Jaka Teršek

Paweł Starzec (Ph. D) is a documentalist, photographer, sociologist, academic teacher. Mainly interested in long-term projects focusing on envisioning broader processes through their aftermath and consequences. Recipient of the Young Poland 2024 Ministry of Culture scholarship, PixHouse Talent of the Year Scholar award, Artistic Scholarship of the Mayor of Wrocław 2024, winner of Urbanautica Institute Award, Enconctros da Imagem Discovery Award and Spojrzenia Award, received honorable mentions in Allegro Prize, Lodz Fotofestival Grand Prix, and CDS Documentary Essay Prize, finalist of the Polityka Passports Award and Grand Press Photo. His works are in collections of Encontros Da Imagem (PT) and National Institute of Architecture and Urbanism (PL). As a sociologist, he researches modern iconographies and visual narratives. Vice- Dean of the Faculty of Design at SWPS University and Head of Communication Design speciality at the School of Form USWPS. Creator of workshop programs, co-founder of Azimuth Press art/ education collective. Member of APP platform. Graduate of Applied Sociology Department of University of Warsaw, and of Institute of Creative Photography of Silesian University in Opava (MA). Part time musician and sound artist under various monikers. DIY / zine culture enthusiast.

Claude Bühler is a swiss artist, who works mainly with photography and sound. Her work examines notions of collectivity and intimacy by creating soft spaces and provoking performative moments, that allow small acts of liberation.

Adi Tudose (b. 1987, Bucharest) is an artist-photographer based in Budapest. After completing his studies at The National University of Theatre and Film, he further expanded his artistic vision through experiences in Milano. He is pursuing an MA in Photography at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, where his practice continues evolving. For him, the camera is far more than a tool—it is a medium through which he connects with the world around him. The streets become dynamic, ever-changing spaces where unpredictable encounters unfold. Immersing himself fully in these environments, Tudose approaches his subjects with empathy and sensitivity, capturing their lives with care and revealing emotional depth and vulnerability. Tudose can transform fleeting, transient moments into cohesive compositions, bringing order and harmony to the everyday. Through this process, he taps into the subconscious, offering viewers a sense of unity within the chaos. His seamless blending of form and content sets him apart, creating simple yet mysterious representations. His work is characterized by cohesive framing, a rich interplay of diverse elements, and tuned figure-to-ground relationships. Tudose’s work offers an invitation to reflect on what photography can reveal about the human condition. Each frame carries layers of emotional and sociological insight, capturing the essence of his subjects while creating space for the viewer to connect with them on a personal level. Each photograph becomes more than a visual representation; it transforms into a deeply felt emotional experience. Empathy and vulnerability lie at the core of Tudose’s creative process, enabling him to form deeper connections with his subjects and uncover meaningful relationships that might otherwise remain hidden. His work seeks to evoke genuine emotions, delving into themes of social and gender representation while fostering a sense of belonging. In doing so, he transforms emotional disconnection into moments of peace and truth. As an artist, Tudose is committed to long-term projects that tell meaningful stories, ones that challenge him to confront fear, embrace vulnerability, and transform his personal experiences into shared human truths. His photography doesn’t just document—it transcends, offering symbols of connection and hope in a chaotic world.

Ana-Cristina IRIAN is a visual arts researcher, curator, and research-based artist who works with collections, photo archives, and multimedia materials. She studied sociology (Trento&Regensburg) and visual anthropology (Bucharest&Perugia). She holds a PhD in visual arts at UNARTE. Her artistic practice is developed under the motto No one left behind. It consists of the production of photo-objects and working with marginal/hidden objects and photographs, together with research materials transformed into photo-video installations reflecting the life of unknown people. Cristina participated in over 35 exhibitions in Romania and abroad, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Portugal, and Hungary. Cristina's recent projects focus on interpreting memory objects and integrating photographic material into contemporary spaces through visual installations. Notable displays include her contribution to Fragmentum at Palatele Brâncovenești and Here they lived at Carol 53 and the International Visual Art Biennale Brașov (2021, 2023). Cristina has published studies in Anthropology of East Europe Review, Indiana University; History of Communism in Europe, IICCMER; Studies and History Articles, Romanian Society of Historical Sciences; Romanian Contemporary Photography Influx; Revelar, Universidade do Porto. She is also the author of "Photographic collections and archives today, in the digital world," published by Tritonic.

Parisa Aminolahi (Tehran, Iran), based in the Netherlands, is a freelance filmmaker and photographer. Her series are mostly long-term projects. And her work explores themes such as displacement, exile, homeland, family, and childhood memories, using old family photographs, self-portraits, and her own family members as subjects. Her mediums include photography, documentary filmmaking, animation, painting, and mixed media.

She studied theatre stage design (BA) and animation (MA) at University of Art in Tehran and documentary filmmaking (MA) at Royal Holloway, University of London.

