For over four decades, the documentary photography course has forged a reputation as one of the UK’s leading photography teaching destinations. In fact, the very first photography class can be dated back even further to 1912, when it was introduced by the head of the school of art at Newport Technical Institute. The course, however, was set up in 1973 by Magnum photographer David Hurn as a 12-month Training Opportunities Scheme to ‘re-skill’ miners and steelworkers.
Fiona Rogers founded her online Firecracker platform to help showcase the best talent in female photography. What followed was a community of photographers all celebrating and sharing amazing work and it wasn’t long before the Firecracker grant was born. “It felt like the natural evolution was to be even more supportive. Something that went beyond showcasing work online. It started out pretty small: everybody contributed £10 to put into the pot and then we managed to flip that into a grant that was £1,000 and now it’s grown to £2,000.”
The ten winners are: Carl Bigmore, Georgs Avetisjans, Kazuma Obara, Lua Ribeira, Martin Seeds, Matthew Broadhead, Michael Vince Kim, Monica Alcazar-Duarte, Sam Ivin and Sian Davey.
“Dancehall is often condemned for its dramatic, violent and sexual expressions, ignoring the political implications of some acts and its value as a cultural manifestation,” says Lua Ribeira, whose series exploring British dancehall rituals, Noises in the Blood is now on show at London’s Fishbar Gallery
Some 43 photographers have been shortlisted for the Gomma Grant this year: Alvaro Deprit, Antonio Faccilongo, Arko…
The emerging photographers each win £5000 to research a new project plus £5000 to develop it
