News, events, updates, info, notes, etc. regarding the MA Photography @ UWE Bristol. Ashton Court Estate.) His latest book, SLANT, is published by MACK (2019).
The MA Photography programme at UWE - established in 2017 - explores photography from an expansive range of contemporary, creative, expressive, critical and intellectual perspectives. Our aim is to develop a new generation of leading, dynamic, ambitious, innovative and informed photographic practitioners – as well as a vibrant, active and supportive community – who are working at the highest arti
stic and professional levels. We are committed to contributing to, challenging and advancing the photographic medium, as well as the dialogues that revolve around it, through an intensive focus on creative experimentation, cutting-edge production and considered critical engagement. The course is offered as a full-time (15-month) option, allowing students to fully research, develop and disseminate a substantial long-term photographic project(s) whilst also exploring and defining its aesthetic, conceptual, theoretical and critical foundations. The tuition consists of formally-structured lectures, seminars, workshops, masterclasses, critiques, field-trips, tutorials, professional development, independent practice-led study and a student-led Collective (which is encouraged to independently collaborate on self-initiated projects – publications, exhibitions, events, portfolio reviews, festivals and otherwise), as well as a dedicated series of Guest Lectures/Tutorials/Portfolio Reviews with Industry Leaders, which provide students with opportunities to build one-on-one relationships with some of today’s most important and influential practitioners and industry professionals, throughout the course of their studies and beyond. The programme is located at UWE’s City Campus in central Bristol,which stretches across a combination of University sites and partnerships with some of Bristol’s most important creative and cultural organisations, including:
· Arnolfini– one of Europe’s leading galleries for contemporary art
· Spike Island– an international development centre for contemporary art and design
· Watershed– the South West’s leading film culture and digital media centre
· Bower Ashton Studios– UWE’s administrative, academic and physical resources hub for the creative disciplines (set in the stunning grounds of the 11thC. Students have access to the University’s dedicated stock of professional-standard DSLR, medium- and large-format cameras, as well as lenses, lighting kits and other professional photographic equipment. UWE’s ever-expanding photographic facilities– which include traditional black-and-white and colour darkrooms and processing facilities, digital production, scanning and printing facilities, and newly-built state-of-the-art studios, as well as the University’s Centre for Fine Print Research,Centre for Moving Image Research, Digital Cultures Research Centre,Photography Research Group and more – offer students the opportunity to explore photography in both analogue and digital formats, to make work in both the studio and the world at large, and to produce and contextualize their work within the gallery, the book, print media, moving image, installation, performance, digital and web-based platforms and otherwise. Additionally, the course contributes to and collaborates closely with Bristol’s thriving photography scene – which includes partnerships with organisations throughout Bristol – as well as engages with those in London, and the greater international photography community. The course is designed for students who have a confident command of photographic technique, and a general foundation in the medium’s visual and critical histories. We welcome applications from those who have pursued photo-specific undergraduate programmes, as well as from a wider range of related academic, creative and professional backgrounds. Ultimately, we seek ambitious students who are passionate about and deeply invested in both photography and their own photographic practice; who want to focus on a specific long-term project(s) as well as on their overall creative voice, critical faculties and professional network; and who are committed to enhancing these through rigorous artistic experimentation, intellectual curiosity, and both practical and critical engagement with the various histories, photographic contexts, concepts, communities technologies, theoretical approaches and professional networks. STAFF
Programme Leaders:
AARON SCHUMAN – is an American photographer, writer, and curator based in the United Kingdom. His photographic work is exhibited and published internationally – most recently at galleries such as Hauser & Wirth (Somerset) and Christie’s (London / New York), and in magazines such as Foam, Hotshoe, and The British Journal of Photography – and is held in a number of public and private collections. He is the author of SLANT (MACK, 2019) and FOLK (NB Books, 2016) – which was cited as one of 2016’s “Best Photobooks” by Alec Soth (Photo-Eye), Sean O’Hagan (The Guardian), and Jason Fulford (TIME), and long-listed for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2017. In addition to his own photographic work, Schuman has contributed texts to many books including Aperture Conversations: 1985 to the Present (2018), Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins (2018), George Rodger: Nuba & Latuka—The Colour Photographs (2017), Alec Soth: Gathered Leaves (2015), Vision Anew (2015), The Photographer’s Playbook (2014) and Storyteller: The Photographs of Duane Michals (2014), amongst many others; he also regularly writes for magazines such as Aperture, Foam, Frieze, TIME, Hotshoe, The British Journal of Photography and more. Additionally, Schuman has curated several major exhibitions, including Indivisible: New American Documents - Gregory Halpern, Sam Contis, Bayete Ross Smith (FOMU Antwerp, 2016), In Appropriation (Houston Center of Photography, 2012), Other I: Alec Soth, WassinkLundgren, Viviane Sassen (Hotshoe London, 2011), and Whatever Was Splendid: New American Photographs (FotoFest, 2010). In 2014, Schuman served as Chief Curator of Krakow Photomonth 2014 – entitled Re:Search, the main programme featured exhibitions by Taryn Simon, Trevor Paglen, David Campany / Walker Evans, Clare Strand, Eyal Weizman, Jason Fulford and more. In 2018, Schuman also served as Curator of JaipurPhoto Festival 2018. Schuman was the founder and editor of SeeSaw Magazine (2004-2014, www.seesawmagazine.com), and is Programme Leader of MA Photography at the University of the West of England (UWE, Bristol). www.aaronschuman.com
DR. SHAWN SOBERS is a filmmaker, photographer, writer and lecturer. His research is primarily concerned with the use of media and arts in participatory education, advocacy, heritage, marginalised voices and untold stories – as a researcher his work has spanned a wide range of topics, including community media, creative education, Trans-Atlantic slave trade, disability & walking, and Rastafari culture. He has chapters and articles published in peer reviewed journals and books, and has spoken at a wide range of conferences. Shawn’s research has spanned a wide range of diverse topics, from the use of youth media in informal education, through to using media as an ethnographic research tool exploring subjects such as the legacy of the slave trade through to disability issues and walking. He co-founded Firstborn Creatives production company in 1999, and has made programmes for BBC 1, ITV West and Channel 4. Much of Shawn’s work is positioned within the discourses of participatory methodologies, community media, autoethnography and visual anthropology. He is an Associate Professor of Lens Media in the Department of Film & Journalism, and convenor of the UWE Photography Research Group at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE, Bristol). http://www.shawnsobers.com
DR. AMAK MAHMOODIAN is an Iranian-born artist and photographer living and working in Bristol, England. She graduated from the University of South Wales, Newport in 2015 with a practice-led PhD in Photography. In 2016, Mahmoodian published Shenasnameh (IC Visual Labs / RRB Publishing), which was shortlisted for a number of awards including TIME Magazine’s Best Photobooks of 2016 and Rencontres Arles Best Author Book Award 2016. She has exhibited her work internationally, including at the Carnegie Museum of Art (USA), Museum of Fine Arts Boston (USA), Chennai Photo Biennale (India), Open Eye Gallery (UK), Ffotogallery (UK), Belfast Exposed Gallery (UK), Athens Photography Festival (Greece) and elsewhere. He latest monograph, Kodakie, will be published by RRB Publishing in 2019. Mahmoodian is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE Bristol). www.amakmahmoodian.co.uk
Additional Staff:
Jim Campbell: Programme Leader – Photography
Liz Banks: Senior Lecturer – Photography, Film & Moving Image
Nick Bright: Senior Lecturer – Photography
Lee Elkins: Senior Lecturer - Photography
Amanda Harman: Senior Lecturer – Photography
