Genesis is proud to continue its support for Nottingham Trent University’s final year Photography BA students with two portfolio bursaries of £500 credit to use towards their final year show…
We are excited to share that the winners of the 2024 Genesis Portfolio Bursary are Tom Harris and Eliza Smart!
Tom Harris ‘Simple Profession’
“The simple profession is a major set of vows made in becoming a Christian monk. These vows are poverty, chastity, and obedience.
This project is dedicated to Brother Joseph, an adherent of the Cistercian order. Joe joined the Irish Cistercians in 1954 after a brief career as a carpenter. In 1961 he travelled to Australia to play a role in the construction of a new monastery and dedicated his life to this new community. He stayed faithful to his brothers until he died in 2014. Joe was my great uncle.
This work sets out to document how two communities, separated by over 10,000 miles, are united in purpose and a shared way of life. By following Joe’s extraordinary journey, I question why men choose to spend their lives devoted to these places and people, and the often overlooked value of Christian monasticism in the world today.
With thanks to the generous monks of Mt St Joseph Roscrea and Tarrawarra Abbey.”
Eliza Smart ‘Otherworld – An Exploration into Femininity and Earth’
“For this body of work, I have explored different photographic mediums to craft images that explore the complex relationship between femininity, folklore and the obscure. I have been making images using analogue practices such as large format cameras to create paper negative that are then crafted into larger prints.
Using alternative processes such as these has helped to support my vision of creating uneasy imagery, the large prints have an inconsistency to them that helps to create unsettling and dissociative qualities to the work, the softness surrounding my model creates a blur between her and the setting therefore creating a connection with her and the landscape. I have taken influence from Michel Foucault’s ‘Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias’ in the selection of my setting aiming to explore this notion of Heterotopic landscapes. These aspects are designed to engulf the viewer and draw them into this heterotopic vision I have created. This narrative is enhanced by the moving image that accompanies the work, a short silent film shot using a cam-corder helps to appeal to my viewers in a visually different sense than the stills, drawing my audience further into this notion of other spaces and creating an alternative focus on the landscape.
The work takes influence from folklore and fairytales depictions of the woman and her close relationship with the earth, specifically heterotopic settings like a forest. The women have been positioned to mold into the nature and this is enhanced by the features of the prints, the graininess/blur between the model and her settings visually eradicates the boundary between her and her environment. Pairing these techniques with the slight destruction of the prints creates a fragmentation in the work, a reference to the lost connection we experience with our world as well as creating a unique and one-of-a-kind quality to the series.
This ongoing body of work explores alternative processes that secures the images in the realm of fine art photography, taking influence from a range of established photographers including the work of fashion photographer Deborah Tuberville and her iconic collage work, as well as portraiture from Julia Margaret Cameron to aid this exploration of contemporary feminism.”
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