UEL students stage The Body photography exhibition

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Published

18 August 2021

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Students have created, produced and curated their first photography exhibition after just one term.

First year photography students explored themes through their work including body dysmorphia, PTSD, sexual identity, societal and cultural expectations, mental health challenges and personal experiences of living with physical disorder.

The exhibition - The Body - was displayed on the University's Docklands campus for all to see.

 

The students have all worked incredibly hard to get ready for their first exhibition, and the exhibition has been wonderful.

"These opportunities help students start to think about their work commercially and it helps them develop their skills for their future careers,"

Minna Kantonen, programme leader for photography, said.

Students explored themes through their work, many drawing on their personal experiences. Student, Mamun Mojlish's work called 'outlaw' portrayed a transition from a religious teenage girl to becoming independent woman and challenging her family's beliefs. The portrait was photographed during the photographer's recent visit to Morocco. In his photography practice, Mamun is interested in socially engaged photography and in telling challenging visual narratives.

Hannah Staniford, who is also a first-year student, recently had life changing surgery called Scapular Fixation which stabilises the shoulder blade by attaching it to the ribcage. Born with Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD). Hannah used film photography to narrate her personal experience of living with the muscle disorder.

Her work 'Pin Up' are 'pinned up' like Hannah's shoulder and subverts social constructs of the well-known 'pin up' beauty standard of women. Choosing to show the images unedited, unfiltered is also a nod to the contemporary issues of feminism. The photographs were shot in a studio against a plain white background using butterfly lighting in order to highlight the message.

Photo credit: Josip Antolovic, BA (Hons) Photography student

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