November will see the opening of the sixth edition of Photo Vogue Festival.
The festival will be a unique opportunity to get in touch with the great masters of photography, the most influential curators and the most prestigious agencies.
Among the events planned, the PhotoVogue exhibition will be the result of a scouting project launched on the photography platform hosted by Vogue.it (the requirements for participants are to sign up for PhotoVogue and then regularly upload until the end of June your photographs) and Instagram (all you have to do is use the hashtag #VIreframinghistory) or Picter (every author will be able to submit maximum 10 images from one project and up to 3 videos).
The selection of works on display will be done by a jury of internationally renowned experts.
Meet the jury:
Aimée Mullins
Mullins has excelled in multiple fields, inspiring people around the world as an athlete, actor, model and speaker. As the first double amputee in history to compete in Division 1 NCAA track and field, she then competed for Team USA in the 1996 Paralympic Games and has set world records in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and long jump events.
Aimée went on to become a lauded runway and editorial fashion model and was named a global brand ambassador for L’Oréal Paris in 2011. Over the past decade, she has acted in film and television shows, including the Netflix mega-hit Stranger Things, and has multiple feature films in development as a producer.
In 2012, Mullins was named Chef de Mission for the US at the Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London. That same year she was appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports.
Her prolific work for non-profit organizations is matched by her frequent public speaking appearances on topics related to the body, identity, design, and innovation, and her famous TED Talks have been translated into 42 languages. In 2017, she became one of the youngest-ever inductees into the United States’ National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2019, she inducted Jane Fonda into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Akinola Davies
Akinola Davies is a BAFTA nominated and Sundance award-winning Filmmaker, Visual Artist, and Music Curator, whose work spans nations to explore themes of community, race, spirituality, identity and gender, telling stories that bridge the gap between traditional and millennial communities. His first narrative short film ‘Lizard’ premiered at the 2020 BFI London Film Festival and was selected for the Raindance Film Festival. As an individual Akinola was selected for the Berlinale Talents 2020 Collective and was named one of Screen Daily’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ alongside Emma Louis Corrin, Paul Mescal and more. Most recently, Akin won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in Short Film for ‘Lizard’ and the short is now nominated for a BAFTA. As part of Akinolas visual practice has had 2 solo art shows; his first at the 1.1 Gallery in Basel and at the Dupont underground in Washington D.C. Equally he participated in numerous group shows nameley Les Urbannes in Lausanne and Kunsthal Rotterdam. Akinola has become a go to creative in the fashion industry working with brands such as Gucci, Acne Studios, COS, Kenzo, Louis Vuitton and the like on multiple creative projects, in front of and behind the camera. Alongside his work in narrative film and fashion, Akin has directed music videos for the likes of Dev Hynes and Neneh Cherry.
Alessia Glaviano
Alessia Glaviano is the Brand Visual Director of Vogue Italia and Director of the Photo Vogue Festival.
Glaviano is a leading figure in the panorama of international photographic criticism. Besides curating a series of interviews with the Masters of photography for Vogue Italia’s website and instagram, which have acquired enormous popularity among the community of people interested in photography and which are also broadcast on Sky Arte channel, in 2011 Glaviano launched Photo Vogue, an innovative platform on which users can share their own photographs knowing they can rely on the curatorial supervision of professional photo editors.
At a time when photography was already ubiquitous online, Alessia felt that what was missing was a curated platform dedicated to it.
Conceived as a community with a strong sense of belonging, as of today, Photo Vogue counts over 247,000 photographers, from amateurs to professionals, hailing from all over the world, with a shared passion for photography and the desire to help each other and grow together. Anyone can register and upload images of all genres, from portraiture to reportage, fashion and street photography.
Curating a pool of incredible image-makers from all around the world, Photo Vogue is a great example of diversity behind the camera and multitude of perspectives. The mission of Photo Vogue has always been to champion talent, improving visual literacy and shaping a more just, ethical and inclusive visual world.
