist on those tensions and conflicts that have arisen as a result of moving to Spain. He is interested in Eastern Europe, Romania, alcoholics, his mother, religion, death, the traces of communism on people's faces, gypsies, children, the cemetery, the lake, wedding dresses, unmarried women, dead girls in wedding dresses, dead horses, boys playing soccer, abandoned dogs, funerals, weddings, enchantments, women who are going to clean the graves in the cemetery, flowers, gold…
For Sine Van Menxel, photography is the art of manipulating light and shadow. Since she works exclusively with black-and-white analogue photography, Van Menxel encounters the problem of light and shadow twice: first, in the moment of shooting and secondly when printing the final image in the darkroom. In both cases, she is fascinated by the possibilities and the limits of photographic technique in terms of manipulation and reproduction. While the moment of shooting mainly concerns the receiving and measuring of light, the work in the darkroom is a far more engaging moment: it is the phase where the photographer manipulates the projected light to create the final image. Although Van Menxel sometimes intervenes before taking a shot – for example, by staging the scene – the real challenges only arise in the second phase of the photographic process. For her, the darkroom is first and foremost an experimental environment where fortuitous discoveries occur and playful ideas are tried out. The tools that surround her (such as the magnets used for keeping the photographic paper flat against the wall) can transform from mere accessories to active agents in the creation of new and surprising images. Van Menxel often chooses not to retouch the prints, instead accepting the traces (specks of dust, stains, etc.) left behind on the image by the labour in the darkroom. The lucky coincidences created by a “failing” system alert the viewer to the image’s technological origin, thereby allowing Van Menxel to question the transparency of the medium. As such, her work is less about the subjects immediately visible in her images than about the visual possibilities created by exploiting and /or subverting the photographic method. Her work ensues from a sensitive alternation of action and surrender, of control and the loss of it. The result is a set of witty images made by a mischievous eye that is able to extract visual surprises from the most mundane situations.
Text by Steven Humblet
He has won numerous prizes and competitions including “Giovane Fotografia Italiana #07” at Fotografia Europea Festival in Reggio Emilia (2019), Leica Talent 24x36, 2011/2012, Off Site Art promoted by ArtBridge, 2014, Contemporary Landscapes and Places in Transformation – Artist residency in Italy promoted by MiBACT and GAI, 2017.
He is among the photographers included in the volume History of Photography in Italy. From 1839 to present by G. D’Autilia, Einaudi, Torino 2012. He is the author of books and publications and has participated in various solo and collective exhibitions, most recently in the exhibition 1999 at the Museo MAXXI in Rome, 2017. He has taken part in artistic residencies and lectures in the University of Perugia and Teramo.
Recent monographic exhibition includes: Untitled, ADN_ Sea(e)scapes, 2021 at galerie Salon H, Paris, and I, the Archive,2020, at Villa Vassilieff, Paris. Kala’s most recent group exhibitions include: This is Not Africa, unlearn what you have learned, 2021 at Aros Museum, Denmark, Un.e air.e de famille, 2021, at Museum Paul Elourd, Saint-Denis, France, Polyphony, 2021 at Gera Museum, Gera, Germany. Kala’s most recent performances include: Stranger, Danger, Wait it’s a Prayer Room, Centre Pompidou, 2019, Mackandal Turns into a Butterfly: A Love potion (2018), Le Pouvoir du Dedans, La galerie Cac de Noisy-le-Sec (2018), Euridice Zaituna Kala Shows and Doesn’t Tell, galerie Saint-Severin (2018). She is the winner of the ADAGP/ Villa Vassilieff Fellowship 2019-2020, a finalist of the SAM art Prix (2018) and also a finalist for the prize for contemporary talent, François Schneider Foundation (2018). Kala’s work will be included in the 5th Casablanca Biennial, Morroco, and she an artist in residency at Urbane Kuenst Ruhr in Germany in 2019-2020. She is the founder and co-organiser of e.a.s.t. (Ephemeral Archival Station), a lab and platform for long-term artistic research projects, established in 2017.
