Submission Monday

Oğuz Nusret Bilik – Summer 60+ “Turkey is a paradise for the ones who seek historical places, deep blue sea and beaches. Shores with a young population on the hottest summer days changes to 60+ in off season times. And as locals we realized the season changes with this clues which I called Summer 60+”

—

Paola Paredes – Unveiled “Quito, Ecuador. In a three-hour conversation, I told my parents “I’m gay.” Accompanied by my sisters, I documented the event in the experimental photography project “Unveiled.” In the planning process, the reality of Unveiled both excited and unnerved me. At 28, the possibility of rejection by my conservative Catholic, Ecuadorian parents, was one of many potential risks. My parents needed to be comfortable. I wanted to document natural reactions.  I needed to desensitize them to cameras. Much preparation was in order.
So… I prepared. I photographed them cooking, brushing their teeth, shaving, smoking, and watching soap operas. I photographed them walking, tying their shoes, waking up, working in the office. I photographed my mother doing her nails. The preparation for the project, surprisingly, plays an integral role in the actual project: coming out to my family at a dinner table, with three cameras, each shooting every five seconds. The finished product provides the viewer a series of images, each telling a different story of the family they portray, the way those members interact, and ultimately, a photographer Unveiled.”

—

Irina Magurean – Photograms “This project is about creating a body of work familiar to microscope images. The microscope is showing you what really exists but is to small to be seen. If we don’t see we have the feeling it doesn’t exist. Using large enough objects I try to create the unseen. My choice for polaroid paper is because of the effect, light and time has on it’s chemical properties fading the images, sometimes to there total disappearance, like in the real life. It’s like the photograms have there own life.”

—

Ziemowit Maj – Side A: Props/Side B: Characters “This is a double project, in which I focused separately on people and on things we surround ourselves with. Fragments of London became representations of Londoners, their creations, their tools and possessions formed a sort of instant anthropology, a replacement of their creators, users and owners. This is what Martians would photograph while researching life in today’s UK. Maybe they made me do it. It’s very likely now that I think about it. Second part focused its attention on the inhabitants of this royal city. My approach has evolved into one free from theme or narrative, time based, with a fluent and organic development, not far from improvised music, and so I came up with a metaphor of an good old album, two sides, each with the same approach, but different feeling. One can’t function without the other, each influencing and complementing one another to create something bigger.”

—

Fili Olsefski – Having The Potency To Talk Black “Some glimpses of a highly depressive subject, in times of utter, potent depression. This is my personal vista of my first homeland, Greece, as seen in these times of extreme financial oppression. Thus, this is a bitter tale, narrated by a demoralized, harsh, western civilization of ours.”

—

Mark Griffiths – The Healing Land ” The Chernobyl meltdown was the biggest nuclear catastrophe in world history. 99 per cent of the Belarusian land has been contaminated to varying degrees above internationally accepted levels as a direct result of the disaster. The villages and towns that are in close proximity to the epicenter of the reactor have been eerily abandoned and remain desolate.  The people of Belarus are very self sufficient, they grow their own crops and vegetables, farm livestock and source water from nearby lakes and reservoirs. With 70% of contamination coming from food and water however, the poisoned earth continues to infect those that depend on it. An astonishing 85 per cent of Belarusian children are deemed to be Chernobyl victims: they carry “genetic markers” that could affect their health at any time and can be passed on to the next generation. A vicious cycle that unfortunately could continue for hundreds if not thousands of years. […]

—

Taylor Jorjorian – The Infinite Melody “I have always had a great fascination with the camera. It has the unique ability to capture and preserve a moment in time precisely the way it was, no other artistic medium can truly do this with the same sense of honesty that photography can. At the same time I have always felt somewhat claustrophobic with photography, confined to the view finder, forced to simply document the world around me. In my earlier life I painted and I feel in love with the ability to express my thoughts onto a canvas with no restrictions. Wanting to produce photographs with that same level of freedom I have decided to focus on creating what is portrayed to the camera. Turning my attention to subject creation rather than subject documentation has proved to be very liberating. I find that by creating and controlling what is displayed to the camera I am able to escape the viewfinder and create deeply personal images from imagination and memory.”

—

Sofia Yu – The last Nomads of Southeast Asia- Penan “This photo project was completed in Malaysian Borneo in 2011. It documents the daily life of the Penan, the last nomadic hunter-gatherers in South East Asia, as they struggle to survive deforestation.  The Penan live in the heart of Borneo, and have traditionally used the primary forests as their hunting and gathering grounds. This forest has been made part of the National Park, which means the Penan are now confined to the secondary forest, characterised by a very disturbed ecological balance. Edible and medicinal plants have been stripped from the secondary forests, leaving the Penan with few resources. Where once there was an abundance of fruit trees, varied plant and animal life, now there are rows and rows of palm oil plantations, and devastated land.  The effect of all this on the health of the Penan has been catastrophic. Their way of life is edging closer to extinction. Most have been forced to settle, growing crops, living closer to villages so that medical attention could be accessed. Tuberculosis has become common for the Penan, due to contact with the exterior, in the pursuit of institutional education. Even the beliefs of the Penan are changing, as their culture is systematically denied, they are forced to speak Malay and take Malay names in order to be legally registered. In order to become Malay citizens, they must turn their back on their Penan culture. A culture in deep crisis, they continue to struggle, but are left with little choice. These are the last days of an egalitarian society.”