Many of Photo Vogue photographers have grown to become some of the most interesting voices in contemporary photography, who now regularly produce editorials and branded content for the most prestigious international magazines.
In order to have a physical and virtual space in time to bring the community together and further the conversation around the promotion of creativity, diversity and justice in image-making, in 2016 Milan hosted the first edition of the Photo Vogue Festival. The event marked the first conscious fashion photography festival dedicated to the shared ground between Ethics and Aesthetics, bound to an influential fashion publication, and engaging the whole city of Milan with talks, exhibitions and photography-related initiatives. The 5 editions of the festival in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 were always met with critical and public success.
Besides the editorial activity, Alessia holds lectures and conferences on a regular basis. Some of the institutes and universities she was invited as guest lecturer include: University of Brighton, Central Saint Martins, IED, Bocconi University and the Milan Polytechnic.
Glaviano was invited to participate as jury member in numerous internationally acclaimed photography contests including the World Press Photo and the Festival International de Mode et de Photographie à Hyères; and has participated in several portfolio review sessions, including the “New York Times Portfolio Reviews”.
Alfredo De Stefano Farías
He is considered one of Mexico´s most important contemporary conceptual photographers. His passion is the landscape and specifically the desert, an environment to which he has traveled countless times performing art interventions in it and photographing it. Among his photographic series we should mention “Of places without future” (1992), “Remains of the paradise” (1996), “Replenishing emptiness” (2002) and “Brief chronicle of light” (2006). Since 2008 he has been working on his new series, “Storm of Light”, which takes place in different deserts of the world. To his credit there are more than ninety exhibitions, between individuals and group shows and his work has been exhibited in five continents, as well as in different capitals of the world such as: México, Paris, Sao Paulo, New York, Washington, Madrid, Bogotá, Lima, Buenos Aires among others. His photographs have been published in numerous books and magazines and his work is in public and private collections in México and abroad. Since 2008 he is a member of the National System of Creators.
Cultural manager and director of the Contemporary Photography Contest of Mexico and Latin America, as well as the Luz del Norte International Photography Festival in Monterrey, N.L. Mexico. He is de Chief Executive and founder of the non-profit organization Luz del Norte Fotografía, A.C. dedicated to promoting and disseminate the diversity of Latin American photography through various platforms.
Alona Pardo
Alona Pardo is a Curator at Barbican Art Gallery. With a focus on photography and film, she has curated a number of exhibitions and publications including most recently Masculinities: Liberation through Photography (2020); Trevor Paglen: From Apple to Anomaly (2019); Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing (2018); Vanessa Winship: And Time Folds (2018); Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins (2018); Richard Mosse: Incoming (2017) and Strange and Familiar: Britain as seen by International Photographers (with Martin Parr; 2016). She has a particular interest in work that exists in the intersection between social activism, aesthetics and identity.
Anastasia Taylor-Lind
Anastasia Taylor-Lind is an English/Swedish photojournalist who has spent more than a decade documenting issues relating to women, violence and war. She is a Harvard Nieman Fellow 2016, a TED fellow and a National Geographic Magazine contributor. Her first monograph MAIDAN – Portraits from the Black Square, which documents the 2014 Ukrainian uprising in Kiev, was published by GOST books the same year.
Azu Nwagbogu
Azu Nwagbogu is the founder and director of the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF), a non-profit organisation based in Lagos, Nigeria that is dedicated to the promotion and development of contemporary African arts and artists. Established in 2007, the AAF organizes art exhibitions, competitions, and workshops with the aim of unearthing and developing talent in Nigeria. Nwagbogu founded the National Art Competition in 2008, an annual arts competition in Nigeria that provides a platform of exposure to emerging Nigerian artists. Nwagbogu also serves as founder and director of the LagosPhoto Festival, an annual international arts festival of photography that brings leading local and international photographers in dialogue with multifaceted stories of Africa. He’s also the creator of Art Base Africa, a new virtual space to discover and learn about contemporary African Art and diaspora. He has been collecting and owns a diverse collection of modern contemporary art and has been curating private collections for various prominent individuals and corporate organizations in Africa for the past 20 years. Nwagabogu has served as a juror for the Dutch Doc and the POPCAP Photography Awards, the World press Photo and Prisma photography award (2015). He also has been nominated as curator for the Prix Decouverte Rencontres d’Arles 2014, Photoquai 2015 and Photolux Festival 2015. Azu Nwagbogu lives and works in Lagos.