She is a recipient of The Firecracker Photographic Grant, The Netherlands Film Fund, GUP New Dutch Photography Talent of the Year and One World Media Student Film Bursary. Her dummy book, Tehran Diary, was shortlisted for the MACK First Book Award, BUP Book Award, and PHmuseum Women Photographers Grant. She has held screenings and exhibitions locally and internationally and is represented by Ag Galerie.

He approached photography as a self-taught artist after earning a diploma in Graphic Design and Art Direction from NABA Milan in 2014. In 2015, after spending one year in Tbilisi (Georgia) working on a documentary about Abkhazian refugees, he returned to Italy and joined the photography collective CESURA, where he remained for two years. During this time, he worked as an assistant to photographer Gabriele Micalizzi and collaborated with Alex Majoli (MAGNUM) on the production of several major exhibitions. While at CESURA, he shifted away from a photojournalistic approach, developing a long-term, research-driven photographic practice with a strong focus on photobooks. After leaving the collective in 2017, he began working as a freelance photographer. His journey took him first to Siberia, where he worked on the project I Don’t Try to Feel Awake Anymore. In 2019, in Oklahoma, where a chance encounter with Kristal and her son Skyler led to Love Mom, an ongoing project that explores the sometimes toxic relationship between a mother and her son while also reflecting on emptiness and the profound solitude embedded in the vastness of the American suburbs. In 2020, driven by the need to find a place to call home, he moved from Milan to a small village of 50 inhabitants in the Val di Noto. There, he began working on All These Goodbyes, a body of work that serves as both self-reflection and the story of an escape. In the spring of 2021, he spent three months in Denmark collaborating with photographer Jacob Aue Sobol (MAGNUM) on the production of his book James House (2022). In 2022, he was selected as one of the 25 winners of Italian Panorama, an open call organized by Vogue Italia and PhotoVogue. In January 2023, the Penumbra Foundation (New York, USA) awarded him a full scholarship for its Long-Term Photobook Program.

Viacheslav Poliakov is a visual artist, photographer, graphic designer. He was born in 1986 in Kherson, Ukraine. Obtained a master’s degree in art education from Kherson State University. Now based in Lviv, Ukraine. His art practice exists on the intersection of documentary photography and design. He's interested in objects and spaces made by people, the historic background behind the urban landscape. Viacheslav is a finalist of Foam Talents, Vienna Photobook Festival, Circulations, Krakow Photomonth Showoff, Fotofestival Lodz Grand Prix, Prix Levallois. His works were published in the Foam Magazine, The British Journal of Photography, GUP magazine, Lensculture, The Washington Post.

Influenced from an early age by the culture of photojournalism, Elliott Verdier soon began to question his position as a witness and the subjectivity of his gaze. His work is naturally far removed from current events and favours the slowness of the camera, exploring the shadows of our world in search of what is invisible but universal: the memory of present and past lives, and the path it determines for us. His photography emanates a melancholy expectation, a suspended time, a silence that gives way to our existential questioning. Through a delicate aesthetic, it is no longer a question of looking solely through the prism of our wounds, but of seeing above all the grace that emerges from our struggles, and the constant resilience that overcomes our frailties. Elliott Verdier was born in Paris (France) in 1992 and graduated from the Écoles de Condé in 2015.

Irish artist, Miriam O’Connor lives and works in Cork. She holds a BA in photography from Dublin Institute of Technology, and completed a Research Masters at the Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire in 2011. Drawing inspiration from the language, sights and sounds of the everyday, O’Connor’s practice frequently engages with matters which reflect her everyday surroundings, as well as her day-to-day experiences of being a photographer. Her projects have explored themes around looking and seeing; the relationship between camera and subject; the circulation and consumption of images and the complex nature of photographic representation.Her work has been exhibited and distributed extensively, with features in magazines and publications including; Camera Austria, Source Photographic Review, The New York Times and The Guardian. Recent solo shows include Sternview Gallery, Cork, Galleri Image, Denmark, The Third Space Gallery, Belfast and during ‘THERE THERE’ festival, Cork curated by Stag & Deer. In 2012, she received the Alliance Française Photography Award, which included a residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris. She was the recipient of the Emerging Irish Artist Residency Award [EIARA] in 2015 which included a month-long residency at Burren College of Art, Co. Clare. Publications include, ‘Attention Seekers’ (2012) ‘The Legacy Project’ (2013) and ‘Tomorrow is Sunday’ (2017). She was one of the selected artists for Greetings from Ireland (2015) and New Irish Works I & II (2013, 2016). In conjunction with Galleri Image, Denmark, she recently produced new work for FRESH EYES - International artists rethink Aarhus, which was exhibited during Aarhus Capital of Culture, 2017.

Mathias Eis (b. 1995) is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, who specializes in long-term real-life projects that explore people’s ways of living through portraiture, reportage and landscape photography. He graduated with an BA in Photojournalism from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in 2023. He also attended the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, where he studied Fine Art Photography from 2018-2019. He is particularly interested in communities and subcultures that provide a unique insight into a life that few have access to. He works as a freelancer focusing on longer projects combined with commissioned assignments for various international and national media.