Artist
Billy Barraclough
Billy Barraclough (b. 1994) is a photographic artist based in London. Directed by his curiosity in the relationship between people and their environment, his work to date has explored ideas around identity, emotion and personal history.
A common thread throughout his practice is an interest in the metaphorical potential of photographs. His project, ‘John’s Notebooks’ (2020-2021), pulls on the symbolism present with the landscape of the home to touch on the emotions and memories connected to the childhood loss of his father. Whereas his most recent work ‘Murmurations’ (2020-21), employs the starling murmuration as a symbol to reflect on the current global crisis and the act of coming together and converging as a group.
Barraclough is a recent graduate of the MA Photography programme at Bristol UWE and is due to exhibit his master’s project, ‘John’s Notebooks’, at the 2021 Bristol Photo Festival.
John’s Notebooks
‘John’s Notebooks’ is written in marker pen across one of the boxes I pull down from the attic. A photographer and writer, my father left behind an archive and boxes full of notebooks, letters, drawings, paintings and other objects that have been stored away since his death 15 years ago. It was on returning to live in my family home and rediscovering the archive and objects belonging to my father that the work started to be made. ‘John’s Notebooks’ explores the memories and emotions connected to the loss of my father that are stored in the landscape of my family home and surrounding area, in my family members who live here, and in the objects he left behind.
Engaging my father’s pictures alongside my own, ‘John’s Notebooks’ becomes a conversation between father and son around legacy, and as much about presence, as absence.
Murmurations
‘Murmurations’ (working title) is a study of the shape, form and scale of starling murmurations, but also a personal reflection on the current global crisis, the heightened connection to nature during this period, and the act of coming together and converging as a group.
London-based Sophie Gladstone produces refreshingly honest work about her pursuit of cultural capital, through considered still lifes and self-portraits. She draws attention to society’s obsession with performance and perception of success, honing in on details of daily rituals and consumerism. Gladstone curates a duality in her aesthetic, which many might recognise and relate to in appreciation or distaste.
Studies in Huddersfield brought Silvana Trevale to the UK from Venezuela, where she was born and raised. Though the photographer has already seen notable success with her commercial work, her personal projects deserve equal recognition. Her ongoing series, Venezuelan Youth, captures the younger generation of her home country with a warmth that contrasts the social and political crisis currently unfolding there.
Billy Barraclough is a recent graduate from the MA photography course at University of the West of England, Bristol. In his tender black and white documentary projects, he captures moments of quiet contemplation with captivating sensitivity. The fact that he approaches his practice from a personal perspective is a token of his understanding of human connection and communication.
Another recent graduate, Tayo Adekunle completed a BA at Edinburgh College of Art this year. Placing herself in front of the camera lens, she directly confronts
photography’s dark history by recreating 19th century images of sensationalised Black bodies. Her work is as much an interrogation of dehumanisation, as a personal exploration of her culture, ancestry and inherited trauma.
Swiss photographer Matthieu Croizier completes our 2021 nominations. Taking inspiration from a variety of sources, which ranges from 19th century medical archives to David Lynch’s 1977 horror sci-fi Eraserhead, he uses his lens to explore queerness and his experience of it. For Croizier, photography gives him the space to understand his identity, the language of the queer community, and all the superficial social constructs that have been connected to them over time. It is an act of self-expression – literally and figuratively.