Chiara Bardelli Nonino
Chiara Bardelli Nonino graduated with an MA in Philosophy with a dissertation on Post-Mortem photography. She is the Photo Editor of Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue, the editor of Vogue.it Photography section and a curator for the Photo Vogue Festival, where fashion is explored from a socio-political point of view in exhibit such as The Female Gaze, Fashion & Politics in Vogue Italia, All That Man Is – Fashion and Masculinity Now, Italian Panorama. With a focus on contemporary photography, she works also on independent editorial and curatorial projects and juries. Recent projects include the co-curation of Aperture Summer Open: Delirious Cities and Looking on. Sguardi e prospettive sulla nuova fotografia italiana. She has been part of the Jury of the 2020 edition of Hyères Festival and has curated the largest monographic exhibition on Paolo Roversi’s work titled “Paolo Roversi – Studio Luce” and the eponymous art book designed by M/M Paris. She has collaborated, among others, with The British Journal of Photography, PHmuseum, The Photocaptionist, Flash Art Italia, Foam Magazine,Canon Student Development Programme, Metronom Gallery, Marsell Paradise, Creative Review.
Christine Eyene
Christine Eyene is an art historian, critic and curator. She is a Research Fellow in Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) where she works with artist and Professor of Contemporary Art Lubaina Himid CBE RA, on the Making Histories Visible project. She is also Artistic Director of the 5th Biennale Internationale de Casablanca (2022).
As a curator, her projects focus on contemporary African and Diaspora arts, feminism, photography and sound art. She is also interested in socially engaged art initiatives, urban culture, music, design, and new media.
In 2016 she co-founded YaPhoto – Yaounde Photo Network to support emerging photographers in Cameroon and internationally. She has also organised numerous photography exhibitions as part of biennials and festivals including: SUMMER OF PHOTOGRAPHY, BOZAR, Brussels, 2014 and 2018; FORMAT International Photography Festival, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2015; 3rd PHOTOQUAI – Biennial of World Images, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris and GWANZA Photography Festival, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, 2011; Brighton Photo Fringe as part of Brighton Photo Biennial, Old Coop, Brighton, 2010.
Her recent publications include Sounds Like Her: Gender, Sound Art & Sonic Cultures (Nottingham: Beam Editions, 2019) featuring works by Sonia Boyce OBE RA, Christine Sun Kim, Magda Stawarska-Beavan and more. She also contributed to Feminist Art, Activisms, and Artivisms edited by Katy Deepwell (Amsterdam: Valiz, 2020). Her articles and essays have been published in printed and online art magazines, journals, exhibition catalogues and art books.
Damarice Amao
Damarice AMAO is an art historian (PhD) and assistant curator of photography at the Centre Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Paris. She is specialized in twentieth Avant-garde European photography. She curated numerous exhibitions with accompanying catalogues including Jacques-André Boiffard (2014), Eli Lotar (2017), Photography, arme de classe [Photography, as a class weapon](2018) and Dora Maar (2019). She is currently preparing a show for Arles photo festival next edition about the designer Charlotte Perriand and her political photomontages made in the thirties.
Edward Enninful
Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue and European Editorial Director of Vogue
Edward Enninful took over as Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue in August 2017.
