Our latest issue, Ones to Watch, is available to buy now from The BJP Shop. Find it in the App Store from 3 May and in shops from 4 May.
Since 2011, we’ve dedicated an issue of BJP to identifying the best emerging talent in the photographic world – the image-makers poised for international success and set to loom large in the industry for years to come. In our annual Talent Issues, we’ve featured over 100 photographers who have gone on to firmly establish themselves in their respective fields, shining a spotlight on the work of photographers such as Diana Markosian, Max Pinckers and Mariela Sancari.
This year, we’ve asked a global panel of 60 experts – including Martin Parr, Erik Kessels, Bruno Ceschel, Elizabeth Avedon and more – to nominate sixteen photographers they think represent the future of photography.
The panel – made up of editors, curators, educators, gallery owners, festival directors, writers and photographers – have all weighed in and represent the full spectrum of the photographic community. We present the photographers set to make noise in 2016:
“There are myriad approaches on display in this issue: contrast the magic realism of Diego Moreno’s panzudos mercedarios with Elske Verdoorn’s collaborations with the residents of a Dutch refuge for the homeless. Put Sebastián Bruno’s quixotic take on the desolate plains of La Mancha against Jean-Vincent Simonet’s visual assault of acid colours and multilayered assemblage.
“History has a habit of filtering, and one day we may read that photographic practice in the second decade of the century was largely concerned with constructed imagery and ‘interrogating the medium’. We have evidence to the contrary.
“But one thing’s for sure – while most photographers today start out like their predecessors, documenting the world around them, they quickly progress towards intervention; disrupting their subjects to fit their own ideas and realities, and putting themselves firmly into their pictures.” – Simon Bainbridge, editor
MAIN FEATURE: ONES TO WATCH
Marijke Groeneveld’s (the Netherlands) frank portraits question the notion of ideal beauty. marijkegroeneveld.com
Jean-Vincent Simonet (Switzerland) creates multilayered, visually frenetic installations and assemblages. jeanvincentsimonet.com
Drago, aka Victor Dragonetti (Brazil) captures the violence and energy of São Paulo at street level. vdrago.tumblr.com
Francesco Merlini (Italy) holds a mirror to himself in his visceral black-and-white photographs. francescomerlini.com
Marton Perlaki (Hungary) experiments with the transformative power of images. martonperlaki.com
Sebastián Bruno (Argentina) takes a quixotic journey through the desolate plains of La Mancha. sebastianbruno.com
Wenxin Zhang’s (China) expressions of herself in photography. zhangwenxin.com
Do-Yeon Gwon (South Korea) takes discarded objects and gives them new meaning in his stark, monochrome still-lifes. dogwon.com
Diego Moreno (Mexico) examines kinship through Catholic symbology and ritual.
Elske Verdoorn (the Netherlands) gives voice to those on society’s fringes. elskeverdoorn.nl
Jiaxi Yang (China) repurposed household objects attempt to break the repetitive strain of the day to day. jiaxiyang.com
Tasneem Alsultan (Saudi Arabia) questions social mores to bridge the gap between East and West. tasneemalsultan.com
Shadman Shahid (Bangladesh) finds an ancient Siamese proverb provides a perfect parable for modern-day China. shadmanwdna.wix.com/shadmanshahid
José Luis Cuevas (Mexico) paints an apocalyptic picture of the ephemeral nature of man. joseluiscuevas.net
Bastiaan Woudt (the Netherlands) unique artistic vision lies at the centre of his portraiture. bastiaanwoudt.com
Hicham Gardaf (Morocco) breathes life and love into a liminal place. hichamgardaf.com
AGENDA
Photo España director María García Yelo speaks to Izabela Radwanska Zhang about the the Madrid festival’s theme this year – Europe. At a time when the European identity has never been so hotly contested, the 19th edition promises to analyse the very concept of the continent through the image.
Next month also marks the Free Range Shows, the UK’s largest graduate art showcase, where creative graduates from across the country will be exhibiting; Brennavan Sritharan speak to Free Range’s Mia Halse about the last 16 years of the event. Breakthrough – BJP’s summer season of free talks and workshops – will be returning to Free Range, as will a showcase of winning work from the Breakthrough Awards, our search for the world’s best student and graduate photographers.
In Any Answers, Simon Bainbridge catches up with Arianna Rinaldo, artistic director of Italian photography festival Cortona on the Move, and discuss elitist forms of art, curating a space and mediocrity.
INTELLIGENCE
Stephen McLaren meets Sandra Phillips of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and get a sneak preview of North America’s largest museum space devoted to photography, built on the back of a blockbuster Garry Winogrand retrospective in 2013.
The smart talk at this year’s SXSW Interactive revolved around new media and visual storytelling, and Laurence Butet-Roch report on how photographers, filmmakers and VR producers are employing interactive media to immerse their audiences in their stories.
Photography editor and director Rebecca McClelland has had stints at The Sunday Times Magazine, *Wallpaper, New Statesman and Avaunt, but most recently she’s taken on the role of photographic art director and creative producer for Airbnb. She tells us about working with brands vs. editing for magazines and how photographers can break into commercial work.
TECHNOLOGY
We look at Hasselblad’s newly announced H6D medium-format cameras, and Damien Demolder gets up close and personal with Meyer-Optik-Görlitz’s re-engineered ‘soap-bubble’ lens (produced after a Kickstarter campaign that achieved its $50,000 target seven-fold) and four of the best flash guns produced by independent manufacturers such as Sigma, Metz, Phottix and Nissin.