BA (Hons) Documentary Photography

Packed Lunch Graduation Exhibition (2022)

The Packed Lunch exhibition and photobook represent the culmination of our time on BA Documentary Photography at the University of South Wales. A jam-packed visual feast, Packed Lunch invites its audience to unpack and consume what is in front of them.

The title Packed Lunch is a fictional extrapolation of the often-quoted ethos of good organisation exemplified by “sensible shoes”, so essential to the founder of our course David Hurn in 1973, to whom we are always indebted.

Packed Lunch is secondly an allegorical nod to the endless complexity of the practice of documentary, questioned in the ‘subjective turn’ in the medium in the 1970s and 80s, and still very much in debate today. The diverse menu of storytelling presented here reflects the interplay of subjective fiction and objective truth in our work... Don’t take this idea too seriously, it’s a bit of fun. 

- David Harrhy, on behalf of the Doc Phot class of 2022.

Exhibitors

Archie ArchibaldArchie Archibald is a photographer and visual artist based in Cardiff. Archie focuses on issues to do with the self & personal issues relating to memory, gender, and past identity. Through the medium of photo-montage and moving image,  Archie has created projects that aim to both help him work through ideas of gender and memory and also push the boundaries of what  documentary can be.

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Steve BellSteve Bell is a documentary photographer, skateboarding filmmaker and artist from Derby. Steve is the founder and Editor in Chief of independent book publisher 103 Books.

Steve's work aims to investigate psychological structures on the level of both the individual and the societal. By exploring our perceptions of psyche and mind, both as individuals and as a culture, insights can be gained into how each impacts the other. Through capturing moments by observing the world around him, Steve’s images become a series of individual ‘events’  that come together to form a greater idea. With his work, he hopes to create a tangible space between truth and imagination, a world in which the viewer can exist as if dreaming, and so, challenge preconceived ideas about the nature of reality and memory.

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Oscar BrainOscar Brain is a contemporary documentary filmmaker from Worcester, whose work discusses intimate personal and social complexities. His work re-enforces creativity using tools such as animation, interactive story telling, and performance to help convey the subject matter.

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Laurie BroughtonLaurie Broughton is a Social Documentary photographer from London. Laurie's practice explores themes around youth culture and social housing. Through research and exposure to subjects, he aims to challenge himself to look underneath the surface of preconceived notions of identity and cultural stereotypes, through immersing himself within the communities he photographs.

His work questions outdated views on communities with the aim to challenge societal norms in the form of immersive image-making over a prolonged period of time.

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Alex Campbell-ReevesAlex Campbell-Reeves is a photographer from Gloucestershire. His work is primarily concerned with environmentalism, with a focus on resource scarcity and the impact that this has on both the landscape and society more widely. By using a multifaceted approach, he aims to engage with global issues through small stories.

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Tom CroninTom is a documentary photographer. In the past his work it has focused the intimate relationship between an individual and their mental health. At this current point in time his personal work explores his own faith through engaging with religious communities. Developing through a series of portraits, landscapes, and still life, the project journeys through the way faith is tested repeatedly but also the console it can grant. Faith runs through all we do in our society, it forms the communities we live within, it gives us values and standards to govern ourselves, even if we think we do not engage with it. Through his work, he seeks to better comprehend his own feelings on faith but also provide a way to start conversations about belief in the 21st century.

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Nate DaviesNate Davies is a practitioner from Cardiff, Wales, who uses photography as his primary medium, specialising in printed books and zines. Born in 2000, his work looks at the world through a critical lens, especially the increasingly inescapable digital landscape we find ourselves in. His work discusses the effects of late capitalism, often using urban wildlife, such as rats, as a vessel with which to inspect our relationship with systems of control. Rats have much in common with humans, including the way in which our minds work, hence their propensity to be used in experiments. Given our talent for making animals extinct, the rat’s hardiness becomes fascinating – given that they thrive in squalor, they are a mirror for our worst traits as a species. As food waste becomes more prevalent, so do the rats.