Prior to that Edward was Creative and Fashion Director of the American magazine W since 2011, where he worked with the world’s best fashion photographers to produce ground-breaking, highly admired work. His experience as a fashion editor dates back to 1991 when he was named Fashion Director of the avant-garde British title i-D at the age of 19, a position he held for more than 20 years. In the years between 1998 and 2011 he contributed extensively to American Vogue and Italian Vogue.
Born in Ghana 49 years ago, one of six children, Enninful was brought to London as a child and grew up in the city’s Ladbroke Grove area. He became interested in fashion as a teenager when he was scouted as a fashion model. He displayed a talent for fashion styling which led the then Editor of I-D, Terry Jones, to appoint Enninful as the magazine’s fashion director, the youngest in the industry. He attended Goldsmith’s, University of London, well known for its art programmes, but left before graduation in order to plunge full-time into a fashion editing career.
In 2014 he was named fashion creator of the year by the British Fashion Council, he was honored with an OBE in 2016 for Services to Diversity in the Fashion industry, and in 2018 he was awarded the Media Award by the Council of Fashion Designers America and the PPA Chairman’s Award for his remarkable career. In 2019, Enninful was honored by The Daily Front Row for Magazine of the Year at the Fashion Media Awards, named in the Evening Standard’s top 20 most influential Londoners of 2019 and awarded the Business of Fashion Global VOICES Award. In 2020, Edward received the People Honouree Award at the 2020 British Fashion Council’s Fashion Awards for his outstanding contribution to diversity. In February 2021, Edward received the BSME Editors’ Editor of the Year Award which recognises extraordinary individuals for their dedication and outstanding editorial contribution to magazines.
In December 2020, Enninful was promoted to European Editorial Director of Vogue.
Elisa Medde
Elisa Medde edits, curates and writes about photography. With a background in Art History, Iconology and Photographic Studies, her research reflects on the relationship between image, communication and power structures. She has been nominator for the Prix Elysée, The Leica Oskar Barnack Award and MAST Foundation for Photography Grant, amongst others. Elisa has chaired numerous juries and written for Foam Magazine, Something We Africans Got, Vogue Italia / L’Uomo Vogue, YET Magazine and other publications. Elisa is Editor-in-Chief of Foam Magazine, Amsterdam.
Emanuele Farneti
Emanuele Farneti is the director of Vogue Italia, L’Uomo Vogue, Vogue.it, Casa Vogue and AD. Previously he has been director of other 8 magazines, including Flair, Icon and GQ.
Taylor Jewell
Ferdinando Verderi
Ferdinando Verderi is the Creative Director of Vogue Italia. Italian-born, New York-based Verderi, has been pioneering a new, integrated, ideas-led breed of creativity for the fashion and luxury industry. His collaborations with adidas Originals, Alexander Wang and Versace have resulted in some of the most celebrated work of the past few years. His work has garnered the highest honors, including the grand prix at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, Clio Awards and others. Ferdinando Verderi is represented by Art Partner.
Francesca Marani
Photo editor and freelance journalist.
Since 2015 Francesca Marani has been part of Vogue Italia’s photography department.
She is photo editor for the PhotoVogue platform and, alongside Alessia Glaviano and Chiara Bardelli Nonino, she is a curator of the Photo Vogue Festival. Francesca also manages the production of Vogue Italia’s photographic exhibitions and creates digital contents for Vogue Italia’s Instagram account. In 2018, she curated a series of talks on contemporary photography for the Affordable Art Fair (Milan), co-curated the exhibition “Italian Panorama” at Armani/Silos, and was a juror of the Ooshot Award (Paris). She was a portfolio reviewer of the Blink Portfolio Review (New York, 2018-2019), juror of Photolucida’s Critical Mass (2018-2020) and Fresh Eyes (2019-2020). In 2019 she took part in “Scouting for India” (Mumbai), Vogue Talents’ project in collaboration with FAD International Academy, co-curated the exhibition “Future Shock” and was guest editor of Personne magazine (ISSUE 02). In 2020 she was a juror of the PHmuseum 2020 Mobile Photo Prize, Photoville FENCE and did portfolio reviews for Eddie Adams Portfolio Review, Perimetro Collective Review and Italy Photo Award. In 2021 she was a member of the jury of LensCulture Portrait Awards. Francesca regularly collaborates with several photography festivals and schools as portfolio reviewer and lecturer.
