Portrait of Humanity

x Juliette Cassidy - La Cholita Lu - Tacna, Peru

Lourdes is a 27-year-old Peruvian woman who uses her social media to show off her native garments to the beat of Latin American music.

x Juliette Cassidy - Maddy and Monet - London, UK

Twins Maddy and Monette.

x Juliette Cassidy - Skateistan - Afghanistan

Taken at school in Mazar-e-Sharif as part of a series covering the project of Skateistan.

x Jon Nicholls - Solar Eclipse - Canada

A street portrait of the 2024 solar eclipse.

x Frederic Aranda - Bishi Bhattacharya - London, UK

Musician Bishi Bhattacharya in the recording studio with her electric sitar, January 2023.

x Hugh Fox - Lightness of Being - Brighton, UK

This series is a collaboration with American/Iranian artist Darvish Fakhr. The title grew from the idea that ‘being’ can be light, playful, calm and fun. It seemed to encapsulate everything we wanted to say perfectly; a reaction to the head-down, fast-paced living we are becoming accustomed to – a gentle reminder that we can change pace and engage on a different level.

x Aneesa Dawoojee - Eglon - Croydon, London, UK

Born in the early 1940s, Eglon came to England from Jamaica in 1958 and worked in a food factory in Vauxhall until he moved into long-term careers. He sees the world through a reflective lens with a forward-thinking perspective. The postwar migration period impacted all the Caribbean people who came to London in significant ways but there was much more to them than feeling cold as they stepped off the boat. They contributed to peace and harmony in the neighbourhoods that they lived in. “It’s difficult for some of us to get along in this country but this country is blessed in many ways, when you see suffering over the world, it makes you think how fortunate some of us are to be here.” Photographed at the Windrush Generation Legacy Association, Croydon.

x Kirstine Fryd - Tatyana - Harboøre, Denmark

The war between Russia and Ukraine has created Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II with an estimated 7.9 million people – 90 per cent of whom are women and children – fleeing Ukraine to neighbouring countries and beyond. Tatyana, 70 years old, from Kyiv, in north central Ukraine, fled to Harboøre in north-west Jutland, Denmark, with her two grandchildren. Tatyana left after witnessing the Russian attacks at Hostomel in the Kyiv region, Ukraine. This is where one of the first and most fierce battles of the war took place in which all infrastructure was destroyed. She was an eyewitness to several injuries and casualties during these attacks. “In 2009 I lost my mother. My mother was a very beautiful woman and the biggest role model I have had in my life. Her last wish was that I let my hair grow and I therefore haven’t cut it since her death.” Tatyana worked as a nurse at a tuberculosis hospital in Kyiv for several years and had her own apartment in the city. Photographed on 03 January 2023.

x Joseph Kibria - Isabel Underwater - Crete

Snorkelling in the Aegean Sea at golden hour.

x Joseph Kibria - Sheldrick’s Keeper -

One of the elephant keepers at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust baby elephant orphanage. I loved how attentive the keepers were with their calves.

x Veronica Melkonian - Pat-riarchy the Second Coming - London, UK

Backstage at the finals of Europe’s biggest Drag King show, Man Up London, the steely Pat-riarchy the Second Coming allowed me to take his portrait before going onstage.

x Russ Rowland - Faces on Fifth #2 - New York, USA

Street portraits.

x Alex Kurunis - Jhovana, Deysi & Camila - Burgess Park, Southwark, London

Members of the London-based folkloric troupe, Fraternidad 100% Salay Filial Londres. They specialise in Salay, a form of folkloric dance originating from the Jaihuayco neighbourhood in the region of Cochabamba, Bolivia. The movements of Salay mimic those of a farmer harvesting and sowing seeds and are characterised by playfulness. There are over 370 Salay dance groups within Bolivia and internationally, and in 2019, it was legally declared as a Protected form of Cultural Heritage in Bolivia.

x Zuzu Valla - You are the hero that your story needs - London, UK

From Fatima’s book: ‘This is Fats/Fatima’. Fatima is a comedian. She makes jokes and videos. Her life hasn’t always been easy, but through the good and the bad times she has learned a few lessons that have made her fearless – how to be the hero that her story needs. Now she wants to share those lessons with you. So you can be the main character in your life, no matter what your challenges may be.

x Giuseppe Francavilla - Circles - Puglia, Italy

A tender elderly couple prepare their day at the seaside on a beach in Puglia, Italy: little chair, life preserver and a great desire to dive.

x Joan Miquel Ramirez Suassi - Franciscan nun shaving a person experiencing homelessness. - Sao Paulo, Brazil

Franciscan nun shaving a person experiencing homelessness.

x Nora Obergeschwandner - In Between - Vienna, Austria

In our world, lesbian love and relationships still face numerous challenges. Despite progress towards equality and acceptance, many societies still show prejudice, discrimination and invisibility when it comes to lesbian partnerships. The stigma attached to lesbian love can lead to social isolation, lack of legal recognition, and even violence. Moreover, there is often inadequate representation and support in the media, educational institutions and within family structures. It is essential to acknowledge the issue of lesbian love, advocate for equality, and create a more inclusive and supportive society where lesbian individuals can love freely and without fear.

x Mihail Calarașan - A woman who survived - Chisinau, Moldova

Vera Lebedinskaya is one of the survivors of the bombing of the Mariupol Drama Theatre on 16 March 2022. A few months after the tragedy, the Drama Theatre continued work at the Uzhgorod Theatre in western Ukraine. Vera Lebedinskaya is still working there. “Suddenly we heard the sound of a plane, it flew over somehow, and then the whistle of a bomb. This terrible whistle. We rushed into a dark room where there was nothing. I didn’t hear the explosion, just some kind of impact, and then a pop, and like a vacuum explosion. I understand that it fell and then exploded inside. There was no ‘bang-bang’ explosion, there was a loud explosion inside and I immediately heard people screaming, ‘Help! Help!’ The plaster was all crumbling, we were all standing in this room, I don’t know how much time had passed. When we came out, there was no door – everything had been blown away. People were screaming a lot, and then there was silence.”

x Niall Miller - Freya - Glasgow, Scotland

Seven-year-old Freya was diagnosed with leukaemia and lost all of her red hair. Growing up as the only redhead in the family she was encouraged to treasure her hair and how unique it was. Through treatment she lost it all and worried it would never return. Thankfully it did and she is well and living life to the full.

x Jono Terry - Willard - Kariba, Zimbabwe

I met Willard while working on a long-term documentary about Lake Kariba and he quickly became a fixer, a friend, and a confidant. Willard spent much of his adult life working in Victoria Falls under the pseudonym DJ Glamour, although his full head of dreadlocks that reach down to his lower back has rather predictably led to a new nickname around these parts: ‘ma rasta’. He moved back to his family home following the death of his parents, whose photographs now hang above the television. This was one of the final frames I made in Kariba: Willard in his living room.

x Jono Terry - Sangoma - Kariba, Zimbabwe

A sangoma performs for the Mola Chiefdom‘s Lwindi ceremony, the traditional cultural ceremony to consult with ancestors and which marks the beginning of the rainy season. The ceremony is a key community gathering, an important event to honour traditions and pass down vital knowledge to future generations of the tribe. In this dance, the sangoma references the practice of shielding the future culture keeper, a young virgin, from outside influences so that she may successfully learn and retain the necessary knowledge for the Mola tribe.

x Louisa Mayman - Dorothy & Rachel - Stockport, UK

Older people are often unnoticed in society and media. This neglect obscures the increasing problem of an ageing population lacking adequate societal support in the UK. From the ongoing project ‘Today Years Old’ highlighting the lives of centenarians living in Stockport.

x Maria Gutu - Women at the Green Feast - Sofia, Moldova

Celebration of the Green Feast, in Sofia village, where women throw dried leaves and flowers into the river to rid the house of evil. Women also dress up, dance and act. Children and men cannot participate, and according to legend if anyone else shows up, they will be stripped naked, watered and nettled. I took this picture using my analogue camera, accidently double exposing.

x James Clifford Kent - Nailan - Cienfuegos, Cuba

Children from local schools such as ENU Guerrillero Heroico (Heroic Guerrilla Fighter) train after school at 62-year-old José Álamo Utría’s community boxing gym in Cienfuegos on the Malecón (the city’s sea-facing boulevard), where a punchbag hangs from a tree and a training ring occupies a tiny beach below the promenade. While desperate living conditions and extreme poverty in many of the island’s urban centres have led to delinquency and violence, community projects such as Álamo’s gym keep young athletes like eight-year-old Nailan out of trouble and give them a shot at following in their heroes’ footsteps.

x James Clifford Kent - Osaeloke - London, UK

I first met NHS consultant obstetrician Osaeloke Osakwe when he cared for my pregnant wife during the pandemic at the Queen Mary Maternity Unit at West Middlesex University Hospital, part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. I was struck by his kindness and empathy despite the challenges the service was facing. We met again while I was working on a project at the unit. This portrait was taken in the same operating theatre where Osaeloke cared for my wife following the birth of my daughter in 2020, and we went on to record interviews in between ward rounds, caesarean sections and staff handovers. He told me how he spent his early childhood in the UK before moving back to Nigeria with his family: “My mother was a midwife, and I was five years old when I witnessed her delivering twins at a local hospital in Benin City. I knew straightaway that I wanted to work in maternity.”

x Kala Heatherson - Mia with Super 90 Shotgun - Lincoln, England

Every weekend in the heart of Lincolnshire, woodlands erupt with the sounds of conflict. However, no one dies in the wars that are being waged. Plastic pellets are instead shot from imitation firearms, slamming into the chests of these fictional soldiers. This is the Airsoft community, whose players commit to these mock skirmishes with ruthless efficiency. Within these skirmishes a game of tag with BB guns is elevated to fictional warfare, where each subject becomes the hero of their own action film. In these moments only a hardened toy soldier stares back, plastic weaponry at the ready.

x Güzin Mut - Dad’s Long Hair - Antalya, Turkey

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x Bill Knight - The Flowerseller - Guatemala

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x Albert Babu - Bond - Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

A pehalwan (wrestler) lies on the specially prepared soil inside an Akhara, the wrestling ground. The soil of the Akhara is considered sacred by the pehalwans. They rub it against their forehead and body when they first step into the Akhara and when they engage in kushti (wrestling). The soil is mixed with milk, oil, lemon, curd, ghee and turmeric, and water is added two to three days before to ensure the mud becomes thick and does not scatter during practice. The ground is prepared by tilling the soil, similar to how a farmer prepares it before sowing. It is said that the medicated wrestling ring will not only help in preventing infection but also provide pain relief; that wrestlers will not feel pain even when they are badly hurt as long as they are in the medicated ring. The Akhara is not just clean and pure in a physical sense, it is also a holy place. The soil of the Akhara is the purest, representing the essence of Mother Earth.

