Read all about our stellar cast of 11 international experts who will select the finalists to exhibit at FORMAT25.

Jean-Christophe Godet (Guernsey/France)
Founder & Artistic Director, Guernsey Photography Festival & GLAZ Festival

Jean-Christophe Godet is an international curator and founder of the Guernsey Photography Festival. He is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of a new major festival in France: GLAZ Festival (Rencontres Internationales de Photographie de Rennes). Both festivals bring together major names in international photography with a host of emerging talent, for a packed month of exhibitions, projections, talks, educational workshops and community events. Both festival concentrates mainly on contemporary photography including documentary and conceptual work. Jean-Christophe can offer various platforms for photographers through the festival’s range of exhibitions, talks series and artist in residence programmes. Both festivals have developed close relationships with other major international festivals, galleries, agencies and publishers so JC can recommend people when appropriate.

Photo by Peter Franklin/Guernsey Press
guernseyphotographyfestival.com glaz-festival.com

Wang Peiquan (China)
Director of Lishui Photography Festival & Director of China Photographers Association

Wang Peiquan is the director of Lishui Photography Festival & Director of China Photographers Association, Member of Curator Committee of China Photographers Association, Expert of Photofolio Review of Photolucida (2011). Judge of “Xv Xiaobing” National Photography Exhibition, Zhejiang Cutting-edge Contemporary Photography exhibition, Top 20 Chinese Cutting-edge Contemporary Photography Exhibition, “Boqi” Photographic Contest and China Village Photography Exhibition.
www.lishuiphoto.org

Wang Xueke Isabella (China)
Director of International Department of Lishui Photography Festival

Curator, Director of International Department of Lishui Photography Festival and Director of Collection Department of Lishui Photography Museum
www.lishuiphoto.org

Clare Grafik (UK)
Head of Exhibitions, The Photographers’ Gallery

Clare Grafik is Head of Exhibitions at The Photographers’ Gallery in London. She has worked in public institutions including the ICA, Whitechapel, Hayward and National Portrait Gallery and with private collections. At TPG she worked with artists including Taryn Simon, Katy Grannan, Antoine D’Agata, Cuny Janssen, Zineb Sedira, Keith Arnatt and Evelyn Hofer. Group shows include ‘The Photographic Object’, ‘Photography & Collage’ and ‘Double Take: Photography & Drawing’. Other projects include a solo exhibition with Bettina Von Zwehl at the Freud Museum and ‘Pictures from the Garden’ in collaboration with Photo Oxford 2023. Contributions to books and catalogues include Alex Prager’s ‘Silver Lake Drive’ and more recently for ‘Another Country’ (T&H, 2022). She has been a Sessional Lecturer at Birkbeck College, London, and has lectured for institutions including University of the Arts, London, University of South Wales, and Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/

Franek Ammer (Poland)
Curator, Fotofestiwal

Before joining Fotofestiwal, Franek co-founded TIFF International Photography Festival. He devoted a large part of his work to bringing up aspects related to the photobooks and popularizing them in Poland. This interest resulted in several exhibitions, lectures and cooperation with prominent figures from the world of photography and the publishing scene of photobooks. In the Fotofestiwal collective he is responsible for the festival program, and coordination of exhibitions, events and publications.
www.fotofestiwal.com

Zoe Harrison (UK)
Head of Awards Production, British Journal of Photography

Zoe Harrison is a Northern Irish curator, project manager, and photographer based in east London. She has worked at British Journal of Photography since 2019 and has been Head of Awards and Partnerships at British Journal of Photography since January 2022. She oversees the production and curation of BJP’s Awards program including Portrait of Britain, Portrait of Humanity, Female in Focus, OpenWalls, and the BJP International Photography Award. Prior to this, she was the creative producer for Studio 1854 where she worked with brands such as WaterAid, Lucas Film, Leica, and Malala Fund to create meaningful bodies of work. Several of these projects have gone on to gain recognition from the likes of Sony World Photo, PALM* Photo Prize, and Łódź Photofestiwal. She has been invited to lecture/speak at London College of Communication, Falmouth University, and Nottingham Trent University and has participated in several juries including Indian Photography Festival.
www.1854.photography

Varun Nayer (US/India)
Independent Writer and Editor

Varun Nayar is an independent writer and editor based between New York and Delhi. He was most recently the managing editor of Aperture magazine, where he worked on books by Sunil Gupta, Myriam Boulos, Awol Erizku, Rebecca Bengal, Kimowan Metchewais, and Zhang Xiao. Varun was also previously the lead editor at the Museum of Art & Photography, Bangalore, and his writing has appeared in Aperture, FOAM, Words Without Borders, Himal Southasian, National Geographic, and Pacific Standard, among other publications.