Fred Ritchin
Fred Ritchin is Dean Emeritus of the International Center of Photography in New York, where in 1983 he also founded and directed the Photojournalism and Documentary Photography program. He was professor of Photography and Imaging at New York University (1991-2014) where he co-founded the Photography and Human Rights program. Ritchin also was picture editor of the New York Times Magazine, executive editor of Camera Arts magazine, and in 1999 co-founded and directed PixelPress, collaborating with humanitarian organizations.
Ritchin created the first multimedia version of the New York Times (1994-95) and the following year conceived and edited for the Times the first non-linear documentary project online, “Bosnia: Uncertain Paths to Peace,” nominated by the newspaper for a Pulitzer Prize in public service. His books on the future of imaging include In Our Own Image: The Coming Revolution in Photography (1990), After Photography (2008) and Bending the Frame: Photojournalism, Documentary, and the Citizen (2013). Ritchin has curated many exhibitions, including “Contemporary Latin American Photographers,” “An Uncertain Grace: The Photographs of Sebastião Salgado,” “Mexico Through Foreign Eyes,” and “What Matters Now? Proposals for a New Front Page.” Recently he launched TheFifthCorner.org, a resource for photographers.
He writes, teaches and lectures widely on the potentials of media in the digital age, particularly on their ability to advance social justice worldwide.
Gwen Lee
Gwen Lee is the co-founder of Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF), a biennale international photography platform and the director DECK photography Gallery. In 2010, she is awarded by the Japan Chamber of Commerce & Trade for her contribution to the Singapore arts community. In 2013 she embarked on curatorial research in Germany supported by Goethe Institut Singapore & National Arts Council. In 2012, the photo festival receive arts council grants to further develop public photography education in Singapore. In 2014, Gwen and team built an art space call “DECK” to provide all year-round platform and residency programme for photographers. DECK container art space received the Singapore President’s Design Award 2015 for its innovative architectural design.
Over last 13 years, Gwen has curated & organised over 40 photography exhibitions both in Singapore and overseas. These includes Margins: drawing pictures of home, Flux: Contemporary Photography from China at Art Science Museum, Green and Gold: Singapore photography, Steidl 101 Books, solo exhibitions of Daido Moriyama (2016) and Araki Nobuyoshi (2018). She has served as a jury member and portfolio reviewer on various platforms including FOAM Paul Huf Award, FORMAT, KL PHOTO Award, KG+, DIPE China, Houston Fotofestival, Daegul Photo Biennale, Recontres d’ Arles and Ballarat International Foto Biennale.
He Yining
HE Yining (born. 1986), independent curator and writer of photography and visual art. Graduate of London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. In 2014, she began to work as an independent writer and curator specializing in the photographic related art.
He Yining was the winner of the OCAT Institute’s inaugural “Research-based Curatorial Project” and was nominated for the 14th AAC Art China “Curator of the Year Award” for this research project exhibition. Yining’s previous curatorial project has been held in museums and art institutions in China and Europe, including: “China Imagined” (BredaPhoto 2020, Grote Kerk, Breda, Netherland), “Between Mountains, Hills and Lakes” (2020, Design Society, ZiWU / Modern Art Base, Three Shadows Photography Art Center), “The Abode of Anamnesis” (2019, OCAT Institute), “Troubled Intention Ahead: Confusing Public and Private” (2018, CAFA Art Museum), “The Port and The Image 1 & 2” (2019, 2017, China Port Museum).