x Jonathan Benjamin Small - Ebrima - Berlin, Germany

Ebrima left Ghana for Germany where he works as a cook in a bar. This is part of an ongoing series on migrants and refugees.

x Ollie Tikare - Untitled - Lagos, Nigeria

‘Ọ̀dọ́’ (‘Youth’ in Yoruba) is a portrait series about young men in Lagos, Nigeria. 70 per cent of Nigerians are below the age of 30, and in Lagos especially, youth is everywhere. Street life is dominated by young men hustling, either selling goods or some sort of service. I spent a month exploring the crowded streets with my camera. As a mixed race half-Nigerian, my fairer skin made me a curiosity to many but I experienced most stares and curious looks as invitations for connection. The resulting series is part of a wider body of work about the city that attempts to humanise what is a vast and complex place. By spotlighting individuals who might otherwise be overlooked in the urban bustle, ‘Ọ̀dọ́’ challenges prevailing stereotypes around masculinity and security while celebrating the resilience, creativity and diversity of Lagos’ youth.

x Ollie Tikare - Man on Bike - Lagos, Nigeria

‘Ọ̀dọ́’ (‘Youth’ in Yoruba) is a portrait series about young men in Lagos, Nigeria. 70 per cent of Nigerians are below the age of 30, and in Lagos especially, youth is everywhere. Street life is dominated by young men hustling, either selling goods or some sort of service. I spent a month exploring the crowded streets with my camera. As a mixed race half-Nigerian, my fairer skin made me a curiosity to many but I experienced most stares and curious looks as invitations for connection. The resulting series is part of a wider body of work about the city that attempts to humanise what is a vast and complex place. By spotlighting individuals who might otherwise be overlooked in the urban bustle, ‘Ọ̀dọ́’ challenges prevailing stereotypes around masculinity and security while celebrating the resilience, creativity and diversity of Lagos’ youth.

x Tom Ringsby - Waiting - Accra, Ghana

Titus Sackey – a young protege of the local fire-breathing acrobats in Accra, Ghana – awaits his first fire-breathing lesson on Salenko Beach.

x Tom Ringsby - China Town - Accra, Ghana

Prince Aryee posing atop the foundational pillars of a building site on Chinese-owned beach land in the neighbourhood of Ga Nshornaa in Accra, Ghana. Previously a neighbourhood housing thousands of locals who were forcibly displaced after the sitting president sold off the land to the Chinese government, something happening across the African continent. The locals were ordered to move a few hundred metres down the beach where they had to rebuild their homes and community. The local fishermen have also had to operate further down the coastline where the waves are bigger and therefore less fruitful, impacting their business and the city’s food supply. The costume Prince wears is a local artist’s creation bearing a taxidermied lion’s head and a headpiece with a snake’s head and goat’s horns. 

x Emily O’Connell - Forgetting how memory feels - Ireland

Dad, sitting for a portrait in August 2023, Ireland. This is from my project ‘And then I ran’. The series employs self-portraiture of myself and my father visualising the narrative of my grandmother’s recollection of escaping a mother-and-baby home in 1964 in Ireland. Mother-and-baby homes were funded by the government and run by religious order. These homes subjugated unwed mothers into secrecy while neglecting to provide adequate care for them and the babies. The project explores Ireland’s deep shame culminating in the separation and exportation of babies, as well as oppressive conditions experienced by these women.

x Brian O’ Hanlon - Adley Florian - Manchester, UK

On a recent visit to the National Portrait Gallery, London, I noticed a striking connection to a 1862 albumen print of Aina (Sarah Forbes Bonetta), a Yoruba woman from West Africa who was a favourite goddaughter of Queen Victoria. Despite Adley Florian’s pose, her assured gaze and her contemporary durag, I had no knowledge of the historical portrait. “Resemblance and pictures are intuitively linked together. But it remains to be seen whether one understands pictures by noticing resemblances or notices resemblances as a result of understanding pictures” – Lopes, Dominic, ‘Representation and Resemblance’, Understanding Pictures, Oxford Philosophical Monographs (Oxford, 2004; online edn, Oxford Academic, 3 Oct. 2011).

x Daniela Spector - Pride 2023 - New York, USA

x Ilana Rose - Brett, one week after triple bypass surgery - Melbourne, Australia

A poignant representation of the indomitable human spirit. Brett’s journey is etched across his face, a tapestry of resilience and courage woven through the lines and shadows. The image is an intimate portrayal of a person navigating the delicate intersection between fragility and strength. By focusing on the aftermath of a transformative medical procedure, I aim to shed light on the often-overlooked aspects of the human experience. The scars, both physical and emotional, become symbols of survival, endurance and the unwavering will to embrace life’s challenges.

x Jack Kenyon - Motherland I - Jurmala Beach, Latvia

Two Latvian men pause their beach workout to pose for the camera.

x Juan Brenner - Untitled, from the series Maximón. - San Andrés Semetabaj, Sololá, Guatemala

For the past six years, I have been documenting the repercussions of Guatemala’s conquest by the Spaniards. A lot of my work revolves around religion, syncretism, and rituals established centuries prior to the Spaniards’ arrival. The cult of nature, in general, was the norm – and in today’s society, even religious Christians practice pagan cults in hiding. In a pre-Columbian social dynamic, the Maya descendant empires (Quiche, Kaqchikel, Mam, and Tzutujil) were polytheistic, just like their ancestors (the Mayan of the north). When the Spaniards invaded and conquered the western highlands of Guatemala, the forced conversion of the locals to Christianity was an important task of the conquistadors, second only to the search for gold and precious metals. The Vatican saw a rare opportunity for gaining millions of new followers and establishing Catholicism in the world.

x Juan Brenner - Untitled, from the series This Universe - Guatemala City, Guatemala

My family history, particularly a very complex relationship with my father, comes into play when trying to heal many years of mental instability, substance abuse and depression. If a specific image looks different every time I pull it from my mental ‘hard disk’, is it the same memory? Did it happen just once or did it happen many times? Or am I visiting a different universe where everything ended up being different? Quantum physics and mathematics are part of my research, an unconscious need to manipulate the past, fix the present and reshape the future becomes evident in these photographic exercises. Revisiting the same memory over and over is something I do obsessively, mental images stored in my brain keep changing and evolving. I am really interested in how details and the visual scenario of the past changes every time I go there; a series of incredible coincidences and accidents have made these images possible.

x Jacopo Locarno - Nine - Bristol, UK

Nine, the stage name of this young man from Easton, Bristol, embodies the dream of music. He will be the focal point of a long-term project delving into his life and journey in the world of music.

x Rory Langdon-Down - Ellie-Bea - Northampton, UK

Ellie-Bea is a Special Olympics Team GB athlete who won two gold medals at the World Games in Berlin, competing in rhythmic gymnastics. She is photographed standing in the theatre of the Langdon Down Centre at Normansfield, the home of Dr John Langdon Down, my great-great-grandfather, who discovered Down’s Syndrome. He believed in the values of creativity, performance and art in the support of people with learning disabilities, which are values Ellie-Bea embodies in every aspect of her life: “I’ve got dreams achieved at the moment, but I’ve got one thing left to conquer. It’s not just to do gymnastics, but to perform on Broadway.”

x Harry George Hall - Tony - Cape Town, South Africa

Tony grew up between Malawi and Zambia. He lost his dad in combat when he was young. Tony’s mum was uncertain about him joining the army, so he channelled his strength and focus into boxing after he met someone in the gym from West Africa who saw his potential. In the last few years Tony has got into UFC. He told me he loves how people fighting one moment can talk about it and analyse it a moment later: “It’s a constructive, disciplined fighting. I find it peaceful.”

x Andy Martin - Betty Cook, Women Against Pit Closures - Dunelm House, Durham, UK

Betty was a founding member of the Barnsley Miners’ Wives Action Group which led to the formation of Woman Against Pit Closures in Barnsley at the start of the 1984 Miners’ Strike. Her involvement began with running soup kitchens for the striking miners and attending women’s meetings. She later met Anne Scargill and they became firm friends, spearheading the WAPC movement in their area. Alongside many miners’ wives, they gave every available hour to support the cause, participating in demonstrations, speaking at rallies, raising funds, and so much more. During the strike, Betty was arrested for picketing outside Michael Heseltine’s office in Westminster, sustaining a serious knee injury at the hands of the police after being beaten with a truncheon. Betty was photographed here after speaking about her experiences of the strike at an event to celebrate the Women Against Pit Closures movement in Durham, March 2024. The WAPC T-shirt she is wearing is her original from 1984.

x Andy Martin - Jez, Coal Miner - North England

Jez is one of the last working coal miners in the UK, digging coal out from a long-established, family-run drift mine in the north of England. He is part of a small, dedicated team of miners still digging anthracite by hand where demand is high for domestic usage as well as supplying the heritage transport sector with steam coal. At best, the seam worked at this colliery is around 18 inches high, and mostly in conditions too challenging to use mechanised machinery, so almost all of the coal is dug by hand using the traditional pneumatic ‘Windy Pick‘. This photograph is part of an ongoing documentary project to record this final generation of British coal miners. Jez was photographed here at the surface following a gruelling shift underground.

x Tom Videlo - Zaira - Zugdidi, Georgia

Zaira Jigania, a displaced person from Abkhazia, lives alone in a single room in the same building as Zugdidi council’s cleaning department. She has a small vegetable patch and a chicken coop which keep her busy, although her life is a lonely one.

x Cédric Dasesson - Stoneman - Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy

Roberto Zanda, extreme marathon runner. In 2018, during the Canadian ice race, he flipped over with his sled and wandered for 17 hours at temperatures of –50 degrees, finishing without gloves and boots. His arms and legs had to be amputated. His dream continues to be to compete under the flag of Sardinia bringing worldwide attention to his island.

x Heun Jung Kim - What are you holding with your hands? - Inchoen, South Korea

During a visit to my hometown in South Korea in 2023, I spent a lot of time with my niece, and I observed her collection of children’s toys and objects and noticed reflections of changing ideals and traditional norms. This photograph is a performative portrait of my younger sister using her daughter’s toy and objects. It recalls the nostalgia typical of young girls’ role-play during childhood. This piece is a reflection on the stereotypes of gender norms. It expresses a critique of gender-based stereotypes in Korea’s current cultural subconscious and offers a challenge to the future self and community. Exploring the notions of femininity in contemporary settings and questioning certain patriarchal ideals of women, I endeavour to suggest an alternative to how women have been portrayed historically.