Poulomi Basu (India/UK)
Artist

Poulomi Basu is a neurodiverse artist known for her exploration of the interrelationship between systems of power and bodies through work that exists at the limits of art, technology and activism. Basu’s diverse body of work is committed to multiplicity. Eschewing linear notions of history, her approach to investigating themes such as the shifting notions surrounding landscape and the conditions female experience are cyclical in nature. With roots in photography, her practice demonstrates a fidelity to no single artistic modality or creative process; rather, interdisciplinary pursuits that are in constant, active flux. Her evolving, embodied approach to artmaking is emblematic of the plurality of experiences and the myriad ways in which identity is constructed in contemporary culture. Her name sounds like ‘follow me’ with a ‘P’. She was raised by her mother in Calcutta, India and found early inspiration in the city’s rich cinematic history. After her father’s sudden death when Poulomi was 17, her mother told her to leave home as soon as her studies were complete so that she may follow her dreams and live a life of breadth and choices that was denied to her. She has become widely known for her influential works Blood Speaks, Centralia, To Conquer Her Land, Fireflies to name a few. Her focus on the intersectionality of ecological, racial, cultural, political and personal collisions experienced specifically by womxn of the global south, such as herself gives agency to those whose voices are deliberately silenced, ferociously advocating for womxn through her practice as an artist and activist for more than a decade. Shifting between mediums Basu often combines the real and the fantastical and has to date worked with photography, performance, installation, virtual reality, and film influenced by magical realism, and speculative futures. She is represented by TJ Boulting Gallery, London.
https://www.poulomibasu.com/

Louise Fedotov-Clements (UK)
Director of Photoworks. Co-Founder/Patron of FORMAT

Photoworks is a national and international platform, established in 1995, it is a charity and an Arts Council England NPO, focussed on the development of photography and related media, through a programme of exhibitions, residencies, awards, engagement, an annual publication and summit, plus the international Photoworks Photography Biennale. Louise was the National Curator of Contemporary Art, Forestry England, where she led on an arts programme of commissions, residencies, and research across 1500 forests; formerly the Artistic Director of QUAD a centre for contemporary art and film for 20 years; and the Director of FORMAT International Photography Festival for 18 years, which she co-founded in 2004. An independent photography curator, writer and producer since 1998 directing commissions, publications, performances and exhibitions. Guest Curator for international exhibitions/festivals including Dong Gang (Yeongwol) South Korea; Photoquai Biennale Musée du quai Branly Paris; Les Rencontres Arles, Discoveries; Dali Photo, China; Venice Biennale EM15; Photo Beijing, and Lishui Photo China; Korea International Photo Festival. Patron and Steering Group member for FORMAT International Photography Festival, and an international award nominator including Prix Pictet, Lishui International Photography Award, and The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, she has contributed to numerous publications as producer/writer/editor and a regular juror, portfolio reviewer, speaker throughout Europe, America, Africa & Asia. She is the lead Juror and part of the partnership team that produces the international Earth Photo programme of touring exhibitions, awards and events focussed on photography and moving images, directed by Forestry England, the Royal Geographical Society and Parker Harris. www.earthphoto.world International Advisory Council member for the photography research platform Archivo; Advisory Board member of Sensing the Forest, Queen Mary University of London; UKRI/AHRC research programme Let the Forest Speak, using the internet of things and creative ai; Vice Chair of the Board of Inspirate. www.photoworks.org.uk

Dr Gemma Marmalade (UK)
Senior academic and leader in photography at the University of Derby, UK, and Visiting Professor for the Creative Industries in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Dr Gemma Marmalade is a British artist and academic in the transformative potential of creative performativity. Gemma is a senior academic and leader in photography at the University of Derby, UK, and a Visiting Professor for the Creative Industries in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. With extensive experience in Higher Education and research, inter- and trans-disciplinary practices, management, curatorship, and writing within the arts globally, Gemma is a powerhouse of cultural contribution and social change-making.
drmarmalade.com

Peter Bonnell (UK)
FORMAT Director & QUAD Arts Programme Manager

Peter Bonnell is QUAD Arts Programme Manager/ FORMAT Director, and was previously Senior Curator at QUAD and a part of the FORMAT team since 2012. His professional curatorial career stretches over 20 years where he has curated, managed and produced close to 200 exhibitions including numerous commissions, residencies, publications and touring projects. From 2004 – 2011 Peter was Curator at ArtSway in the New Forest, where he also managed a vibrant education programme, plus co-curating with Director Mark Segal the ArtSway New Forest Pavilion exhibitions at the 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011 Venice Biennales. Peter gained an MA(RCA) in Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art in London in 2004. Prior to embarking on a career as a curator he was a practising visual artist exhibiting work in the UK, Europe and in the US. He gained a BA(Hons) in Fine Art from Liverpool John Moores University in 1995, and an MFA in Art (focusing on painting and, specifically, photography) at the University of Arkansas in the US, graduating in 2002. Peter is autistic/ neurodivergent and has a specific interest in exploring opportunities to work with and support other autistic creatives.