Christopher Gregory Rivera @cgregoryrivera

Christopher Gregory Rivera is a Puerto Rican photographer and director based between New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico. His work is particularly interested in rescuing, deconstructing and reconfiguring historic narratives through documentary, still life and archival research to promote a better understanding of the present. His latest project Las Carpetas reimagines political memory in Puerto Rico by rescuing, photographing and appropriating archives from a secret police division dedicated to political persecution in the US Territory. Aperture said of the work: “Gregory-Rivera’s work offers the opportunity for us to consider the record of political persecution and to imagine new ways of healing and moving forward.” The book version of the project titled El Gobierno Te Odia (The Government Hates You) won best First Photobook at PhotoEspaña 2024, was shortlisted for the Paris Photo/Aperture Prize in 2023 and was also shortlisted for best Image/Text Book at Rencontres Arles. This project is supported by the Magnum Foundation and Penumbra Foundation.

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Jenna Garrett @particulr

Jenna Garrett is an artist living in San Francisco, California. Her current practice focuses on the Ozarks in southwest Missouri where she was born. Garrett is interested in nationalism, mythmaking, and its consequences in American culture. Her first project ‘This Holy Hill’ (2016-2022) wrestles with Garrett’s Evangelical upbringing by examining the religion’s influence in the rural tourist town, Branson, Missouri. Her current project ‘Teeth of the Wolf’ (2019-present) traces an obscure group of post-Civil War vigilantes as a method to investigate militia violence in the United States today. Garrett is collaborating on a text-and-image-exchange book with author Rita Bullwinkel, due 2025 published by isolarii, London. She is an Aperture Portfolio Prize Longlist recipient 2024, PhMuseum Women Photographers Grant Shortlist recipient 2022, Silver Eye Fellowship Award Honoree 2022, Critical Mass Finalist 2021, and CATALYST mentee 2020-21. Her work has shown at the Aperture Gallery, Bristol Photo Festival, Photoville, and the Silver Eye Center for Photography. She holds a masters in fine art photography from the London College of Communication.

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Lo Lai Lai Natalie @sqlai

Lo Lai Lai Natalie was born in Hong Kong. Lai Lai is a former travel journalist. She finds her interests in food, farming, plant intelligence, fermentation, surveillance, and meditation. She has a farming practice, using photography, video and installation as a means to interact with nature. Her artworks are part of collector Dr Uli Sigg’s private collection and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Lai Lai’s artworks were presented in San Francisco, Paris, Berlin, London, Naha, Dresden, Basel, Johannesburg, Yogyakarta, Taiwan, Beijing and Shanghai. She participates in Lahore Biennale 03 in 2024.

Lai Lai received the WMA Commission Grant on the theme of Opportunity in Hong Kong and she was the Gold Award recipient of the Media Art Category of the 26th ifva Award, Hong Kong in 2021. Her artwork was granted as honorary mention in “State of the ART(ist)” of Ars Electronics Festival 2024. She also recieved Award for Young Artist, Visual Arts Category, the 16th Arts Development Awards, Hong Kong in 2022. She received her Bachelor of Art (Fine Arts) and Master of Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. Her tentative thesis title is “The Salvation of Nature: Artist Farming/Farming Artist in Hong Kong from 1980s to 2020s”,

This project was commissioned by WMA Hong Kong @wma_hk.

Artist portrait by South Ho.

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Sujata Setia @sujatasetia

I am an Indian-born British photographer. In 2009, I completed my Master’s in International Relations at King’s College London. I have a background in journalism that informs my research-based, socially engaged practice. I combine traditional artistic interventions and photography to call attention to the boundaries of cultural imperialism, where subaltern histories are exiled. My series “Changing the Conversation” was the first departure from my fantastical childhood portraits work. That series continues to interrogate the binaries that form our understanding of “beauty.” “A Thousand Cuts” studies patterns of domestic abuse in the South Asian culture. This interdisciplinary project, born out of close collaboration with survivors, employs qualitative research methods and a trauma-informed approach, allowing for an ethical, survivor-centric narrative.

With special thanks to SHEWISE UK for supporting in making this work.

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Thero Makepe @theromakepe

I am an artist and photographer born and raised in Gaborone, Botswana, working between Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Gaborone. My practice is informed by past and present narratives related to my upbringing and lived experiences in Botswana and South Africa. I am interested in posing questions about one’s personal responsibility in times of crisis and how the personal decisions of individuals affect themselves, their families and their nations. My work is often resolved in the form of book projects which contain existing public and private archival material such as family photos, documentary screenshots and newspaper articles. My approach to photography also employs a variety of photographic styles such as staged portraiture, documentary and re-enactments. I am also a founding member of the Botswana Pavilion, a collective of young artists from Botswana concerned with advancing Botswana’s creative development and artistic archive.

Special thanks to Camilla Van Hoogstraten for the support.

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We would like to thank everyone who submitted to the FORMAT25 Open Call. The Open Call is a crucial way for the festival team and international jury to see the work of the best photographic and lens-based work being made today, from the newest emerging talent to established practitioners from across the globe. We hope to see you at the festival from 13 March 2025 in Derby, UK. Please keep checking back here and on our website as the 2025 programme is revealed in full.