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. The two £500 bursary award recipients are Lauren Mustoe and Ashley Kirk, 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.
Lauren Mustoe
“My work is a representation of fashion photography in today’s digital culture. I wanted to challenge our natural draw to the online world by creating a magazine that gives viewers the option to scan the pages and bring the images and features to life in the digital world.
I wanted the viewer to be able to have the physical print in their hands, feeling the pages but at the same time staying connected online through scanning of the images. I’ve expressed this idea through fashion photography with the idea of the Doppelgänger, where a person’s behaviour and physical appearance resembles another, concentrating on how fashion communicates with the simplistic architectural surroundings. The way the architecture reflects the beauty of the fashion is something I wanted to capture.”
Ashley Kirk
“The saying ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until its gone’ is a good starting point to explain my current work,which is centred on the village that I live in. I have only lived in the village of Draycott since October 2014 and from the beginning I recognised how strong its community spirit was and automatically felt the urge to be a part of the village in more of a way than just a spectator. This was in part due to the the place I had lived previously for around several years, the place which me and my mum had to move to after having the family home repossessed.
As I get older my biggest worry is forgetting my past but its often said that if you focus to long on the past you will undoubtedly miss all of the new and great opportunities which are available in the present. Draycott and Wilne is my opportunity to focus on the present and document the efforts being made to create an enjoyable and prosperous place to live and build a life.
I believe we all deserve to have our story told and Draycott and Wilne is just the beginning of what I aim to be a career documenting fascinating stories around communities and living together as a society.”
Lauren and Ashley’s work will be shown in Nottingham as part of ‘fifth wall’, Nottingham Trent University’s 19th Photo Festival, held by their final year BA (Hons) Photography students between 26th May and 6th June 2015.