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Teifi DaviesTeifi Davies is a documentary photographer from South Wales. Her practise predominantly focuses on themes of childhood, innocence, and loss. Her most developed work explores the complexities of childhood and the female experience, through collaboration between both photographer and subject. The work is emotive and engages with the question of what it means to be a woman and what it means to stop being a girl. Through other works, Teifi explores the entanglements of boyhood, and through further collaboration with young boys on the cusp of becoming men, her work seeks to show beauty within such moments. Her practise aims to portray the beauty and magical essence of childhood and innocence by depicting a hopeful yet confusing transition for young people.

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Connor DoranConnor Doran is a documentary photographer from Brighton currently studying at the University of South Wales. His photographic practice centers around current political, social, and cultural issues affecting society on both large and small scales. Connor’s style consists of traditional portraits and details to highlight the people affected or facing the issues that he explores.

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Alice DurhamAlice Durham is a documentary photographer from Hertfordshire, based in Cardiff. Durham’s work stems from her interest in psychology and anthropology, as she explores topics of mental health, specifically looking at eating disorders, addiction, and depression. Durham’s visual authorship encompases both traditional documentary and more oblique imagery, using metaphor to portray inner conflicts and shared experiences of the world, with the aim of furthering understanding as to the human condition.

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James EllawayJames Ellaway is a visual artist and writer based in Wales, U.K. His work combines photography, moving image, audio, and the archive to explore themes of power, capitalism and the socio-political. Using the comparative aesthetics of analogue and digital mediums, Ellaway’s visual work draws attention to the imbued nostalgic, temporal, and indexical qualities of the photographic image and their usage as they relate to the capitalist societies of the global West, offering illumination and proposing ‘alternalities’ by way of subversion. Ellaway’s combined visual arts and text projects are intended to critique and evaluate the many nuanced ways in which imagery and visual language has historically been, and indeed presently can be, used as a tool for behavioural coercion, culminating in a form of activism by way of knowledge-sharing, or ‘consciousness raising’. 

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Malachi FrancisMalachi Francis is a British Documentary Photographer currentl living in Cardiff, South Wales. Malachi’s work is contemporary documentary photography imbued with a passion for the natural world. Having been exposed to various different cultures from a young age, this ignited the curiosity within him to explore and experienc the world. Much of his work is based around ideas of identity as well as moments in time and how they shape us. As Malachi continues to shape his career, his interest around conservation an the natural landscape continue to grow, now becoming an integra part in his work and studies.

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Ross GardnerRoss Gardner is a photographer from the west coast of Scotland. Often taking inspiration from science fiction stereotypes and conspiracy theories Gardner questions how these relate to the world around him. Working with the photographic image, alongside archival and screen-based imagery, Gardner explores themes around technology, the future, and global power dynamics. He seeks to explore and uncover subjects existing at the fringes of truth, often questioning the role the photograph has played within these subjects.

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Billy HansonBilly Hanson is a British documentary photographer from Lincolnshire, England. His practice is primarily portrait based and uses the process of making photographs as a tool for questioning personal and British identity. Billy adopts a thoughtful, serendipitous approach to picture making; he travels extensively through surrounding landscapes and responds emotionally.

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David HarrhyDavid Harrhy is a Welsh Documentary Photographer, currently studying documentary photography at the University of South Wales. David seeks to use photography to explore Marxist critiques of 21st Century capitalism, dealing with his own internal conflicts as well as the South Welsh working class and their relationship with the political classes.  David uses smaller, more local subject matter to explore abstract theoretical debates about our current global political system and the control it has over us.

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Jon HosgoodJon Hosgood has been working as a professional photographer for more than 20 years and, in that time, has undertaken most types of photography - studio, commercial, editorial, wedding, and portrait. Hosgood’s style is varied but his strength lies in the technical knowledge gained from many years of image-making before the arrival of digital cameras and computer manipulation. 

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Curtis HughesCurtis Hughes is a British multi-award-winning social documentary and portrait photographer who uses the medium to explore humanity and question his own identity and belonging within society through connections and exchanges with others. Trust, honesty, and compassion are key components to Hughes’ work, giving space for genuine connections between himself and his collaborators. Hughes is also interested in the process of creating photographic workshops, integrating education into his practice, and teaching photography to children and marginalized communities to help them elicit their own creative voices. His work has been featured in consecutive years in the Portrait of Britain award and in 2022.