Yining’s previous curatorial practice is focused on the relationship between photographic art with historical and contemporary issues. Her publications include Abode of Anamnesis, The Port and the Image 1&2, Photography in the British Classroom among others. Her Translation works include Artists Who Make Books (forthcoming), Art and Photography (forthcoming), Routledge Companion to Photography and Visual Culture, Perspectives on Place: Theory and Practice in Landscape Photography, Photography and Travel and few others.
Ibrahim Kamara
Known for his radically innovative work, Ibrahim Kamara has been described as one of the most exciting creative voices of a generation. His distinct point of view is daring, marrying high fashion with the wholly unexpected. Striking the perfect balance between curated looks and bold artistic direction, Kamara elevates his styling into art.
Although he was born in Sierra Leone, Kamara spent his childhood in Gambia. At age 16, he moved to London, where he later attended Central Saint Martins. Kamara’s work has since been featured in two exhibitions: Utopian Voices Here & Now (Somerset House, 2016) and Soft Criminal (Red Hook Labs, 2018).
In 2018, Kamara was appointed Fashion Editor at Large for i-D magazine. His editorial work has also been featured in British Vogue, Double, Dazed, and M le mag (Le Monde). He has consulted for brands including Christian Dior, Stella McCartney, and Nike, and has collaborated with artists such as Beyoncé, Sampha, Robyn, Kahlil Jospeh, and Solange.
Ihiro Hayami
Ihiro Hayami (b. 1982, Osaka Japan) is the founder of T3 PHOTO FESTIVAL (Tokyo International
Photography Festival). He’s the former chief editor of Japanese Photography Magazine, “PHaT
PHOTO”(2012-2014), and was the gallery director of RINGCUBE (Ginza). His selected curatorial
exhibitions include, Alejandro Chaskielberg’s “Otsuchi Future Memories” (2016), and Alex Prager’s “WEEK-END” (2010). Over the past few years, he has served as juror, lecturer, and reviewer at various international photo festivals and photography universities.
James Estrin
James Estrin is a New York Times staff photographer and writer. He was a founder and co-editor of Lens, The New York Times photography blog. Estrin was part of a team that won a 2001 Pulitzer Prize for “How Race Is Lived In America.” He is also the co-executive producer of the documentary film “Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro” which appeared on HBO in November 2016. Estrin is also an adjunct professor at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.
Johanne Affricot
Johanne Affricot is an Italian culture curator of Haitian and Ghanaian descent, born and raised in Rome. Graduated in Cooperation and International Development at the University “La Sapienza”, she is the founder and artistic director of GRIOT, a boutique media and an artistic and cultural collective; and GRIOT Space, a nomadic location that platforms experimentation, exploration and discussion.
In 2015 she curated the discussion panel Afroitalians in the Arts Today within the group show Nero su Bianco (Black on White) at the American Academy in Rome. She is the author and director of the documentary series The Expats. The Untold Stories of Black Italians Abroad (2016-2017) and Motherland (2017 – present). She is the artistic director of Mirrors, a contemporary dance and videoart performance produced by GRIOT and commissioned by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for the “Italy, Cultures, Africa” programme (MAXXI Museum, 2018; Giuseppe Verdi Theatre – Addis Abeba, Ethiopia / UJ Arts Centre – Johannesburg, South Africa / Daniel Sorano National Theatre, Dakar, Senegal, 2019).
In 2019 she curated (Memorie) In Ascolto – (Listening Memories), a reading performance and 5- channel video installation for the “Futura Memoria/Contemporaneamente Roma” festival, and in 2020 she was invited to curate the Der Grief online exhibition Guest Room: Johanne Affricot.
In 2021 she has been selected by the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs as one of the ten women to promote Italian creativity, language and culture around the world, in the video series Portraits of women, within the online portal Italiana.
