Young photographers from across England have been chosen to have their work exhibited as part of Photoworks Festival, in a new joint project between English Heritage Shout Out Loud and Photoworks.
Almost 70 photographers entered nearly 200 individual images for England’s New Lenses, a programme which invited works in response to the theme of ‘untold heritage’, including personal ancestry, family history, community stories and future heritage, including climate change and inequality. A range of the works submitted can be seen here for our festival.
Several young people also had their work chosen from the selection as prize winners. Entries were broken into two age categories with 1 winner and 4 runners up. A public vote also took place last weekend, with hundreds of votes being placed over the final weekend a top voted image in each age group again being awarded prizes.
The winners are:
Winner > 18: Maryam Rana
Winner 19-25: Jodie Bateman
Runner up > 18: Chloe Phillips
Runner up > 18: Eesha Patel
Runner up > 18: Charlotte Rowe
Runner up > Aditi Vellora
Runner up 19-25: Maryam Wahid
Runner up 19-25: Gaida Ferrara
Runner up: Oliver Wright
Runner up: Abigail Evans
Public vote: Alfie B
Public vote: Nathan McGill
Winner Maryam Rana said of her entry, “My grandparents are seated with their grandchildren, telling them the story of our ancestors in the photographs. They are passing on their own memories to us so that our ancestors’ stories are not forgotten.
Runner up Abigail Evans, said of her work, “The main connection to his heritage my Granddad shared with me was the food of his home country of Guyana. He was poor at sharing recipes, cooking too quickly and just getting on with it or sneaking in secret ingredients. A few years after he died, my mum and I both really specifically fancied something in the style of “jungle food”, as he called it, which involves fried plantain, dumplings, coconut-y sauce and often fresh fish. This image shows my mum’s hands, which I share, as she peels the tough skin of the plantain, I love all the softened points and tips and the proximity we feel looking at it.”
Those awarding the prizes included Dr Dominique Bouchard, Head of Learning, English Heritage, Ronan Mckenzie, a photographer also exhibiting in Photoworks Festival, Julia Bunneman, Curator, Photoworks and young people from Shout Out Loud and Queer History Now, a LGBTQ+ youth-led programme dedicated to preserving queer archives and enabling the queer community to take control over the stories and narratives that are told about their lives.
Dr Dominique Bouchard, Head of Learning and Interpretation, English Heritage, said, “We wanted to offer young people a platform to share their voices in our current national debate about the future of heritage. The quality of the submissions was remarkable, but not surprising: young people have important things to say. The photographs submitted are compelling, striking, and powerful in their keen awareness that who we are is shaped by the past, and they show us that heritage is more important than ever.
Juliette Buss, Learning and Engagement Consultant, Photoworks, said, “These works are an insightful window into the future of heritage from the perspective of some amazing young artists. The range of submissions was fantastic – we saw works coming in from across the country and with a broad range of perceptive takes on the theme. We are thrilled that a series of the works will be online as part of Photoworks Festival and for them to be seen by our audiences.”
