New photographic works by three early career artists, Alejandra Carles-Tolra, Sam Laughlin and Lua Ribeira, enabled by the second, biennial, Jerwood/Photoworks Awards.

Alejandra Carles-Tolra is interested in the relationship between individual and group identity and how one identity influences the other. In Where We Belong she explores themes of belonging, femininity and escapism by following a group of Jane Austen devotees.

Sam Laughlin’s series A Certain Movement is a meditation on the state of the natural world and our place within it. His work focuses on patterns of animal behaviour and intricate natural processes occurring all around us. Close observations of various species and the signs suggesting their presence in the landscape, allow us to enter intimate and fragile spaces, increasingly marginalised by human activities.

Lua Ribeira’s constructed series Subida al Cielo (heavenly ascent) is a personal visualisation, built on the fear of dying. Motivated by escape from reality and the longing for mythological significance in contemporary life, the work is an allegorical exploration of the inevitable decay of the human body, in relation to classical mythology and religious symbols of mortality.

Following a national open call, the three Awardees were selected from over 350 artists by Celia Davies – Director of Photoworks, Sarah Williams – Head of Programme at Jerwood Visual Arts, Anna Fox – photographer, Ori Gersht – photographer and Mark Durden – writer and photographer.

With a bursary of £5,000 each and access to a significant production fund to make new work, the artists underwent a year of developmental support from photography specialists such as Mitch Epstein, Michael Mack and Maureen Paley plus the teams at Photoworks and Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

More information can be found here

Photo: To Be Titled from the series Subida-al-Cielo © Lua Ribeira​