She is now collaborating with internationally renowned Italian visual artist Marinella Senatore for the “Orchestras of Transformation”, a project curated by Sara Alberani, Valerio Del Baglivo (Locales), Matteo Lucchetti, Judith Wielander (Visible project). The curators invited three artists to rethink artistic methods of intervention in the public sphere and implement paths towards change as well as to promote alternative imaginaries. Commissioned by the Palaexpo within the SDG objectives of the 2030 Agenda and The Rome Charter, Marinella Senatore, in collaboration with Johanne Affricot, will develop a mobile anti-monument dedicated to the mobile, fluid, intersectional contemporaneity that stands out in opposition to the architectures of power of Italian history in Rome.
Josué Rivas
Josué Rivas (Mexica and Otomi) is an Indigenous Futurist, creative director, visual storyteller, and educator working at the intersection of art, technology, journalism, and decolonization. His work aims to challenge the mainstream narrative about Indigenous peoples, co-create with the community, and serve as a vehicle for collective healing.
He is a 2020 Catchlight Leadership Fellow, Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellow, founder of INDÍGENA, co-founder of Indigenous Photograph, Curator at Indigenous TikTok and winner of the 2018 FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo.
Juan Costa Paz
Juan Costa Paz is from Buenos Aires and has lived in Paris for the past 10 years. A graduate of Emerson College (Boston, MA) with a BA in Visual Arts and Marketing, he began his career in feature films production and acquisitions. As a Creative Executive at COSTA FILMS, he led the development of films like Elite Squad (2007), which was awarded with the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
At Costa Films he was also instrumental in the concepting and strategy of MUBI (2008), a global streaming platform that provides a curated selection of films on demand. This newfound creative and strategic understanding of digital ecosystems led Juan to join Carol Lim and Humberto Leon in the reboot of KENZO (2011). As Digital Director he was in charge of forging from the ground up the digital communications of the brand by building a new team, developing its platforms and commissioning content to infuse the brand with a new energy.
In 2013 Juan Costa Paz and Nordine Benotmane founded CONVOY, an interdisciplinary agency with a focus on Creative Direction and Brand Strategy. Since then he has been collaborating with clients like Nike, Farfetch, Google, Miu Miu, Gucci, Off-White, Balmain, Louis Vuitton; deploying brand stories across multiple touch-points by co-creating with top industry creatives.
Laura Roumanos
Laura Roumanos(she/her/hers) is a Lebanese Creative Producer originally hailing from Australia. She is currently the Executive Director and co-Founder of Photoville, a non-profit organization devoted to reaching a wide, diverse audience by producing a free annual photo festival in NYC, activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and connecting artists to a worldwide audience through educational programming and community events. Laura graduated from the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts back in Australia and worked as a Producer before making the big move to NYC 16 years ago. Since then, Laura has worked for the Manhattan Theatre Club, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Creative Time, The Future of StoryTelling, and the World Science Festival, in addition to producing several large scale theatrical shows for creatives such as Karen O, Bryce Dessner, Richard Reed Parry, Spike Jonze, Opening Ceremony and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Laura is currently a Coro Leadership NY Fellow and is committed to working with the New York Creative community on sustainable and equitable programs and initiatives.
Lekgetho Makola
Currently CEO of Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria – South Africa, and formerly the Head of the Market Photo Workshop, Lekgetho Makola’s artistic philosophy is embedded in practice excellence and advocacy as an International Ford Foundation Fellow on Social Justice. He accumulated extensive strategic experience in arts administration and artistic programming from institutions he worked for in over two decades locally and internationally. Lekgetho has built a strong profile as an active participant and contributor to international discourses on visual storytelling and representation dynamics. He led the Market Photo Workshop to be the recipient of the Principal Prince Claus Award of 2018, and is the founding member of the Centres of Learning for Photography in Africa.