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Sam HunterSam Hunter is a documentary photographer and visual artist from Shropshire. Sam is Editor and co-founder of independent book publisher 103 Books. Sam's work seeks to explore both self and collective identity within contemporary society and aims to present an introspective view into both the self and the world around him. Through engaging visually with those on the fringes of society, Sam's work aims to provide an insight into the unknown, using images as a means of catharsis, of making sense of both his own mind and the minds of others.

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Ash JenkinsAsh Jenkins is a Cardiff-based photographer from Exeter, Devon. Their interest in photography stems from a love of the written word, the narrative and documenting the everyday. Their work has always shown an appreciation of the local: covering small businesses and up-and-coming bands in a world dominated by large industries. Working in independent bars and venues from a young age, they are now directing their focus on the music industry - particularly live shows. They aspire to reflect how the vibrant music scene of Cardiff has inspired them. Through colour and vivid imagery, they aim to express the feelings of the live music experience to the viewer.

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Tracy JonesTracy Ackerman Jones is a contemporary documentary photographer and visual artist from Cardiff whose work addresses frequently overlooked social issues such as mental health, addiction and those thought to be on the fringes of society. Tracy’s work mainly focuses on masculinity, femininity, psychology, anthropology and ideologies; how this is expressed externally through anatomy and the metaphorical, within internal and external environments that coincide within societies expectations.

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Lydia KallasteLydia Kallaste is a photographer from the West Midlands. Her work is primarily focused on environmental issues, more specifically exploring bodies of water and their prominence in the natural landscape. She is continuing to develop her own authorship in her photography and takes inspiration from the natural environment when considering aesthetic, resulting in images of a conceptual nature. Her aim is to reflect the beauty that can be found within the natural landscape whilst also highlighting the importance of conservation and monitoring. By predominantly photographing using a macro lens, she intentionally creates a sense of ambiguity in her work, igniting thought and reflection into the viewers around the subject matter.

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Hannah LlewellynHannah Llewellyn is a photographer based in South Wales. Her practice sits within the genre of Documentary Photography and focuses mainly on social issues such as feminism, LGBTQ+ communities, and ethnic minorities. Hannah’s work is visualised through both conceptual and literal images of her subject matter.

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Sophie PottertonSophie Potterton is a UK based Documentary Photographer/Visual Artist exploring how photography can be used to underpin social legalities. Studying Documentary Photography at the University of South Wales, Sophie will graduate in Summer 2022. Her work is often interested in the relationship between the real and imaginary and gravitates towards a mix of conceptual and straight documentary story-telling projects, influenced by her previous studies in English Language and Law. She has a fundamental interest in people and working collaboratively with her subjects.

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Katie SainsburyKatie Sainsbury is a UK based Documentary Photographer exploring current social and political issues specifically within the natural world.  Her work is often influenced by personal memory and her passion for nature having grown up with an agricultural background. Additionally, her practice discusses themes of the cyclical behaviours of life and death, memory, feminism and our relationship as humans with and to the land, especially in consideration of an ever-modernising and technological world. Previous studies of English Literature and History influence her process greatly, as well as finding much inspiration from the natural world around her.

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Luke SumnerWorking within the realm of documentary, Luke Sumner makes photographs that are characterised by an inquisitive approach toward subject matter, research, and aesthetic. Sumner values open and honest story telling, the dynamic relationship that coexists between photography and time, and the images capacity to capture fine detail. Before finding a vocation in photography Sumner worked as a graphic designer. His attention to visual form influences his response to picture making and environment in many ways.

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Marta WawrzyckaMarta Wawrzycka was born in 1978 in Szczecin, in West Pomeranian, Poland, in a traditional catholic, Polish working-class family. As a child, Wawrzycka witnessed political changes in Poland, moving from a Communist regime to a Democratic system. Wawrzycka has lived in Cardiff since 2014. As an artist, Wawrzycka is inspired by science and contemporary modern world issues. Wawrzycka’s area of interest is philosophical questions based on everyday observations and life experiences. Wawrzycka works with a medium of photography and installations, experimenting with visualcmetaphors. Wawrzycka’s work is mostly conceptually rooted in documentary and based on in-depth research about the subject.

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