Chloé Azzopardi

Romane Iskaria is a French photographer and artist based in Brussels, Belgium (1997). The photographer highlights the injustices and inequalities of invisible communities with a documentary and fictional approach. Her images, specific to “Care”, tell a story and allow her subjects to become aware of their painful stories. She creates a connection with these subjects that goes beyond the simple link between the photographer and her model. The artist uses photography and the field of video, but also textiles, sound, and sculpture to create immersive installations. She tells stories that take the form of a long-term investigation across several territories. Romane replays specific rituals and stories that also transcend borders, addressing questions around migration and exile. The photographer creates plastic forms allowing her to subvert the codes of documentary. She graduated with a Master's degree in photography from ENSAV La Cambre in 2022 and a DNA (National Diploma in Plastic Arts) from INSEAAM Beaux Arts in Marseille in 2018. She also completed an exchange at the U-LAVAL Visual Arts school in Quebec, Canada. Romane is laureate of TIFF 2024 Emerging Belgian Photography, by FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerpen and the european platform FUTURES Photography. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions: in the United States (ART-ARK Gallery in San Jose, California; Assyrian Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.), in Brazil (João Pessoa Paraíba Nordeste Art Gallery of the Energisa Institute), in France (Circulation(s) Cent-Quatre Festival in Paris, Lille Art-Up Centre Photographique in Lille, La Grande Vitrine Gallery in Arles, HLM Gallery in Marseille), in Belgium (FOMU Fotomuseum Antwerp, S.M.A.K Museum in Ghent, House of European History Brussels, TAMAT Museum in Tournai, BPS22, Art-Brussels Off, Prix Médiatine, Hangar Art Photo Center, TICK-TACK Gallery, Tiny-Gallery, Fondation Carrefour des Arts), in Armenia (French Consulate in Yerevan), in Italy (L’Asilo in Naples), and in the Netherlands (Flemish Cultural Center). Brakke-grond, Noorderlicht Festival). Romane was selected as part of the call for projects launched by Polka Magazine and Kickstarter for the creation and support of an artist's book, with the self-publishing of her first work, "Assyrians," in a print run of 300 copies in 2022. The book "Assyrians" was also a winner of the Belgian Photo Books selection, presented at the Rencontres d'Arles in July 2022.

Laureta Hajrullahu (b. 1997, Preshevë) is a Prishtina-based multimedia artist exploring privacy, gender, intimacy, digital ecosystems, video games, and (im)possible futures. Her work critically examines the boundaries between virtual and physical worlds, offering diverse perspectives on ‘reality.’ Hajrullahu’s art has been presented at numerous national and international exhibitions in the past, including Manifesta 14 Biennial, Gjon Mili at the National Gallery of Kosovo, Bazament Art Space in Tirana, FORUM STADTPARK in Graz, Tallinn Art Hall, Art Quarter Budapest, Toplocentrala in Sofia, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Montenegro. She is currently artist in residence at The Academy of Arts in Szczecin and she will have a solo exhibition at Vänersborgs Konsthall.

Malte Uchtmann (*1996 in Hamburg) is a photographer and media artist based in Leipzig, Germany. Using different visual media he is interested in how concepts of knowledge, truth and reality are expressed and affect our perception and behavior. His work has been awarded the German Photo Book Prize and was shortlisted for the C/O Berlin Talent Award 2023. He is currently part of the Photography and Media Class and the Expanded Cinema Class of the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig.

Jakub Tulinger (b. 1996) is a graduate of the Department of Photography at FAMU. He took part in the collective exhibitions "The Theory of Tourism" at Prague's Fotograf Gallery (2024), "Drunken Forest" and "Scream to Be Heard" at Prague's AMU Gallery (both 2023). His work was also presented in the Other Visions selection at the PAF festival in Olomouc (2021 and 2023). Currently he is part of a residential program - Transformative Territories: Inter-Species Refuge at ARTMILL – Center For Regenerative Arts, South Bohemia. In his work, he has long devoted himself to the concept of testimony with its overlaps in materiality. He is interested in the relationship of man and material, architecture and landscape, and how these silent witnesses can speak to us. Using the tools of computer 3D graphics and animation together with the creation of books, he lends a voice to the materials and through the stories attempts to look at the problems of today.