x Christopher Perez - Maria - Guardarraya, La Vega, Dominican Republic

Maria lived in the Dominican Republic until she was nine years old. She emigrated to the United States with her parents and eight brothers and sisters and spent the next five decades there. After retiring, Maria suddenly felt called back to her native homeland. She left her family behind, including new grandchildren, to seek happiness in the land where she was born. As the golden Caribbean light catches her face, she appears to have found some of the peace she was searching for.

x Christopher Perez - El Mudo - Rancho Viejo, Dominican Republic

El Mudo is a gardener at the home of a couple who live part-time in the United States. He is deaf and never learned sign language so he communicates with his own set of gestures and facial expressions.

x Stephanie Diani - Dad, Fall 2023 - Santa Barbara, California, US

My father Frank, 92, who has mild cognitive impairment and lives with my mom, 88, who is his caretaker.

x Stephanie Diani - Leonard in Hydrangeas - Riverside Park, NYC, US

Portrait of director/writer/creator Leonard Peters.

x Lina Czerny - Armor - Brandenburg, Germany

This man with albinism is part of my series ‘Armor’. I looked at the shell that surrounds a body and the different appearance and the multilayered meaning of it. It is sometimes unlike the norm and supposedly cannot offer the protection that the body needs or that humans would wish for – but somehow we expect it to offer us protection. When does the shell let the living being down? A tribute to the physical protective shell, which can be fragile, strong, different, adaptable and changeable.

x Federico Kaplan - The Stranger - San Miguel, Corrientes, Argentina

This is a stranger I met briefly while working on a personal project titled ‘Paraíso’ in the province of Corrientes, Argentina, where I was investigating an epidemic of wildfires. One afternoon I started walking through the small town of San Miguel when I saw this tree far ahead – I thought it looked beautiful and decided to get closer. When I was near I noticed this man lying out on the field. I tried speaking to him but the wind was so strong that day he couldn’t hear me. I showed him the camera in my hand and made a gesture to see if it was OK to take his photograph. He nodded and stared back at the horizon. I took the photograph and we did not cross paths again.

x Sara Santos - A memória de um abraço - Portugal

Noémia, 2023

x Giovanni de Mojana - How’s the weather on Jupiter? - Saint-Barthélemy, Italy

Josef Patruno, born in 1991, sits on a wooden stool while milking his favorite black cow in the cow house run by his girlfriend, Silvia Balicco, and her family, in the small village of Saquignod, Val d’Aosta, Italy. Inspired by his grandfather, a great cattleman from Ville Neuve, they decided together to buy some cows and start their own business. After a few years, Josef met Silvia in a techno club in Aosta. He moved to her parents’ farm, and they are now running the largest farm in the valley, with more than 40 cows. This image is part of my ongoing project, ‘How’s the Weather on Jupiter?’, a photo essay started in November 2023 that tells of my return to Lignan, in the valley of Saint-Barthélemy, after more than 20 years’ absence. It marks the beginning of a very personal project related to memories, the relationship between humans and animals, the sky, and the stars.

x Kenny Lemes - Magalí - Buenos Aires, Argentina

(PART-1) These are the last portraits of Magalí when she was alive. She was one of the few trans women who survived the military dictatorship in my country. Until recently in Argentina trans women had a life expectancy of only 35 years. Beset by stigma and violence, the majority of these women were expelled from their homes at a young age and if any of them had a chance to study they would shortly leave school too, bullied and harassed by classmates and ignored by the national education system. Without support from their families and with no education, a large number of the ‘travesti’ community struggled to survive.

x Hady Barry - How’s the weather on Jupiter? - Ivory Coast

My cousin Fathiima the day before her wedding. Among the Dioulas in Côte d’Ivoire one of the traditional wedding rituals involves isolating the bride-to-be until the day of the celebration. During that time she stays in a decorated room among her friends, sisters, mother and aunts, and advice is passed down to her. Her face remains mostly covered and only a dedicated person can make her food.

x Erberto Zani - Mercury poisoning in Indonesia - Cisitu, Java, Indonesia

Nur Aini, 33, embraces her daughter Camelia, 12. Camelia has not felt, does not see and has suffered from epilepsy since she was four; her mother unknowingly used contaminated water during her pregnancy. Minamata disease is caused by chronic mercury poisoning. This metal, used in hundreds of illegal gold mines in the forests of Java, Indonesia, is contaminating the environment. Miners who have worked for years in contact with mercury have developed neurological degenerative diseases. To be able to amalgamate the gold powder, during the phase separating the stone from the earth residues, mercury is used: the process releases toxic substances in liquid and gaseous form, poisoning the miners and polluting the environment. The spillage of gold mining waste has also contaminated the aquifers upstream: for years, the villages downstream from the mines have used water with mercury for domestic use and to irrigate crops.

x Erberto Zani - Anumukherjee - Delhi, India

Anumukherjee is an acid attack survivor. In 2004, one of her female friends, jealous of her beauty, attacked her with acid. The criminal was jailed for 10 years and now is free. Anumukherjee had to have 22 surgeries but lost both eyes. This photograph is part of my long-term project ‘Survivors’, about acid attack survivors around the world.

x Constanze Han - Nataly - Macuelizo, Honduras

Nataly is an activist with Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa. She is a university-educated journalist with several years’ experience working in journalism at various media outlets in Honduras, but faced discrimination and difficulty on the job due to being trans. The day after we met Nataly, she was doing work for Colectivo Unidad Color Rosa at a large cement plant’s private clinic administering health testing and screening for the company’s employees. She does various jobs for the organisation; however, the money is not enough so she is still an active sex worker. She lives and works in San Pedro Sula but when she can, goes to her family house in Santa Barbara, about two hours’ drive outside the city. She had an aunt who lived there, and when her brother was killed, her mother moved to be near her aunt in a safer environment.

x Emma Brown - Sonas Musana, Actor at Freewheelers Theatre and Media Company - Surrey, UK

The Freewheelers are an inclusive arts company where they entertain, innovate, collaborate, challenge perceptions and surprise people. This portrait is part of ‘Us & Them’, funded by King’s College London.

x Verity FitzGerald - Nata - Nata, Botswana

Driving through Nata, a village on the outskirts if the Makgadikgadi salt pans, I stopped this pair for a portrait. They knew each other but were not a couple, which seemed a pity given their collective style. She had made her dress herself and was gracefully battling the blazing sun with a blue umbrella. She has a diploma in logistics and transport and was out looking for work, her embroidered bag full of CVs, but so far without success.

x Will Templeton - Drumming Up Support - Westminster Bridge, London, UK

An activist drums on Westminster Bridge, 100 days before the launch of The Big One, a campaign to drive support and awareness around the climate crisis. The ‘100 days’ action was a PR stunt to gain media attention in the build-up to the four days of protest that took place later in the year. Hundreds of activists and supporters gathered on Westminster Bridge to display a large banner and hand out leaflets to passers-by.

x Filipe Bianchi - Young boxer - Accra, Ghana

Young boxer in Jamestown, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Boxing is the local favourite sport and the greatest hope for success in young people’s lives, which is why they start training hard from a very young age.

x Filipe Bianchi - Young boxer - Accra, Ghana

Young boxer in Jamestown, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Boxing is the local favourite sport and the greatest hope for success in young people’s lives, which is why they start training hard from a very young age.

x Nicolò Sertorio - Terrence Millican - Oakland, CA, USA

Bishop at All Nations Pentecostal Prayer Church.

x Edward Matthews - After the Flood - Kherson Oblast, Ukraine

A Kherson resident surrounded by the waterlogged contents of her home after the Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed.

x Edward Matthews - Eyes of a Defender - Kharkiv, Ukraine

The weary eyes of a Ukrainian Foreign Legion soldier.

x Rose Hartley - Opal Onyx, The Puppeteer - Melbourne, Australia

“Hi, I’m Opal. I grew up in Jersey, I’m trans and intersex, I never went to uni, and I never received any formal education around puppetry, performance or theatre of any kind. My high school closed the drama department when I was 13. I was homeless for a brief stint then I moved to Australia and since then have been making big, horrible, exciting puppets. Growing up on a tiny, extremely conservative island in the 2000s made me buck against normality and the ‘cult of conformity’, but I was never very academic and don’t really know how to say that more eloquently.”

x Ingvar Kenne - Janelle Woro, Youth Worker, Alice Springs, Australia, 2023 - Alice Springs, Australia

These images are part of an ongoing project without end – ‘CITIZEN: Portraits since 1994’ – where, for the past 29 years and 60-odd countries, I have photographed people I met through my journey in life. Using the same strict parameters; camera, lens, film… the purpose is in the obsessive doing, in the making of a photograph during an incidental moment and space we happen to converge at. And in the subsequent elevated human connection we are both left with. I try to stay narrow with one singular box of established ways as a part of my practice yet invite change. The taxonomy of this accidental population was never the purpose, yet it is its inevitable outcome. Hooking each person to the next one I meet and photograph, allowing an examination of an unforeseen citizenry. No borders, no sides, no issue. So… it could be this. Of seeing eye to eye. Of being a citizen in the world, awake and curious about the other, the stranger. The sum now, perhaps, a democratic equaliser.

x Peter Holliday - Kalle, military conscript, Helsinki, 2023 - Helsinki, Finland

I made this portrait of Kalle in March 2023 as Finland prepared to become the 31st member of NATO. I sought to reflect the relationship between the individual and the state at a time of increasing geopolitical anxiety on the European horizon. Although Finland has a long tradition of mandatory conscription, the country remained neutral for many decades after World War II. Having followed a doctrine of non-alignment throughout the Cold War, the Russian invasion of Ukraine marked a radical turning point in Finland’s foreign policy and government defence spending is now surging.

x Laurie Broughton - Adamsdown Smiles on Us - Cardiff, UK

In this work I seek to illuminate the soul of Cardiff through the art of photography, honouring the city’s past while celebrating its present and future. By engaging with the community and harnessing the power of visual storytelling, this project endeavours to create lasting connections and memories that transcend time and space, embodying the spirit of Cardiff in all its diversity and beauty.

