Heather Shuker - Portrait of Britain

MAP6 are delighted to announce that Heather Shuker has been shortlisted for The British Journal of Photography's Portrait of Britain 2018 with one of her Shetland portraits. Heather will also be featured in the first ever Portrait of Britain book.

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MAP6 Meeting

This weekend the MAP6 collective met in London, where we spent the day presenting our new Shetland work to one another. These feedback sessions an opportunity to collectively edit one another’s work and exchange ideas. We will be exhibiting the work later in the year in a number of locations, and intend to produce a publication of the Shetland Project. More news coming soon...

MAP6 feature on Shetland

MAP6 will be heading to the Shetland Islands in just a few weeks, to work on a new collaborative project. In preparation for our arrival the online magazine Shetland has featured us on their website. You can read the piece by clicking on the image below.

Phil Le Gal joins MAP6

We are delighted to announce that photographer Phil Le Gal has joined the MAP6 collective!. Phil will be joining us on our new collaborative project in the Shetlands next month. We got the chance to quiz him about his work and future plans.

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Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you got into Photography? 

Firstly I guess my dad had a strong influence on how I got into photography. I remember thinking the world looked better through the viewfinder of his camera. Following a career in engineering I moved to London and later enrolled in several short courses at London Central Saint-Martins, which eventually led me to a foundation degree in Photography. This was when I discovered documentary photography as a genre, the power of narratives and story illustration from sequencing a set of photographs. I went on and applied for a Masters in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the London College of Communication, UAL and graduated in 2014.

Who are your influences and can you tell us about any inspiring books or exhibitions you have seen recently? 

Aside of my paternal influence many photographers have shaped my visual education. I have been mostly sensitive to colour American photography (Saul Leiter/Stephen Shore/William Eggleston/Joel Meyerowitz) and their British counterparts Paul Graham and Tom Wood. I admire the research work of Taryn Simon, the quirky subject matter of Alec Soth and the stunning portraiture of Nadav Kander and Anastasia Taylor Lind, Rob Hornstra’s exemplary long-term documentary projects and Edward Burtynsky's take on globalisation. The New Topographics movement and the concept of "man-altered landscape" depiction is also of importance to me. I am based in London and visit photographic exhibitions on a regular basis. Londoners are spoiled for choice really. Last month I visited Simon Roberts' Merrie Albion, Andreas Gursky's retrospective and the stunningly beautiful "The East End in Colour 1960-1980" exhibitions.

Can you tell us a bit about your work, significant projects and favourite moments in photography.

My final project for my MA allowed me to reconnect with my home region of Brittany that I had left 13 years before. The project was well received and went on to be published in the British Journal of Photography in their best of graduates of the year dossier. I was also already working on a long-term project related to European borders when the 2015-2016 so called European refugee crisis took place. This was really a defining moment for me as I witnessed history unfolding before my eyes. This also reminded me of the importance of the ethics in photojournalism and documentary photography,

Can you tell us a little bit about Photoscratch? 

Photo Scratch was born following my graduation in MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography in 2014. With my friend and fellow student Hanna-Katrina Jędrosz we realised there was room to create a platform to facilitate constructive feedback -similar to our MA tutorials- for work in progress of documentary projects. Most creative individuals are going through this phase of obtaining feedback from trusted peers when producing work. We facilitate this exchange and it is also free to participate. We created Photo Scratch and ran our first session in January 2016. In the last 2 years almost 200 Documentary photographers obtained feedback from their work in progress projects at Photo Scratch, which is a massive achievement, we are really proud of. Photo Scratch is going on strong, every other month, and you can follow us at https://photoscratch.org.

What first drew you to MAP6? 

I found out about MAP6 back in 2014 when both of our groups MAP6 and my group Where We Stand were exhibiting at the Brighton Photo Fringe’s collectives show. The concept of going somewhere no one from the collective has previously been before to document this new environment, each photographer with its own specific angle, really appealed to me. I think the Dala Lamai may have said “once a year go someplace you've never been before”. This really is it!

What is coming up next for you in terms of projects and work?

2018 is another year of important life changes for me. Yet I have planned to return to Ireland and Northern Ireland to carry on the long-term documentary work about the consequences of Brexit on the border of the 2 countries. I am also aiming to complete another chapter of my long-term project documenting the evolution of the European borders focused on the Schengen space. I have many projects in my head but not enough time! And of course joining the MAP6 collective to go to the Shetlands will be a highlight of this year!

