Free
Photo by Hannah Barness
Photo by George Rayner
Photo by Beth Barlow
University of Derby’s BA (Hons) Photography graduates Bethany Barlow, George Rayner and Hannah Barness have been awarded the 2021 FORMAT Graduate Award for their distinct and innovative work.
The three winning degree shows will be exhibited at Derby’s Eagle Market, continuing a legacy of supporting outstanding graduates from the University of Derby’s photography course, as part of the FORMAT programme.
The FORMAT Graduate Award aims to support these exceptional graduates at the beginning of their career by providing them with further professional experience through an exhibition, mentoring and portfolio reviews from the FORMAT curatorial team.
Bethany Barlow’s project Out of Thyme documents the act of the artist’s own labour as an amateur gardener throughout the duration of the second major UK covid-19 lockdown; exploring subjects of consumption and over production and the impact events such as covid and Brexit have had on food availability and whether it is possible to move towards a more sustainable way of life.
George Rayner’s work Coasting uses alternative, natural, photographic developing methods to produce prints with inconsistencies and unpredictability as a result of the ecological process. He uses the anthropomorphism of nature as a narrative tool to reflect the erosion of the British coastline and rising sea level.
Hannah Barness’s work The Art of Memory utilises the domestic and familiar environment of home and the artist’s personal family photographic archive to explore the intricate internal workings of our memory and the thresholds of the mind.