x Charlie Kwai - Emanuela, Magnetite - Lido degli Estensi, Italy

On the Italian Riviera, between Venice and Rimini, sits a stretch of beach lined with a few thousand sun loungers, interrupted only by a canal that feeds the neighbouring nature reserve. At the shoreline are 63 resorts, each with their own style, tailored to the taste of their guests. These guests return year-on-year, day-in-day-out, from sunrise to sunset – to show their love for a place they call home for a day, a week or the whole summer. And like a magnet, their eternal attraction never fades.

x John Owens - Two families - Hatay, Turkey

Two families in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and aftershocks in Turkey in February 2023. I was taking photos for Save the Children in a devastated village near the epicentre when I met sister-in-laws Gulkader* and Kader* and their daughters. Both families were farmers, and though their homes had been irreparably damaged and their lives turned upside down, you could feel their resilience and determination to support one another. From left to right: Gulkader*, her daughter Sümeyye*, 7, cousin Eylül*, 10, and Eylül’s mother Kader*, Gulkader’s sister in law. *Names have been changed in according with Save the Children policy.

x Ashraful Arefin - To a better place - Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Rowshan Ara is a young Rohingya girl who is holding her younger sister, Jahan Ara, in a loving embrace. They are gazing at the distant refugee camp. The two sisters have been living in the Kutupalong Rohingya camp for a few years now, and Jahan Ara was born in the camp. They do not know what the future holds for them, but Rowshan is determined to receive an education so that she can find a better place for herself and her sister in the world.

x Galina Semenova - Galina - San Diego, USA

“There is a crack... in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” Rather than stigmatising the ‘victims’ of domestic violence, it is my aim to emphasise their strength, courage and humility as a means of impacting those wishing to transform tragedy into triumph. For this I used the philosophy of Kintsugi which speaks to the idea of embracing imperfections and seeing them as unique and beautiful. This concept has been applied to the portraits. The idea is to showcase the beauty that can be found in individuals who have suffered from domestic abuse, and the strength that it takes to overcome such adversity. It seemed the ideal method for displaying a fractured life, reassembled with the healing thread of positive intention. Domestic abuse can leave deep emotional and physical scars, making individuals feel broken, worthless and often invisible.

x Huda Abdulmughni - Passport photos for non-passport holders - Kuwait

This project relates to a group of people in Kuwait known as Bidoun, Arabic for ‘without’. The Bidoun are ‘bidoun jinsiya’ – without citizenship, or stateless. Though many date their presence in Kuwait to the early 20th century, they lack the paperwork necessary to become citizens, and are thus denied basic access to education, healthcare, and rights to work or to marry. Compounding their vulnerability is the Bidoun’s near complete anonymity in society; few draw attention to their plight to avoid harassment or expulsion. I have shied away from photographing them for this reason. Though the camera can shed light on difficult subjects, it can also intimidate and compromise. Recently, I came across a man who welcomed the idea of being photographed, of existing on paper in a world where he was told to disappear. I thought of the passport photo, as Bidoun have never had to take one. This image is an assertion of the Bidoun presence, identity and existence.

x Betty Oxlade-Martin - Jyoti: Guardians of the Himalayan Heartlands - Saama, Uttarakhand, India

Pahadi women are the steadfast pillars of their community. Balancing responsibilities, they meticulously tend to the land, nurture crops, care for livestock, raise children and uphold the rich tapestry of Pahadi culture.

x Betty Oxlade-Martin - After school in Kerala - Kerala, India

In Kerala, schoolgirls radiate joy as they journey home. The vibrant hues of their school uniforms illuminate the streets at dawn and dusk. Adorned with beautiful waistcoats, tunics, bows and plaits, they wear their education with pride. In a region where access to education can be limited, the celebration of learning shines brightly among children.

x Betty Oxlade-Martin - Lucky and his cow - Sari Village, Uttarakhand, India

In the picturesque Sari Village of Uttarakhand lives Lucky, a young boy tending to the land alongside his father, their bond evident as Lucky mirrors his father’s gestures and commands with the cows. Fearlessly, he nudges and guides the sturdy animals, unfazed despite his slender frame compared to their strength.

x Amina Kadous - My Aunt - Cairo, Egypt

My grandparents passed away over 10 years ago leaving a void. My aunt is the voice of my past, sitting in her parents’ room after she moved to Cairo. Through her words : “[El Mehalla] the city was formed around the Misr Spinning and Weaving company. Your great grandfather owned one of the largest spinning stakes in the company… Everyone used to come to Mehalla. King Farouk used to own a cafe in what is now called a ‘colony’ which used to be housing for the workers of the factory. The most elegant homes. I’m not sure why they call it a ‘colony’ المستعمرة maybe because it comes from the Arabic word ‘occupation’ الإستعمار. ” This portrait is part of my project ‘White Gold’. A multilayered, long-term search for my identity as Egypt’s sociopolitical and economic landscapes have changed, I interweave my personal, family and national histories in a story of the history of Egyptian cotton.

x Amina Kadous - Warda - El-Mehalla El-Kubra, Egypt

Warda means ‘flower’ in Arabic. A blooming soul who works tirelessly and religiously through the harvest. Around cotton everything seems light, like floating clouds of hope, both malleable and interchangeable with its surroundings. It is a very labour-intensive crop and farmers have to work in the scorching sun up to 10 hours per day. They struggle in the heat and burning sun as they race to finish their shift, picking cotton under the watchful eyes of field supervisors. The growth of the cotton crop from a seed until it is spun and woven into threads requires many hands. From 1860–1865 cotton production increased from 50 million pounds to 250 million pounds. Cotton became the major source of Income for almost every proprietor in the Delta, Egypt.

x Sam Riley - Stand a Little Less Between Me and the Sunshine - Crystal Palace, London, UK

At the age of eight, Iqra, a British-born Somali, found a space for girls like her in football. At 19 she became the youngest to win a ‘Black List’ award, which celebrates Black excellence in English soccer. Now 22 she is established as a player, coach and club director. A campaigner and advocate for inclusion in the sport, Iqra runs Hilltop FC, which welcomes players from underrepresented groups including Muslim women.

x Sam Riley - Through a Glass Darkly - Circus Cortex, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, UK

Maryna is a choreographer and Ukrainian refugee finding refuge in Circus Cortex, a UK-based travelling circus which provides exile to many Ukrainian artists. The year 2023 felt like the party was over and everyone had left; like the feeling when the day is done and the crowds have disappeared. Perhaps a time for introspection and looking back; a time when many of us felt a sense of disassociation, or even loss. I wanted to capture the essence of that year in a series of portraits, featuring local people at the conclusion of their working day. Each image shows that same moment, when the world is quiet and people are each in their own head, lost in thought and contemplation.

x Sam Mulvey - Sunset at the Barbershop - Kabamba, Zambia

Isaac (right) works as a barber and is very much a pillar of the community in Kabamba. The village has a population of around 200 people and the small size of the community seems to bring out a sense of unity and connection between the people.

x David Davis - The Cost of Failed Liberation - Sri Lanka

In 2023, I travelled to Sri Lanka to engage with the Tamil community on a sensitive topic. During the civil war (1983–2009), up to 100,000 people (Amnesty International) were ‘disappeared’ by the Sinhalese government. Most of them vanished in the final year of the war. While the push did end the conflict, it came at a high price: many innocent people were detained and disappeared. Pictured here is one of the mothers who lost her 14-year-old son. One day, he left for school and never returned. It was an all-too-common story; no man, woman or child was safe from the white vans. The most heartbreaking aspect is that everyone still believes their family members will return to them one day. Their hope and desperation have given rise to conspiracy theories about underground prisons. To this day, the Tamil community in Sri Lanka continue to face persecution from the Sinhalese government.

x Vladimir Karamazov - Fisherman from the Danube - Belene, Bulgaria

The main occupation of the people who live around the Danube River is fishing. They know everything about the river and the life in it and fish all year round in different ways. They are fun-loving people with very warm hearts.

x Vladimir Karamazov - On the Border - Bulgaria

When you are forced to leave your life and start over in a new place with new people there is an old tradition of sitting in silence for a minute before leaving. The minute between memories and the unknown. The minute to remember all the good moments of your life so far and to mobilise for the unknown new beginning. A minute you will remember forever. To find yourself at the border, to leave your life and go looking for another without wanting it. In recent years, this has become commonplace.

x Tanya Traboulsi - Boys of Ras Beirut - Beirut, Lebanon

An increasing number of children find themselves without a place to call home. Anis is among these children, spending his days roaming around the streets of Beirut with his friends.

x Charlotte Wiig - War Child - Oslo, Norway

Tove, who was a war child during the Second World War, misses her father, a German soldier depicted on her wall. Due to his nationality, she was bullied and abused throughout her childhood and felt immense shame.

x Claudia Gschwend - Portrait of Dylema - Hampstead Heath, London, UK

Dylema is one of the UK’s leading multidisciplinary artists. Part of a series, this portrait represents her rebirth, shaving off her facial hair after three years living with it. Due to a hormonal spike of PCOS, Dylema grew excessive facial hair. Now she has decided to transform fully to a female image again and this is our celebration: one of identity, strength and the birthing a new chapter.

x Claudia Gschwend - New Forms of Identities - Brazilian Amazon, Brazil

This image is part of a collaboration with anthropologist Nathalie Pede. We were able to accompany the Indigenous community of the Shanenawa, based in the Brazilian Amazon. The project focuses on the transformations of the community due to societal and global change. The influence of modern technology and the globalised world raises questions about their identity and they are forced to adapt their ways of living, housing, alimentation and economic activities. Influenced through these external factors, the Shanenawa create new forms of cultural practices.

x Sam Hylton - Chloe - Oakland, California, USA

From a special collaborative project between my sister-in-law, wife and myself. Chloe is an actor and is very talented at impressions. She often wears wigs to enhance her likeness to the person she is portraying and this shoot is a celebration of the wigs.

x Engin Karaman - Belly Dancer’s Boudoir - London, UK

A Turkish-Cypriot belly dancer Ozgen is preparing for the show in his boudoir, creating a unique appearance in order to express his inner world.

x Peter Chatterton - Residents – Rosa - Bowmanville, Canada

For 50 years, my wife’s parents owned and operated a home for ex-psychiatric patients; a community reintegration programme run as a house, not an institution. For the last two years, my wife and I – along with our two small children – have taken over the operations and lived at this home. We make meals for the residents, care for them, and over time, have become vessels for their anxiety and neuroses. This series is my emotional response to our encounters here, and the project has changed shape as I have come to know the residents better. I have also gained an enhanced understanding of my wife Leah’s experience of growing up in this home with her family. I now realise that the nature of this project is symbiotic. As a reaction to the circumstance I found myself in – which I never expected –photography became a way for me to untangle my feelings, and mutually, the residents.