Lucija Rosc (b. 1995) is a visual artist based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Rosc graduated in photography from the Faculty of Applied Sciences VIST in Ljubljana in 2018 and earned her master’s degree in Visual Communication Design, with a focus on photography, with special honors from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO) in 2022. Rosc received the UL ALUO Prešeren Award and was a nominee for the 2024 OHO Award, Slovenia's premier national recognition for young visual artists. Rosc's art practice combines an investigative approach with play, drawing inspiration from her childhood memories, family archives, and the environment in which she grew up. She has held numerous solo exhibitions, with her work featured in exhibitions across Europe and the USA. Additionally, Rosc's work has been showcased at prestigious contemporary photography fairs, including Unseen Amsterdam, Photo Basel, Viennacontemporary art fair and the Art Salon Zürich, among others.

Top researches the topics of mass surveillance, privacy, data collection.In his practice, he layers a traditional approach to documentary research with a more experimental use of new technologies (such as facial recognition, movement analysis, and deepfakes). The artist uses these technologies to visualise and examine scenarios in which people can protect themselves and their rights by gaining knowledge and reclaiming control of surveillance tools.  ​ Top’s projects addressing human rights, police misconduct and facial recognition during protests aim to contrast the abstract nature of the algorithmic mechanisms behind mass surveillance, by providing a concrete visualisation of the phenomenon and confronting the public with the extensive amount of surveillance societies are subjected to and the ethical risks deriving, finally offering theoretical solutions.

Nazlı Yıldırım was born in Ankara and is living in Ireland. She studied at Istanbul University Faculty of Letters. After teaching for a while, she worked as an editor in the publishing industry. Nazlı’s articles have been published in various magazines, newspapers and online platforms in Greece, Belgium and Turkey. Nazlı released her first photo fanzine called Hayret. Her creative journey involves documenting the impact of factors like class, culture, gender, sexual identity, and family dynamics on societies. Through the lens of her own life, she delves into subjects such as gender, cultural identity, discrimination, and the experiences of LGBTI+ communities.

Thi My Lien Nguyen (b. 1995) is a Swiss-Vietnamese photographer and artist based in Switzerland. She received her Bachelor's degree in Camera Arts from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2017. In her artistic practice she deals with the feeling and understanding of belonging, participation and the sense of home, whereas she is strongly interested in diasporic and post-migrant realities and stories. Through participatory and inclusive methods, performative and culinary activations she seeks to establish more inclusive spaces to create more understanding and representations between communities. She works with traditions, rituals, folklore, photography and food. Her work has been exhibited in multiple exhibitions including the 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil in São Paulo (2023), Museum Haus Konstruktiv Zürich (2023), Plat(t)form, Fotomuseum Winterthur (2022), Photo Hanoi, Vincom Center for Contemporary Art (VCCA) (2021). Nguyen is part of the curatorial team at Les Complices*, a self-organised community-based off-space in Zurich, committed to support the ideas and works of queer, trans, inter, non-binary, women* and BIPoC.‍

Benjamin Li is a conceptual artist based in Rotterdam. His work pushes on questions of identity, representation, displacement, everyday life, foodways and a sense of home. He currently approaches these questions centrally through an exploration of the Chinese-Indonesian restaurant.

Since 2014, Benjamin has visited over 1.200 Chinese-Indonesian restaurants across the Netherlands in an endeavour to build an archive of this restaurant. During these visits he has collected menus, pieces of tableware and written memories of his encounters. Importantly, he has also taken photographs of over 250 unique Chinese-Indonesian dishes at these restaurants. Throughout the years Benjamin also traced back and collected many sugar packs, postcards, beer glasses and other objects all linked to (defunct) Chinese-Indonesian restaurants.

Benjamin finds beauty in the Chinese-Indonesian restaurant, but for him it is also a way to come to understand his Chinese roots and family history. Many of his family members, including his parents, have worked in the restaurants as way to survive and integrate into Dutch society. With his work Benjamin tries to honour the restaurant, where others at times mock it. Today he sees the significance of his work in straddling the tension between bringing out the absurdity of certain stereotypes and fostering a reappraisal of the beauty and heritage of the Chinese-Indonesian restaurant.