Uzochukwu has previously exhibited at Bozar (BE), Lagos Photo Festival (NG), Off Biennale Dakar (SN), Photo Vogue Festival (IT), and Unseen Amsterdam (NL). He currently studies philosophy in Berlin.
Maria João Salgado, was born in Portugal, in 1992 and has studied at the Portuguese Institute of Photography (IPF) and at Institute of Cultural and Artistic Production (IPCI) in Porto. Since 2015 she has been focusing on Documental Photography, mainly developing projects on human rights and alternative living communities. Currently, she is focusing on a more artistic approach, developing themes on personal issues.
He deals with social issues and the people‘s connection to history and their surroundings. With his photo-essays he wants to raise questions that follow the viewer and contribute to an examination of the topics and thus to a better mutual understanding.
He was awarded for PDN Student Contest, World Report Award, PDN Emerging Photographer and was nominated for the W. Eugene Smith Student Grant. In 2019 he was selected for the screenings at Visa Pour l’Image. His work was featured in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, FAZ Woche, Tortoise Media and others.
He is a founding member of DOCKS, a collective of five documentary photographers who act upon shared humanistic values.
Elena Helfrecht (b. 1992) is a German visual artist based in Bavaria. She graduated with an MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art in 2019, having previously studied Art and Image History at Berlin’s Humboldt-Universität, and Art History and Book Science at Erlangen’s Friedrich-Alexander-Universität. With a dark, eerie aesthetic, Helfrecht’s work navigates thresholds of fiction and reality, exploring existential questions of mortality, trauma, memory and post-memory. With Void, Helfrecht will launch her first solo monograph in the fall of 2023.
Adi Tudose (b. 1987, Bucharest) is an artist-photographer based in Budapest. After completing his studies at The National University of Theatre and Film, he furtherexpanded his artistic vision through experiences in Milano. He is pursuing an MA in Photography at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, where his practice continues evolving. For him, the camera is far more than a tool—it is a medium through which he connects with the world around him. The streets become dynamic, ever-changing spaces where unpredictable encounters unfold. Immersing himself fully in these environments, Tudose approaches his subjects with empathy and sensitivity, capturing their lives with care and revealing emotional depth and vulnerability.Tudose can transform fleeting, transient moments into cohesive compositions, bringing order and harmony to the everyday. Through this process, he taps into thesubconscious, offering viewers a sense of unity within the chaos. His seamless blending of form and content sets him apart, creating simple yet mysterious representations. His work is characterized by cohesive framing, a rich interplay of diverse elements, and tuned figure-to-ground relationships. Tudose’s work offers an invitation to reflect on what photography can reveal about the human condition. Each frame carries layers of emotional and sociological insight, capturing the essence of his subjects while creating space for the viewer to connect with them on a personal level. Each photograph becomes more than a visual representation; it transforms into a deeply felt emotional experience.Empathy and vulnerability lie at the core of Tudose’s creative process, enabling him to form deeper connections with his subjects and uncover meaningful relationships that might otherwise remain hidden. His work seeks to evoke genuine emotions, delving into themes of social and gender representation while fostering a sense of belonging. In doing so, he transforms emotional disconnection into moments of peace and truth.As an artist, Tudose is committed to long-term projects that tell meaningful stories, ones that challenge him to confront fear, embrace vulnerability, and transform his personal experiences into shared human truths. His photography doesn’t just document—it transcends, offering symbols of connection and hope in a chaotic world.
Nadine Isabelle Henrich is a curator and researcher in the history of art, focusing on photography, media art, and synthetic media, based in Berlin. She has been a curatorial fellow at Museum Folkwang, Fotomuseum Winterthur and The Getty Research Institute. Currently she is the Curator of The House of Photography at Deichtorhallen Hamburg. Her curatorial work examines the politics of visibility and imagination, focusing on photography, archives and visual practices online. She is a Ph.D. researcher in Art History at Freie Universität Berlin and holds a MA in History of Images and Art from Humboldt University (Berlin), a BA from Freie Universität Berlin, and studied Curatorial Studies (Städelschule Frankfurt). She is interested in expanded curatorial practices including community- and coalition-building, and commoning.