x Adam Docker - Shower - Sri Lanka

A girl takes a shower in the local waterfall.

x Richard Pilnick - Neighbour - Gokarna, India

Nestled in the spiritual heart of Gokarna, Karnataka, India, I shared a month-long bond with a neighbour whose presence epitomised the essence of this sacred village. Amid the tranquil rhythms of daily life, this image captures the profound interplay of spirituality and community that permeates Gokarna. Through my neighbour’s eyes, I glimpsed the timeless wisdom and inner peace cultivated in this spiritual home. As days turned into weeks, I embraced the profound teachings of Gokarna, finding solace and deeper meaning in the simplicity of everyday existence amid India’s coastal beauty. This encounter left an indelible mark on my soul, forever intertwining my journey with the soulful serenity of Gokarna.

x Gregory Jundanian - Sylvia B - Whitinsville, USA

My mother used to look out of the house window onto the street and cry, ‘Where is my family? Where is my family?’ I would go to her side and hold her, ‘Right here, Mom. Your family is right here.’

x Gregory Jundanian - Charles G - Shrewsbury, USA

Imagine growing up in a small town in New England as an Armenian kid in the 50’s and 60’s. We stayed together and hung out with each other. It was like a secret society where everyone you knew had relatives that had been murdered. We understood violence from a very early age, not the gratuitous violence of today, but real brutality. It was wildly strange.

x Niamh Barry - Chosen (Queer) Family (120 Film) - Dublin, Ireland

While taking this, I noticed how the group organically interacted. Some individuals knew each other, most did not. It felt like a small queer family had emerged from our interactions. We were laughing, sharing stories and planned to meet up in the future. Then slowly, we began to join the dots and ties of how we were associated with one another. We were mostly connected through other queer people we knew in Dublin. A moment of revelation emerged where I realised us queers are bound to almost every queer in Ireland. The queer community is only a fraction of the global population, leading to interlocking pathways generating chains of mutual association that spread out, like a telephone wire, to connect us all. Some of these ties offer support, comfort and compassion. Others, not so much. Not every tie in this network is your next best friend. But when bonded with the right connection, our next queer family member or a lover may only be six degrees away.

x Darren Lee Clarke - The Fishermen of Tanjung Sepat – Uncle Asli - Tanjung Sepat, Selangor, Malaysia

Located in the Kuala Langat district of Selangor, Malaysia, Tanjung Sepat has traditionally owed its living to the sea – the word Tanjung means cape, and Sepat, an indigenous fish. Due to relentless pollution in the Mallaca Strait, and from pig farms, this economy has dwindled. Founded by the Chaozhou people of China, it remains a predominantly Chinese village which I came across during my field studies based upon the preservation of the indigenous traditions of the Mah Meri people, close neighbours to this village. I was welcomed like an old friend at a harbourside restaurant by Mr Chew Hua Liang and Mr Asli Shushu (Uncle Asli) and their friends, all of them retired fishermen now enjoying their socialising with gusto.

x Oliver Raschka - Tween - Denmark

From the long-term series ‘Jigsaw Youth’, which is about puberty, adolescence and brotherhood in tense times of personal and social crises. It is a visual sociology of two brothers when the whole world is at a turning point. A report about confusion, anxiety, rebellion, but also self-determination, friendship and love, the work deals with what concerns today’s generation of teenagers, what they need to find their place in society and to have a future perspective on the serious social and political upheavals in Europe and beyond.

x Prince Charles - Inside Fight - Ogun State, Nigeria

For the past 10 years, Ofada boxing club has invited students from Lagos and Ogun state to compete for medals in both female and male categories. This community event has become a carnival that local residents look forward to on 26 December every year.

x Katerina Churbakova - Artem - Valaam Island, Republic of Karelia, Russia

Artem has been living at the monastery on the island of Valaam for more than a year. Before coming here, he worked as a music rave organiser, but after going through some life difficulties, he decided to go to a monastery. Now only his green tattooed eyes, and other tattoos and scars on his body remind him of his past. When asked how he sees his life in the future, he calmly answers, “As God wills”. People come to the island intending to stay for a week or two, but remain for months and even years. Some would like to join the fraternity in the future, but the majority just love the monastic lifestyle and remoteness from the mainland. Several came to the Valaam monastery because of addictions, illnesses, challenging life situations, loss of values and a search for the meaning of life. For them, it is the last place where they can find help and support.

x Cianeh Kpukuyou - Portrait of the North - Northern Ghana

‘Portrait of the North’ is a project highlighting the lives of individuals from northern Ghana, with Gifty at its heart. Gifty’s story, centred around her salon, embodies the resilience, warmth and community spirit of the region, where the diverse cultural tapestry fosters inclusivity and acceptance.

x Cianeh Kpukuyou - Portrait of the North - Northern Ghana

‘Portrait of the North’ is a project highlighting the lives of individuals from northern Ghana, with Gifty at its heart. Gifty’s story, centred around her salon, embodies the resilience, warmth and community spirit of the region, where the diverse cultural tapestry fosters inclusivity and acceptance.

x Nikolaos Tsogkas - The Girls on the Bow - Hydra, Greece

School teens on a boat trip in Hydra.

x Daniel Desborough - Sergeii - Oerlikon – Zurich, Switzerland

This is Sergeii, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest and refugee. Sergeii, his wife Olha and their three small children fled their home in north-east Ukraine in spring 2022 when their community was surrounded by invading Russian troops. Sadly they had to leave his mother and their beloved cats behind. They finally arrived in our rural village in Switzerland after days of travelling. A trained electrician, Sergeii now works for Franziska, a local farmer, and conducts services in a small Ukrainian Orthodox church near Zurich, where he is greatly appreciated.

x Sophie Harris-Taylor - Lauren, from the series ‘Tweakments’ - London, UK

This series engages a range of women who have embraced non-invasive beauty procedures known as ‘tweakments’. It explores what has fuelled the recent widespread adoption and the nuances of its impact, societally and personally. “I get Botox to help prevent wrinkles and lines and to try and stay looking as young as I can for as long as I can. I have had lip fillers for the last year (two treatments) to help with fine lines around the mouth. It makes me feel younger, I can act younger and it gives me confidence,” says Lauren.

x Aaron Yeandle - Ogunti’s family home, from ‘The African Guernsey Community Project’ - Guernsey

‘The African Guernsey Photographic Project’ is a reflection on our ever-changing communities. It aims to celebrate the diversity of the African community that plays a large part in Guernsey society. The work is a social heritage project which will become a photographic archival record of the ever-changing moments that make Guernsey a unique place. It comprises intimate portraits of people from different African countries who live and work in Guernsey. Many of the portraits have been taken in people’s homes so alongside bringing positive awareness of the vibrant African communities, it documents the rich heritage that the individuals bring.

x Petra Kroon - 01.12.23 – in every photo, in every detail, in every pixel - Amsterdam, Netherlands

So here I am, amid just a little part of my obsessive research into who I am; who I was; who I hoped to be, but never became. At the age of 57, on 12 January 2023, I was diagnosed as autistic. A bolt from the blue. It turned my whole world upside down. I had to rediscover my past, my present, and my future. I dived into my archive of baby photos and the stories my mother had written to accompany them; of photos from when I was older and from now; of memories; of diaries. Searching for clues in every photo, in every detail, in every pixel. I dug into literature looking for answers to why women are diagnosed with ASD so much later than men; looking for my ‘sisters’; looking for the positives of autism; looking for my own strengths. Looking for where to go from now on.

x Alina Pullen - Home - London, UK

A human’s first home is the mother’s body, which should be celebrated, not hidden or shunned by society.

x Katerina Tsakiri - The Smiley Cut - Gothenburg, Sweden

‘The Smiley Cut’ stands as a visual chronicle of my journey through cancer treatment. The photographic medium provided an outlet for me to navigate the stages of grief and confront the transformative journey my body was undertaking. Through these images, I reclaimed a measure of control over my own physicality. While time seemed to stretch infinitely a tranquil refuge emerged in the forest near my home: Safjället. This serene landscape became my sanctuary. I ran and walked multiple times in it. I met there with friends, I photographed it, I made it part of my journey. The loop I was running every day signified the circularity of chemotherapies and the side effects that my body was racing to overcome. The Safjällsgatan’s sign was the view of the beginning and the end of every run I did. In this work the public becomes private and the private public as a need for expression and connection through empathy and vulnerability.

x Luke Smith - Isolation - London, UK

According to the Office of National Statistics there are now 1.3 million people over the age of 85 in the UK, and those over 85 are the fastest-growing age group in Britain. Between 1981 and 2023 the ‘oldest old’ has risen by 84 per cent. Isolation is not an inevitable side effect of the ageing process, but the life events associated with older age can leave people vulnerable. More than one million people over the age of 85 in the UK do not leave their home more than once a week and 300,000 are entirely housebound and suffering the misery of isolation.

x Shane Coughlan - Patrick, back from the shops - Dublin, Ireland

I turned the corner onto a row of old cottages to see Patrick returning home from the shops. He has lived on the street with his brother and sister for 80 years. In his suit, shirt and tie, Pioneer and Holy Cross medals, he defines the old-world respect and dignity of a gentleman from Dublin’s north inner city.

x Anya Tsaruk - Maksym, I Hope Your Family is Safe - Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine

‘I Hope Your Family is Safe’ is my return to home during the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war. It documents my family and friends’ everyday lives and experiences during Ukraine’s fight for freedom and independence. The work aims to look into the complexity of contemporary life in Ukraine and its people. It offers an alternative view to the simplified and victimised image of Ukrainians often produced by and unquestionably accepted in the west.

x Anna Neubauer - Hannah - London, UK

I took this portrait of Hannah on a sunny day in March. The way the light illuminated her features, casting a warm glow across her face, was truly captivating. In that moment, she looked peaceful and content, revealing layers of intimacy and strength. With my photographs, I like to invite viewers into a deeply personal narrative of the complexity and beauty of the human experience, a delicate balance between fragility and fortitude, vulnerability and courage. In this narrative, I hope to capture the essence of what it means to be human.

x Wei Jian Chan - Ah Ma - Singapore

Every time I return to Singapore, I make a portrait of my grandmother (Ah Ma). Having lived away from Singapore for over a decade, every moment I have with her is precious. In this portrait, made in her living room, she sits below family pictures (in which I am depicted). She is always patient and generous when I photograph her.

