Source: Graduate Photography Online 2026 - BA Selections

Each year as part of Graduate Photography Online we ask a number of professionals from the world of photography to review all the BA work submitted and choose their favourites. We hope this makes an interesting introduction to the project as a whole.

It was a pleasure viewing this year's Graduate Photography program and discovering the wide diversity of projects submitted. The portfolios were impressive, and narrowing down my choices was genuinely difficult. I was excited to see the wide range of themes considered, reflecting this group of truly eclectic artists. They challenged themselves with narratives that were often deeply personal, addressing important topics such as migration, identity, environment, and other social issues, and weren't afraid to bend the rules a little, mixing new tools with their imagination. At a time when art schools and institutions are struggling to maintain funding, it was reassuring to have the opportunity to review such fresh ideas. Congratulations to you all on such impressive work and achievements! I look forward to seeing how your careers progresses in future.

Selected Photographers:

Selector's Comment: This series of portraits grabbed my attention immediately with their incredible sense of dignity and confidence. In No Man's Land, Salem Anowe Chukwuezi's protagonists confront the viewer with their direct, unflinching gaze, making it impossible to look away. Set against Irish interiors and urban landscapes, Chukwuezi's collaborators disrupt expectation, yet remain rooted, self-possessed. These are strong, defined portraits with a clear authorial voice, work that asks questions about belonging, citizenship, and the laws that govern who gets to decide. I'm excited to see where she will take this series in future.

Selector's Comment: The wide range of photographic methods and tools used by Rufus Dalby in his series Autological was exciting to see. His intention was clear: these images don't depict 'fakeness' — they become it, with occasional digital glitches as part of the visual narrative. Certainly, the artificial resides at the core of these works, but within the 'fakeness' are also elements of natural beauty. His use of a bold, dynamic palette works both as commercial/fashion photography and as a foundation for fine art. The series exudes a playful, wondrous energy of discovery.

Selector's Comment: Anna Maxton's portraits in Womanhood present a group of strong, self-determined women, powerful in their simplicity, with a sense of defiance radiating from each image. Her use of natural light adds a vibrancy to each composition. I love that these women are all of different ages and personalities. Many of her protagonists stand centred within the frame, surrounded by open space, a compositional element that adds a quiet vulnerability, and at the same time enhances the strength of their presence. It's clear their self-chosen locations are both places of pleasure and power for them, creating a dynamic contrast against these otherwise subtle compositions.

Selector's Comment: How can photography describe something as uniquely frustrating as the inability to finish a simple sentence? Developed through close collaboration with others who stutter — an experience Aitken shares herself — her documentary series Gobsmacked explores the disconnect between thought and speech, a forced silence that can feel like a betrayal of one's own body. Location images, medical records, and framed tableaus of pharmaceutical tablets and locks of hair combine to reinforce the sense of 'otherness.' This collaborative approach, paired with her own personal experience of exhaustion and frustration, gives the work true authenticity. She gives space and attention to an often-misunderstood lived experience.

Selector's Comment: I was impressed by Amanda Braide's The Weight of Unseen Things for its intention: creating self-portraits without the physical presence of the self. This premise raises a specific question: how does one photograph the energetic force of living? Her compositions answer this not with clarity, but with ambiguity — in one image, two figures face away from the camera, their relation unclear: an embrace, or a battle? In another, a fractured portrait obscures the face — desperation, or self-discovery? The series, stripped of distraction, becomes poetry and invites us to explore our own complexities and the fluid aspects of identity.

Selector's Comment: I was intrigued and amused by Nikki Stirton's use of theatricality and attention to detail in her series Modern Venus: A Suburban Nightmare. Each image is clever and exquisitely detailed, staged DIY-style in unglamorous domestic spaces. Specific additions — a TV remote in the hand of 'A Modern Venus,' a facial mask and curlers on 'The Green Lady' — draw a fine line between homage, humour, and parody. I became curious to revisit the originals, and was impressed by Stirton's command of her source material as well as the overall technical quality of the scenography and lighting—altogether, an unforgettable series.