Nazanin Raissi (b. 1981, Tehran) is a Swedish-Iranian artist and clinical psychologist based in Sweden. Centred on the medium of photography, her work ranges from site-specific installations to video animation and sculpture. Her research-based artistic practice explores themes of memory, loss, and displacement.
I like to approach different styles of photography, but I prefer the most URBEX (Urban Exploration) photography. I think this genre represents me the best, that's why I'm even more concerned with my project called PLACES SUFFERING.
I'm fascinated by the idea of going into abandoned buildings, finding out their stories, what happened there, why they were abandoned. When I enter such places it is as if I go back in time, I try to imagine those times, to feel the lives of the people who have passed there. Every time I go to a new location, I encompass the emotions for what I can find or what I can meet. We have found all sorts of things undamaged for years, left to chance, from documents, photographs, paintings, dishes, money, clothes, toys, to dead, mummified animals.
As a visual artist I work with photography, text and video. With my work I investigate the relationship between myself and my subject. "The encounter" is a central concept here. In practice I combine a documentary approach with a search for my position as a storyteller. It focuses on a few questions: What is the real topic? Where is the thin line between finding and creating stories? Which (un) conscious strategies do I use as a maker in producing a story?
Currently Simoens is working on a project with his father and painter Richard Simoens.
www.titussimoens.com
Szilvia studies at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest and at the Athens School of Fine Art, in Greece.
He is interested in the image and imbrication of this medium with other disciplines such as sculpture and installation. As well as visual media, music and the creation of scenography and environments. Trying to convey an experience, an event or a state of mind is his main excuse when developing a project.
He investigates the relationship between the individual and his environment, about the spaces we inhabit and about contemporary forms of domestic life and the state of the objects that inhabit an era of wild mediatic reproduction. His work process is based on finding, combining and remixing poor materials, found objects and waste, signs that encourage him to experiment with new ways of interpreting what surrounds us.
More: https://christianlagata.com/
Tine Bek (born in 1988) is a Danish visual artist who works with video, photography and sculpture. She studied History before graduating from Fatamorgana – The Danish School of art Photography and Glasgow School of Art, where she holds a Master degree in Fine Art Photography.
Bek has exhibited in Denmark, UK, Norway, Lithuania, Germany and USA among others, and has participated in various international residencies including; Palazzo Monti, Numeroventi, Casa Balandra to name a few.
Bek is represented in Madrid by Dust and Soul and in New York by Picture Room. In 2022 her first book; The Vulgarity of Being Three-Dimensional was published with Disko Bay. The book has been awarded with the Hasselblad Foundation's Photo BookGrant 2021.
Bek lived in Glasgow from 2013-18 where she co founded the gallery 16 Nicholson street alongside a series of self published books highlighting the works of emerging artists internationally. Hereby shaping a conceptual hybrid, transgressing conversations about identity and universality, existentialism and particularism. Today Bek is based in Copenhagen.
It’s been seven years since I left Poland, my native country. The departure created the need to question my homeland. It swings constantly back in my mind and in my works. What I try to understand is why Poland resonates in me. Why do I constantly look for it abroad whereas all I wanted was to escape from it? Finally, how can I free myself from it? Answers never come; only more questions appear. Somewhere between past and present stories, speculations; an opportunity for me to wander through different identities.
My practice mixes photography, physical presence, text, installation and sound. Our My work in progress, Dom* [EN house, home], lies between performance and theatre play, not suiting plainly to either of them. It engages two performers and me, a setting that is being constructed during the show and numerous stories that come along with it. What I explore is the visual mean in which a story, a memory, or an image is transmitted throughout a performative act.
* Dom is written by Wiktoria Synak, directed by Wiktoria Synak and Erwan Augoyard and performed by Wiktoria Synak, Anouk Boyer-Mazal and Olga Wyszkowska.