x Irma Mauro - Nonno - Calabria, Italy

My heart melted when this young man told me about the tattoo of his grandfather on his chest. His grandfather had passed away just a few months earlier and had meant so much to him.

x Irma Mauro - Harlem Kids - Harlem, New York City, USA

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x Laura Pannack - Project Hope - Cape Town, South Africa

The project explores the boundaries of play in the gang-filled area where crossfire is a weekly occurrence. Together we explore youth in the Cape Flats through a series of workshops.

x Rayna Carruthers - Mary - Jordan

Mary (name changed) is originally from Sudan but has been in Jordan waiting for resettlement to Europe or North America for over 13 years. Jordan hosts the second-largest number of refugees per capita worldwide. At the start of last year, fighting started again in Khartoum and has created the world’s worst displacement crisis. The majority of Mary’s family immediately fled to Egypt but her sister and father remained. She tries to speak with them on the phone as much as she can.

x Ian Kirby - The Cycle – Kamudimoolai Community Portrait – Mother - Kumudimoolai, India

The Cycle – Water. Women. World. The Cycle is a charity guided by a mission to provide safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services to communities and to improve menstrual health conditions. Its projects are in partnership with nature, innovating towards a thriving world. These are the lives that the charity touches and the communities they support.

x Cybele Malinowski - All He Wanted Was Love - Sydney, Australia

In his last weeks, Mum and I would sit with Dad for hours, holding his hand, infusing him with the love that he was never able to receive and rarely give. Sitting for hours, playing 70s music, hoping it would take him back to better times. Even as close as his final Friday he would smile and gently nod to the music. Cat Stevens. The Beatles. Rod Stewart. I am so proud of Mum to be able to put aside the pain and hurt, and just give him the love he so desperately needed in those days. He would squeeze our hands, the last words he said were Baba (me), ich bin and Hela (mum). Every time he would look over at Mum, his face would relax with love and pride. With his diminishing energy, he would seek out Mum’s hand and cling to her emerald ring, an anchor to his life as he was slipping under. In those last few days, weeks, even years, as his life force dissipated, the anger, paranoia and rage slowly left his body, and all that was left was a man who yearned for love.

x Ousman Diallo - Portrait of Salome I -

‘Salome’s Infinite Life’ features a cast of characters, all played by the model Salome. The project’s theme is left purposely ambiguous; the meaning of the title, hands, symbols, gestures and faces is completely subjective and open to interpretation. This openness ultimately reflects the viewer’s perspective and serves as a window into their own psyche.

x Kuba Świetlik - Leo - Venice Beach, California, USA

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x Lisa Murray - Rebirthed - Australia

Symbolising the cyclical nature of life and the inevitability of change, this portrait of Benjamin captures a moment of transformation. It marks the closure of one chapter in his life, and the opening of another, emphasising the possibility of new beginnings emerging from endings.

x Ash Chalk - Ju (they/them) - This photo was taken in the living room of Ash’s flat in Clapton, East London.

I posted on the LGBTQ+ app Lex to find models and broaden my community of queer people in London. Using a mixture of medium format digital and 35mm film, I am developing a collection of images that conveys the warmth fostered at queer events as well as the mycelian-like web that connects the community. Ju is an aspiring queer model. They have been documenting their transition and journey through self-portraits. After responding to the Lex ad, they kindly sat for a portrait at my flat. I felt it was important to acknowledge their vulnerability in posing for me, as well as their joy at being nine weeks post top surgery. In the same way that choosing your expression of identity is a crucial part of being queer, I often choose a 35mm print over a digital version of the same image. I find the texture of film properly communicates the tenderness and fragility that exists in the trust between a photographer and subject.

x Bubi Canal - Horizon - Cantabria, Spain

x Mina Delic - Above all love - Senta, Serbia

Edit Galsa, 50, has development disability and lives with her parents. Her mother Ilona has been blind for 20 years. Edit’s sister Agi died from sarcoma when she was only 10 years old. Father Endre is the only one who can take care of the whole family. He cooks, cleans, helps his wife in basic daily activities such as moving through the house and bathing, and takes his daughter to the hospital. Parrot Gyuri is always around to cheer the family up. This portrait is part of a long-term project focusing on the families of children with disabilities. The aim is to show the struggle that these families are facing every day, but also their resilience, strength and above all love and commitment.

x Steven Tatlow - Amy & Elise - Cheltenham, UK

Best friends for 15 years, Amy and Elise share an unbreakable bond. As a transgender woman, Elise has faced many challenges regarding how she is perceived by society. But together, masked in balaclavas, they transcend their individual identities, showing unity and resilience.

x Charlotte Hartley - Untitled - Croydon, UK

The Noble-Atsu family, photographed in their garden.

x Max Kessell - Who is Halo Where? - South Tottenham, London, UK

A few months ago I shot an up-and-coming music artist from Surrey. Originally finding him through TikTok, I was drawn to his video style and his punk/rap music. Halo Where doubles up as a self-taught videographer and is in charge of every aspect of his creative process. We spoke at length about navigating the creative industry and he was very candid about his relatively normal life outside of music. The gentleness of these portraits contrasts with the connotations of someone wearing a balaclava and it shows the two sides to Halo Where: the musician and the man that still lives in the normal world.

x Andrea Thomson - Bob - Glasgow, UK

Bob and I met via Instagram and I went to Glasgow to take portraits of him. He dresses almost exclusively in garb from the 1970s because it was the time filled with the happiest memories for him. He is such a clever, thoughtful person, an absolute tonic, and I loved the afternoon we spent together. He thought he looked like a gangster in this one which made us both laugh as it could not be further from the truth.

x Ian Kirby - The Cycle – Masima Nagar – Community Portrait 01 - Masima Nagar, India

The Cycle – Water. Women. World. The Cycle is a charity guided by a mission to provide safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services to communities and to improve menstrual health conditions. Its projects are in partnership with nature, innovating towards a thriving world. These are the lives that the charity touches and the communities they support.

x Mariam Magsi - You may veil us, but you will never dictate who we love - Toronto, Canada

Veiled lovers using anonymity to resist patriarchy in all its forms.

x Valentin Joseph Valette - Ashes of the Arabian’s Pearl - Sultanate of Oman

Diptych #2. The left portrait is of a company director in front of his GT Mustang sports car after inspecting a building site he is financing, Mahalil, Sultanate of Oman, January 2023. On the right, an Indian driver from the Sikh community poses on his backhoe while awaiting new instructions from his Omani employer, Al Ansab, Sultanate of Oman, January 2023.

x Teva Cosic - Julgranen (The Christmas Tree) - Cairns, Australia

Living on the other side of the world from family we usually celebrate by preparing a few Swedish Christmas dishes and putting out our one decoration. This year I wanted to photograph my mother and I dancing around our Christmas tree in the tropical heat in our clogs and bathing suits.

x Curtis Hughes - Abdou - Berlin, Germany

This is Abdou last year during Ramadan as he made his way to the mosque for Eid prayers. His vibrant outfit caught my eye, and we spoke about the significance of community and reflection, something I feel is often overlooked but so vital in our world today.

x Curtis Hughes - Poppy & Anna - Brighton, UK

We met online during lockdown so had to maintain a distance for our first few dates, sticking out the winter cold for as long as we could and sipping takeaway coffees. Once our respective bubbles had been consensually popped we had dinner together, and have done so ever since. Our outlooks on life are spookily, but comfortingly familiar. She feels like home. We live in a one-bed flat with two needy cats. Often we reflect on our seemingly middle-aged “silly little life”. And it is just how we like it.

x Vikas Gotra - New Horizons of Faith - Punjab, India

This image of a Sikh teenager having his hair combed is a significant part of the series ‘New Horizons of Faith’, which explores the essence of Sikhism through the symbolism of the Five Ks. These Five Ks encompass Kesh (Uncut Hair), Kara (Steel Bracelet), Kanga (Wooden Comb), Kachera (Cotton Undergarments) and Kirpan (Ceremonial Sword), each representing fundamental principles and duties within the Sikh faith. This image focuses on Kesh, symbolising uncut hair. It represents a profound embrace of one’s natural self, fostering humility and rejecting superficiality. In Sikh tradition, maintaining uncut hair is a powerful expression of authenticity and spiritual devotion, emphasising inner beauty over external appearances. Notably, the Kirpan (Ceremonial Sword) is not visible in this image. According to this boy, that is fine. He will get one when he is ready and feels it is OK to follow Sikh customs in your own time.

x Zula Rabikowska - Hafsa before attending a queer Eid dinner with Muslim LGBTQI+ charity Hidayah in central London - London, UK

“The biggest challenge is being caught in the middle. It’s difficult to be accepted in Muslim and LGBTQI+ communities.” Hafsa is a prominent queer activist and writer from Birmingham, who works for an LGBTQI+ charity. About their identity, Hafsa says, “I’m Muslim, disabled, autistic, Indian, bi. Words put together that make my identity controversial to some. I work to raise awareness and visibility for queer people of faith. I believe in jihad, which is a struggle, balancing who I am as a Muslim and as a queer person, my struggle is explaining myself to people who don’t understand who I am.” I met Hafsa through a friend while working on my project about LGBTQI+ Muslim communities in the UK.

x Renee Osubu - Andre - Philadelphia, USA

Andre, one of the youngest members of the cowboy community in north Philadelphia.

x Billy Barraclough - Bernard Barraclough, Watchmaker - Settle, North Yorkshire, UK

My grandad has worked as a jeweller and watchmaker all of his life. He is now 94 years old. His eyes are still good and his hands are still steady so he is able to continue fixing watches for friends and family. I have been going to stay with him regularly over the last three years. He lives by himself and listening to him tell stories as he slowly works away on watches is one of my favourite things to do.

x Billy Barraclough - Nayana Brushing Her Hair - Gokarna, India

Nayana has not cut her hair for five years. I met Nayana and stayed with her family while in India in December 2023. Each morning and evening she would meticulously care for her hair.

x Ana Margarita Flores - Bailando Marinera (Dancing Marinera) - Lima, Peru

This is my grandmother dancing the traditional Peruvian dance Marinera. As a love letter to her, I started a series ‘Hasta Las Estrellas’ (‘Up to the Stars’) in 2023 to celebrate her love for music, dance and fashion. This project is also our way of sharing moments together, creating memories and learning more about each other through art.

