Overview: It was fascinating for me to see the breadth of work presented here. I have been teaching undergraduate photography in New York for the last three years and I was interested to see where the similarities coalesced and the differences lay. Whilst the photographic references are often very different and interests in certain subject matter divergent what remains similar are wider theoretical or philosophical explorations into this thing we call photography. This is not really surprising considering the remarkable shifts the medium has, and continues to have, in recent years. Another commonality was the use of vernacular photography to explore issues of loss and memory. Again not surprising with the switch from tangible albums to electronic archiving together with the age group of students who are experiencing loss perhaps for the first time as their grandparents pass away. It was a privilege and a pleasure to be invited and spend time with the work from the students.
Selector's Comment: There are ideas of melancholy and loss tied up in this work. However, it was not the objects themselves that I was drawn to but the incredible care and love in which the labels and the prices have been written on the hangers. They are so neat, so carefully and tenderly done. The shop has been run by the same woman for 25 years. Through the ordering of clothes we get a tender portrait of her and insight into the pride she takes in her work.
University of Wales, Newport - BA (Hons) Photographic Art
Selector's Comment: I have been researching work around grandparents for my students. This work attracted my attention as it tackled the grieving process a little differently. Although still concerned with the 'trace' and the idea of remnants it also acknowledges the importance of touch in grieving - something which more traditional photography cant do. Imagining Sue Anne creating these works was unexpectedly moving.
Blackpool and the Fylde College - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: I really enjoyed the spirit of fun and fantasy in this work. Costuming is such a vital part of understanding how a fashion image works and to make this the center of the work to the point where it becomes absurd feels welcome and fresh. I loved thinking of the visual references she must have turned to interpret them into her own vision.
Glasgow School of Art - BA (Hons) Fine Art Photography
Selector's Comment: This is an incredibly smart and moving body of work and one that resonates very personally for the artist as well as on a societal and historical level. It shows the power of repetition and the injustices placed upon women and their status. It also is a fascinating insight into the ways in which photographs can act as fragments of ideology.
University for the Creative Arts Farnham - BA (Hons) Photography
Selector's Comment: To be honest I wasn't really sure I fully grasped the intention behind this work from the description, but I loved the disparate collection of images which reminded me of Sultans and Mandells 'Evidence'. It shows eloquently the power of analogue black and white at this precise moment in photo history and its important place within a medium that is predominantly colour.
Glasgow School of Art - BA (Hons) Fine Art Photography
Selector's Comment: This work comes into its own with the edit. Diverse images, which are also fascinating and puzzling in their own right, come together into something poetic and subtle. I like the juxtapositions of the natural and the manmade and the work really shows how the power of photography can often lie in the simplest of actions.
Susan Bright is a curator and writer based in New York. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Curating and working towards an exhibition and book on contemporary photographic representations of Motherhood in the media, vernacular practices and fine art.
