For many years, we have supported final year photography BA students at Nottingham Trent University with three bursary awards; two of £500 worth of our production services to aid in the production of their degree show and a third of £1000 for the production of an exhibition one year later in Nottingham in conjunction with Nottingham Trent University and Lakeside Arts. This is part of our dedication to the next generation of creative practitioners; including tours, talks, lectures, portfolio reviews, and student discounts.
The first two annual bursary awards are chosen by Mark Foxwell, Genesis’ Creative Director, and Louise Clements, Co-Founder of Format International Photography Festival and Artistic Director at Derby Quad. Students are invited to submit work for initial review before being called back for small seminar-style sessions to gain more insight into the work and to aid in the progression of their projects with opinions and advice from Mark, Louise, and their peers. The third is decided from finished work, exhibited during the student degree festival. Choosing just two recipients for our bursary awards is always a tough choice, and this year was no exception. Louise comments:
It is always a great pleasure to spend time with Photography BA students to discuss ideas, aspirations and to share learning. The Genesis Imaging award is a great opportunity for the selected photographers to gain first hand professional practice advice from leading individuals in the business and to collaborate with brilliant technicians to have their work printed in a top quality studio. Photography is undoubtedly a challenging field to be entering into as a profession but the students that we met showed great promise and we’re confident that they will continue to challenge us with exciting ideas and work in the future.’
Mark adds: ‘Yet again, Nottingham Trent University presented us with a selection of forward-thinking students who presented their projects eloquently and professionally. Meeting with the students is a pleasure – especially at this stage of the year – as it provides us with a rare preview into their projects while they are still in development and we are all very much looking forward to seeing what I know will be an outstanding final show.’
The two £500 bursary award recipients are Amy Gee and Kezia White, who we very much look forward to working with on the production of their respective bodies of work. Find out more about their work below.
Amy Gee
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science’ (Hubble). Influenced by 19th century astrophotography, pioneered by American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble, Exoverse explores and experiments with substances, materials and apparatus. The images captured represent an exploration of form, colour and texture.
The word Exoverse’ involves two meanings merged together to further encourage the representation implied behind my work, with Exo’ defined as being external, and verse’, taken from the word universe’, connecting the title to space. The name itself gives the definition of an external universe’.
Kezia White
Xy’ explores identity and the photographic portrait; the idea that a portrait can be interpreted at a superficial level and yet holds a depth of information and impulses that the viewer can respond to. Xy simply refers to the notion of our chromosomes and our DNA that we are composed of, which is uniquely ours, much like our identity. Each image is composed of several different elements such as overlays of textures, colours and other images that have been taken to create the final aesthetic and image.’
Lauren and Ashley’s work will be shown in Nottingham as part of ‘Emerge’, Nottingham Trent University’s 20th Photo Festival, held by their final year BA (Hons) Photography students between 26th May and 6th June 2015.
Read more about how we support students
Read our Interview with Tom Illsley – recipient of 2015’s exhibition bursary award.
Read our Interview with Jonathan Stallard – recipient of 2014’s exhibition bursary award.