x Dalila Coelho - Tamara Bronze, from the series ‘It’s Summer All Year Round’ - Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The series ‘É verão o ano inteiro’ (‘It’s Summer All Year Round’) documents the emergence of natural tanning houses in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a conservative state’s capital far from the beach, where trends from marginalised areas are rarely noticed by other citizens. In this series, I covered the work of three women who earn their living from sun to sun developing techniques so that their clients can achieve perfect tan lines through the use of economic materials such as electrical tape. In the images, saturated colors, blue sky, coloured tape bikinis and real bodies transport us to sunny days that seem suspended in time. This project is an effort to capture South American and, most specifically, suburban Brazilian cultures and aesthetics, showing how the beauty salons built by suburban women are spaces of inclusion, where the workers are agents of change, focused both on achieving their financial autonomy and enhancing the self-esteem of other women who are often made invisible by society.

x Elo Vazquez - Habitat III - Reykjavík, Iceland

One of the most difficult aspects for women with infertility to cope with is the difficulty of living permanently with feelings of envy and frustration when they discover the pregnancy of other women or when they are in the presence of the children of other couples, feelings that can lead to isolation processes. This is Emma. She is the daughter of some friends, one of the many kids of friends born during the five years that I was trying to conceive.

x Lottie Maher and Mori Thomson - - Indigenous Princess - Guatemala

Part of an ongoing project, made collaboratively by Lottie Maher and Mori Thomson, which follows five Q’eqchi’ Maya women and their instructor, Dani, who is teaching them taekwondo as a form of self-defence and self-confidence against the daily, gender-based intimidation and violence women experience in Guatemala. It has one of the highest rates of femicide in the world, with women murdered every day and extremely low conviction rates.

x Léa Campbell - Waiting - London, UK

O sits in the bedroom in accommodation for asylum seekers. She is from Nigeria and has endured a perilous journey to the UK, after being trafficked for sexual exploitation and subsequently shunned from her community at home. She arrived pregnant, traumatised and overwhelmed. This photograph was taken at times of uncertainty where O’s future would be determined by the outcome of her asylum case. Through this, she nurtures her daughter and they soothe each other in different ways through the difficult times.

x Sani Nuhu - Sisterhood - Kaduna, Nigeria

Portrait of Ganiyat and Maryam celebrating not only the deep bond shared between two sisters but also underscoring the richness of diversity and culture within their relationship.

x Johanna Berghorn - The Queen Herself - Silencio Club

Queerness is a celebration of authenticity, breaking free from societal constraints to embrace one’s true self. Each individual who proudly lives their truth shines with a unique beauty, defying conformity and embracing diversity. In a world that often seeks to confine identities within narrow boxes, the beauty of queerness lies in its boundless expression and unwavering courage to be exactly who you are.

x Liam Sharp - Friends at the Beach - Coney Island, New York, USA

Part of my series of portraits at Coney Island New York. These are two friends spending a day at the beach, an extension to their hood.

x Hannah Maule-ffinch - Dr Olena Korotych in the Neonatal room in the bunker of the Poltava City Maternity Hospital. Ukraine - Poltava, Ukraine

Dr Olena stands in the Neo natal ward in the bunker of the Poltava City Maternity Hospital, built by medical staff themselves so they could continue work during the war. They have delivered numerous babies and conducted major surgeries in the bunker. Before the room served as a basement but now fully equipped and safe for newborns, mothers, pregnant women and the hospital staff. Russia’s invasion has caused widespread death, destruction, displacement and suffering leaving at least 17.6 million innocent people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection. The impacts of war on women in Ukraine are vast. They range from sexual violence as a tactic of war, decreasing birth rates, increasing miscarriage, preterm births, increased rates of SGBV, increase need for safe abortions, and worries for a repopulation push of Ukraine after the war and what that will mean for women’s choices.

x Mahdiyeh Afshar Bakeshloo - Used to be - Iran

Life in a country such as Iran has always been changing for women. Changes are happening so fast that even our appearance will be different from yesterday to today. Sometimes it feels like a person has shed layers of skin over time. Sometimes it is not possible to recognise the real face and real identity of people. In the end, the question arises, who was I and who am I?

x Nic Bezzina - Young Muay Thai - Bangkok, Thailand

In the midst of a training session, a young Muay Thai boxer proudly displays a haircut featuring the symbol of the late King Bhumibol. This candid portrait captures a moment of reverence and dedication.

x Alexandra Adami - My mother my queen - Lake Constance, Germany

In the folds of her skin lies the map of her journey. She wears her age as a mantle of wisdom and kindness, not as a burden.

x Megan Eagles - Young Girl and Goats - Sri Lanka

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x Lara Hughes - Gathering Cups in May - Place de Nation, Paris

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x Debra Hurford Brown - Harry with Mask - London, UK

Harry, my son, has been my muse since birth. He was born two months prematurely and a year later he was diagnosed with a rare syndrome. Over the last 23 years I have documented Harry at pivotal times and have kept the resulting images privately for myself. Harry had always struggled with his appearance due to his condition but as he has matured he has begun to enjoy the process of being photographed by myself. This portrait was taken last year during a period of observation while he was waiting for diagnosis of high-functioning autism.

x Aurora Stenersen - So I’ll let my branches reach - Budapest, Hungary

How does governmental censorship affect queer youth living in Budapest? In 2021 the Hungarian government authorised a law forbidding mentions of anything LGBTQ+-related in public spaces and schools. As part of an ongoing project, I have worked with queer youth in Budapest to understand how they experience and navigate this erasure, and how queer and trans joy can be a form of resilience.

x Lily Miles - David’s Tattoos - Brighton

I met David while working as a medical photographer in early 2023. David came into the clinic one day for his back to be photographed. I noticed his tattoos and remarked how interesting they were. At the end of photographing him he mentioned he wanted to get into portraiture when he retired and we got chatting about photography. We have since started meeting for coffee occasionally to chat about photography. I remembered one meeting asking about the meaning behind his tattoos and he told me the story: “The tattoos marked a special event in my life. My daughter Josie died two days short of her 22nd birthday in 2018. She had a special connection with Japan and had visited there three times in her life, once with me and twice by herself. My son Tom and I decided we should visit too and climb Mount Fuji to celebrate her life. It was a very emotional as well as a physical challenge. We miss her so much and carrying this story permanently on my back seemed very appropriate."

x Matt Grayson - Junior, Tour de Lunsar - Lunsar, Sierra Leone

From a series documenting the Tour de Lunsar, Sierra Leone’s first and only bike race. This was taken as the junior boys gathered for the race to begin. A lot of the competitors race with donated kit and bikes. There is no blueprint for cycling in Sierra Leone, but the competitors’ passion for cycling is unwavering. The race is creating a platform for young riders to showcase their talents, and be seen as local heroes in their hometown.

x Nicholas White - Family and Dacia, Rucar Hunting Area - Southern Carpathian Mountains, Romania

A portrait of a family made in the Rucar Hunting Area, taken as part of an ongoing body of work documenting the formation of a new National Park in the Southern Carpathian Mountains of Romania.

x Alice Chapman - Twelve - Cambridge, County Kerry, Ireland

My son at 12. My relationship with photographing him has changed over the years. His growing independence and agency means an occasional collaboration on portraiture, often capturing an inevitable scepticism of the age, born out of welcome tolerance rather than youthful enthusiasm.

x David Morrison - Ballybunion Dipper Bath - Ballybunion Beach, County Kerry, Ireland

These friends have gathered nearly every day since the Covid-19 lockdown for a swim and a chat. Come rain or shine and no matter how cold, this has been their coffee morning and way of keeping each other’s spirits up. Ever since, they have maintained their friendships and love of the daily swim and get-together, showing that friendship and Mother Nature are great tonics for the soul.

x Martina Holmberg - Angel Therapist - Sweden

From my project ‘People to whom I invited myself’.

x Martina Holmberg - Untitled - France

Two women look out over the sea in Nice, France.

x Amy Woodward - Georgia, Xave and Bo – hours before they became a family of five - Lutruwita, Tasmania

Georgia, Xave and Bo in the backyard, just hours before Georgia free-birthed her surprise twin sons at home. At this stage, Georgia’s waters had already broken – it was a deep privilege to witness the sacred early stages of her labour. Work photographed remotely in Lutruwita, Tasmania, from Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi Country/Sunshine Coast.

x Renae Saxby - Bangardidjan - Bulman, Remote Central Arnhem Land, Australia

Bangardidjan, Cindy Rostron from Korlobidahdah, a strong, inspiring young leader and proud Kune, Rembarrnga, Dalabon woman of the Bonongku and Wurrbban clans, on the road in remote Central Arnhem Land in the family muddikkang (car) with a buffalo skull painted by her father Victor Rostron strapped to the roof.

x Zoja Kalinovskis - Renaissance of Dairy Pollution - London, UK

Inspired by the Dutch Masters, the ‘Climate Renaissance’ series is a commentary on environmental racism that urges viewers to confront the contemporary crisis of overconsumption, waste and pollution through the lens of historical aesthetics and critique humanity’s impact on the earth. It highlights how communities of colour, particularly in the Global South, are disproportionately affected by climate change with devastating consequences, despite producing only 8 per cent of excess global carbon emissions. Each portrait is centred around a different contributor towards the climate crisis and this piece focuses on the dairy industry, which along with the meat industry accounts for 14.5 per cent of excess emissions. It brings forth the question of how the future might look if we do not start to make significant changes in the areas of climate change and racial justice. It is a complex and forthright question which is intended to make the audience feel uncomfortable.

x Stefanie Langenhoven - From the series ‘The extraordinary beauty of ginger haired girls’ - Western Cape South Africa

Young girls are particularly vulnerable to developing a false sense of self because of unrealistic expectations of beauty. Girlhood is so magical. Unfortunately as girls mature they will be faced with confusing messages throughout their lives, especially being exposed to social media. After the birth of my daughter I decided to change the colour of my hair, discovering a new identity as a redhead and I have been amazed at the stereotypes projected on me. I did not expect to experience shame being a redhead, especially as these days it is more popular to have ginger hair (however people with ginger hair can then be objectified for having this colour hair as well). I found this experience particularly insightful and I feel a deeper empathy with people with this incredible, unique colour of hair. My aim with this series is to shift the focus on connecting with these girls in a way that they feel seen for their inner beauty and not just their physical appearance.

x Wouter le Duc - Diane Foley - Amsterdam, Netherlands

I had the privilege of meeting and photographing Diane Foley, the mother of journalist James Foley, who was publicly executed by Isis in 2014. The book ‘American Mother’ is about meeting one of her son’s killers, forgiveness, and the failure of the US government to free hostages. I was deeply moved by her story and her determination to raise awareness so that the past does not repeat itself. As we said goodbye, she shook my hand and told me, “God bless you”. I am not a religious person, but I felt the warmth she radiated.