MAP6 at MK Gallery

The MAP6 Photographic Collective set out to document Milton Keynes in April 2017, to celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the City. Seven of the nine MAP6 members, plus a guest photographer from America (Dustin Newhouse), set off for a long weekends shoot and a short weekend edit. It was a tight shoot but focused us ~ resulting in a variety of views and approaches, from walking the peripheries, focusing upon the iconic shopping centre, shooting portraits and conceptual work around the bus station. The purpose was to explore the complex relationship between people and place, to capture its geography, people, structure, architecture and history.

The resulting work went on show at the MAK Gallery in May 2017.

 

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Barry Falk in Poland

At the end of November Barry Falk returns to Poland to travel within the inverted triangle formed by the three death camps of Treblinka, Sobibor and Belzec ~ the epicentre for Operation Reinhard (The Final Solution) to visit areas that once held sizeable Jewish populations. He plans to visit former ghettos, towns that were once shtetls, synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. This is part of an on-going research project looking into the Jewish narrative in Poland during the Twentieth Century. The project is also concerned with memory ~ how we both remember and forget past atrocity and immense loss.

 

 

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Paul Walsh in Tanzania

Paul Walsh is currently in Tanzania as project photographer, as part of an NGO Project based in Morogorro. The charity is focusing on developing small communities and creating sustainable change within education, sanitation and environmental projects. Paul has been documenting the NGO Project, photographing people coming and going, taking admin photos, training photos, photographing council and village members, community meetings, and project partners. He will be visiting lots of schools and reforestation projects and hopefully cram in a few days of trekking in the mountains towards the end. He has also driven through Mikunki where he saw elephants, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, antelope and wart hogs. 

 

 

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The Shetland Project

MAP6 will be flying out to the Shetlands next April for their new 2018 project. The Shetland archipelago consists of a hundred islands, twenty of which are habitable. MAP6 will be exploring different aspects of this the most northern point of the UK. 

We will update the website with project images and ideas next year. 

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Mitch Karunaratne Exhibition: Carlisle Photo - Visualising Home Exhibition

Map 6 are very pleased to announce Mitch Karunaratne will be showing her series "That, which is outwardly lost, must be inwardly won" at Carlisile Photo Festival. 

Visualising The Home Exhibition

Carlisle Photo is proud to announce our collaboration with Visualising Conferences is back.

This exhibition, to coincide with the theme ‘Visualising the Home’, is now open at The Vallum Gallery.

The exhibition will run from 26 June until 21 July 2017 at the Vallum Gallery at the University of Cumbria’s Brampton Road campus in Carlisle. The Visualising the Home conference will be held at the campus 13 – 14

Open Monday – Friday: 10.00am – 4.00pm

The Vallum Gallery, University of Cumbria, Brampton Road, Carlisle, CA3 9AY

 

 

More info .....

http://carlislephoto.org.uk/open-call-visualising-the-home/

Book available!

Exhausting Milton Keynes - Mitch Karunaratne from The Milton Keynes Project.

Inspired by Georges Perec - I spent three days watching life in Milton Keynes. I've published a small artist book of the work, in an edition of 5. Soft back, 40 images and text.

Feature in Elsewhere Journal - The Milton Keynes Project

Great to be featured on the Elsewhere: A Journal of Place - many thanks to Paul Scraton.

New on the blog -.we explore the photography of the MAP6 collective and their latest work, The Milton Keynes Project.

"In 2017, having previously worked on The Moscow Project, The Home Project and The Lithuanian Project, the collective have turned their shared attention to Milton Keynes, to coincide with the city's 50th birthday and in order to capture its geography, people, structure and architecture."

https://www.elsewhere-journal.com/blog/2017/4/29/map6-collective-the-milton-keynes-project

The Milton Keynes Project - Private View Tonight!

This spring, MK Gallery showcases new and exciting work by over 70 emerging and established artists in MK Calling 2017. This exhibition will celebrate and champion the breadth of creativity in and around Milton Keynes and includes a wide range of ar…

This spring, MK Gallery showcases new and exciting work by over 70 emerging and established artists in MK Calling 2017. This exhibition will celebrate and champion the breadth of creativity in and around Milton Keynes and includes a wide range of art forms alongside a dynamic programme of events and participatory sessions.

The MK Calling 2017 preview with live music, food and drinks will take place on Thursday 20 April from 6-10pm. Speeches will take place at 6.45pm. Everyone is welcome. 

MK Calling 2017 runs from 21 April to 27 May 2016. Admission is free.