x Mauro Curti - Babbo - Cuneo, Italy

My father’s face with an oil stain caused during farm machinery maintenance work. From the series ‘Riturné’, a journey that unfolds in the rural environment. It refers to both the struggle to find an identity and the complex bonds established between individuals and families. The work speaks of a belonging that is, in a way, threatened by the inexorable passage of time, while it alludes simultaneously to powerful forces such as the bond with nature.

x Sam Wright - Family at the Fair - Appleby, Cumbria, UK

Over two years, I have immersed myself in this world, travelling to horse fairs, conducting interviews, carrying out research, meeting inspiring people and documenting my experiences through photography and film. Misrepresentation by the media has been damaging to these communities. I sought to counter this with an honest portrayal, challenging misconceptions and showcasing their passion and resilience. As mounting challenges threaten the Traveller and Gypsy communities, I believe it is time for a positive change in attitudes, and I hope this project contributes to that shift.

x Anya Broido - Freddi Domingo - Mexico City, Mexico

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x Wilhelm Philipp - Baba Desi, The Belgrave Wizard - The Nook, Belgrave

Baba Desi, born Desmond Bergen, 94, in his home ‘The Nook’, in the hills of Belgrave. Desi goes by many names: The Belgrave Wizard, Urban Dreamer, The Pirate and many more. Baba Desi is a healer, free spirit and protester of over 40 years. Desi is a staple of his community and passionate about giving power back to the people. He is a man with a fighting spirit for justice.

x Jesse Egner - Embrace in the Great Salt Lake - Corinne, Utah, USA

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x Sophie Ebrard - They Are Not Afraid of Riding Stallions - Diabat, Morocco

Part of an ongoing project ‘They Are Not Afraid of Riding Stallions’. Made on the west coast of Morocco, near Essaouira, it follows the life of a young man named Achraf (whom I met 17 years ago when he was a kid). The images explore manhood and young adulthood, reflecting on the intricate beauty of this transitional time when teenage years are left behind. It also explores the theme of friendship. Achraf with his horses, his friends, and his friendship with me. The boy in the picture is one of Achraf’s best friends, Ôussáma.

x Peter Chatterton - Tiffany - Mississauga, Canada

This is my father’s partner, Tiffany, in her condo office space. Tiffany recently lost her father, and my father has been dealing with health issues for the past few years. This, combined with the pandemic, and difficulty and stress of Tiffany’s job, has caused her severe health issues she is now trying to untangle. I love Tiffany for being a partner to my father. The more I get to know her and her struggle, the more I empathise with her and the struggle to fit life’s pieces together – something that resonates with me deeply. Fitting pieces together so life can move forward, and stay that way, is hard. And we can all relate to that.

x Luke Houba - Inquisitive - Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Three boys look toward a much bigger picture than the horizon.

x Nahwand Jaff - Newroz in Akre, Kurdistan - Akre, Kurdistan

During a return visit to my mother’s homeland of Kurdistan, my friends and I had taken part in the Newroz celebrations in Akre. The celebration takes place on the mountains overlooking the city. People travel from all over the region to welcome in the Kurdish New Year, which is also in line with the spring equinox. Fireworks light up the sky and the city is populated by thousands of attendees who climb up the mountains with flaming torches from the late evening and throughout the night. This young man is waiting for the celebrations to start on one of the peaks.

x Michelle Sank - Miz Cambell, Drag South Africa 2023 - Cape Town, South Africa

This was taken in Cape Town, South Africa, as part of an ongoing project where I am documenting the strong drag culture in the townships. Those in drag culture are now becoming more accepted and empowered within contemporary society, often having had to hide their identity in the past, or having been rejected by their families. All of those whom I photographed expressed how dressing up makes them feel much more confident within their skins, and how they are now striving to make a difference within the societies they grew up in. Here I photographed Miz in a hotel room with a winner’s sash.

x Ron Levine - William Howard 'Tex' Johnson - Hamilton, Alabama, USA

William Howard ‘Tex’ Johnson in his room at the Hamilton Institute for the Aged and Infirm, a prison for the elderly in upstate Alabama.

x Ron Levine - Walker Smith, 76 - Hamilton, Alabama, USA

Inmate Walker Smith, photographed at the Hamilton Institute for the Aged and Infirm, a prison for the elderly in upstate Alabama.

x Orlando Gili - Philip, Alopeican Male - Lee-on-the-Solent, UK

I photographed Philip as part of a portrait commission for the Wellcome Collection. The project explores the stories of men who have lost their hair due to alopecia universalis. The series was motivated by my experience of alopecia and its interaction with my sense of identity and masculinity. I felt unable to fully express myself or be vulnerable about the condition. Philip first start losing his hair when he was 13 and it continued to come and go throughout his life. Hair loss at such a young age led to a horrific time during his formative teenage years at school, and as a man he has never felt comfortable seeing himself in photographs. He got into lifting weights and martial arts, focusing on things he can control. Philip is a child psychologist and is emotionally articulate, however he has never sat down with anyone to talk about his experiences of alopecia. The portrait was taken at his local beach in the late afternoon light.

x Dora Mois - Siesta - Rishikesh, India

Man having siesta.

x Dora Mois - Bathers - Varanasi, India

Bathers.

x Fulvio Bugani - S/He - Havana, Cuba

Cuba is a country of contrasts, and the fluid gender community is one of the many thriving and dynamic aspects of its cultural landscape. Fluid gender describes a person who feels that their gender identity does not fit into a binary category of male or female. They may feel like they move between masculine and feminine, or they may not feel tied to any gender at all. Gender is a complex and personal thing, and for many people, identifying as fluid allows them to express themselves in ways that they were previously unable to. Homophobic persecution and discrimination is rife in large parts of the world, and the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are still not recognised or protected by international law. Despite the discrimination that they face, the members of this community continue to proudly express themselves in a way that pushes boundaries and challenges traditional gender norms.

x Tianhu Yuan - Wan Rui - China

Wan Rui fell in love with the Lolita subculture almost 10 years ago. She believes that Lolita gives her self-confidence and happiness and can help her overcome social phobia. She is now a Lolita model and an independent photographer. She usually sets up her camera on a tripod, takes self-portraits using a mobile app and then shares her Lolita images on social media platforms. This is from my series ‘Lolita Dreams’, a visual sociological research on the Lolita fashion subculture community in China. Through interviews and portraits with Lolita enthusiasts of various ages, styles, physical appearances and genders, I investigate the phenomenon of de-westerncentrism in the localisation process of the Lolita subculture and the influence of Lolita fashion on their individuality, identity perception, lifestyle choices and consumption habits.

x Kristina Varaksina - Schools girls at the sea shore, Muynak, Karakalpakstan - Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan

School girls standing next to an installation at the former southern shore of the Aral Sea in Muynak, formerly a seaport town. Their parents were born when the sea was already gone, and only their grandparents remember the sea being so close.

x Daniela Constantini - Days of Silence - Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

‘Days of Silence’ is a portraiture exploration of deafness through the lives of couple Roselyn and Karl Gordon, living in Brooklyn; two young brothers, Neo and Noel, living in The Bronx; and a young man, Alex German Beutel, and his friends in Central Park and Harlem. They are surrounded by objects, places and people they will never hear. ‘Days of Silence’ is a project that is close to my heart and my life. I moved to New York to become a photographer and focused on portraying deafness and bringing this disability seldom photographed into the light.

x Dunja Opalko - Laura and Lena - London, UK

Laura von Behr, vintage specialist, photographed at her London home as part of my ‘Creative Mothers’ series, portraying women who push their creative careers forward while raising children. “Becoming a mum has reimagined everything for me. My work felt like a big part of me creatively and filled most corners of my mind. Now time seems to run away before my eyes. There is never enough of it and I can feel like I am chasing the impossible. But sometimes when I am alone with Lena I have these moments that are almost dreamlike, as though I am taking in every little unique and beautiful thing about her in that exact second. I try and remember to slow down and enjoy those fragments of quiet in the middle of the chaos… The dress Lena chose for these photographs was made for me as a girl by her great granny. I hope I can show her the value and beauty in old things, just like my family have done for me” – Laura von Behr.

x May Graham - Only Child - Shetland Islands, Scotland

My daughter is accustomed to having a camera pointed at her, even at the tender age of five; she understands that it accompanies me wherever I go. I have conflicting emotions about photographing her, not due to others’ opinions, but because of how she might feel when she looks back on the photographs in the future. It is a matter of consideration. I always make sure to ask her permission before capturing a photo, and she typically agrees. I could not be prouder of my delightful little model. I selected this particular image of her because it exudes confidence and independence. I wish for her to retain this level of self-assurance in the years to come. Confidence yes, but I frequently discuss the importance of showing empathy towards individuals with her. Having been raised with similar values, I can observe her empathy shining through in the small gestures and words she expresses.

x Dilan Bozyel - Caught Between Worlds: The Plight of Earthquake Refugees - Hatay, Turkey

Approximately 50,000 lives were claimed by the magnitude seven earthquake in Turkey on 06 February 2023. Today survivors inhabit makeshift settlements of tents and container sites. Among them, a significant proportion are refugees, particularly those fleeing Middle Eastern conflicts, seeking refuge in the crumbling edifices of Hatay’s ghetto neighbourhoods. These refugees, rendered homeless by the quake, endure harsh conditions in tents. It is a widely acknowledged yet often disregarded reality that post-earthquake living conditions, especially for children, have worsened. The state’s efforts fall short of adequacy. In the disaster zone, all inhabitants, especially child refugees, feel forsaken by the world. They articulate their plight through the lens of purgatory, a concept from religious texts signifying the space between life and the afterlife. Refugees express feeling trapped in a state of limbo, suspended between life and death.

x Francis Augusto - Samuel Augusto, 2023 - London, UK

‘Growing Together’ chronicles the entwined growth of little brother Samuel and myself through intimate photographs and stories. As Sam pursued football dreams and I navigated art, our bond deepened through shared coming-of-age trials; lacking paternal guidance I found strength in my mentors. Their life-saving support inspired me to pay it forward as Samuel grew. Though created as a personal memento, our story further aims to comfort youths searching for role models by spotlighting the profound impacts steadfast figures can impart during pivotal times.

x Isa Rus - Arantza and Lucía waiting for their baby - Berlin, Germany

Portrait of Arantza and Lucía as they embark on the journey of motherhood together.