Lou Stoppard
Lou Stoppard is a London-based writer and curator. She has written for titles including The New York Times, The Financial Times, The New Yorker, and Aperture, as well as various international editions of Vogue. Stoppard worked at the digital fashion platform SHOWstudio from 2011 to 2017, serving as the platform’s editor for a number of years, and conducting video conversations with figures including Wolfgang Tillmans, Kanye West, David Sims and Peter Lindbergh, amongst many others. Stoppard’s exhibitions include Mad About The Boy, at Fashion Space Gallery, London; North: Fashioning Identity, at Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool and Somerset House in London; and The Hoodie, at Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam. Her books include, ‘Fashion Together’ and ‘Pools’, both published by Rizzoli, and ‘Shirley Baker’, published by Mack.
Lynette Nylander
Lynette Nylander is a writer and editorial and creative director and the Executive Editorial Director of Dazed Media. She was formerly the Managing Editor of cult publication INDUSTRIE, as well Managing Editor of the accompanying agency, Wednesday. She has held titles as the Deputy Editor of i-D and Teen Vogue. She regularly contributes to titles such as Vogue UK, Vogue US, T Magazine, Elle, The Fader, AnOther Magazine, Evening Standard, Buffalo Zine, Net-A-Porter, SSENSE amongst others. She was appointed the Vice President of Content at Alexander Wang and most recently served as the Creative and Editorial Director at Large of CR Fashion Book.
Nylander was a recipient of Forbes 30 under 30 Europe award in 2017 and she is a seasoned speaker having spoken on fashion and cultural topics at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Selfridges, The Smithsonian Museum, California African American Museum and the British Film Institute.
She has consulted for brands such as Pat McGrath Labs, Nike, XL Recordings, Fenty and Disney.
Michael Famighetti
Michael Famighetti is editor of Aperture magazine. In 2013, he organized a relaunch and reconceptualization of the magazine, which won a 2018 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. He is the recipient, with guest editor Sarah Lewis, of the ICP Infinity Award for Critical Writing and Research for “Vision & Justice,” the summer 2016 issue of Aperture. In addition to editing the magazine, Famighetti commissions and edits books for Aperture Foundation, including volumes by William Christenberry, Robert Adams, John Divola, Jonas Bendiksen, Kwame Brathwaite, Joel Meyerowitz, among others. He is currently a visiting critic at Yale University School of Art and a participant in SVA’s Mentors program. His writing has appeared in Frieze, Bookforum, Aperture, among other publications. He is a member of the American Society of Magazine Editors and has been a guest reviewer and speaker at many international festivals and institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The New York Times; Vogue Italia; FOAM, Amsterdam; Art Gallery of Ontario; the Bamako Biennial, Mali; Kyotographie, Kyoto; Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark; and Fotografiska, Stockholm.
Michael Van Horne
Michael Van Horne is Director of the Image Archive at Art + Commerce. The Image Archive is a full service licensing agency representing many of the most significant artists, Estates and Foundations of our time, including the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the Estate of Guy Bourdin, Steven Meisel, Stephen Shore, Larry Fink, Peter Beard, Paolo Roversi and Craig McDean among others. In addition to his work supporting the artists of Art + Commerce, Van Horne has taken an active role in the agency’s objective to highlight emerging talent, developing the PhotoVogue Collection at Art + Commerce and as a contributing curator and organizer of the Art + Commerce Festival of Emerging Photographers. Van Horne has been a guest lecturer at the School of Visual Arts’ undergraduate photography department, where he formerly taught the elective course, Concept and Narrative in Fashion Photography.
Missla Libsekal
Missla Libsekal (b. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) is an independent writer, cultural producer and art curator focused on expanding cultural discourse within the Pan African context. In 2010 and ahead of the curve, she founded Another Africa, a then much needed digital platform and safe space to give agency to African and Diasporic voices. Operating between 2010 and 2016, it became a leading destination for this sector, publishing content from a myriad of contributors. Her writings engaging with existing and emerging lexicons within contemporary African visual practice, have also been published on The Africa Report, The Guardian, Art Africa, SAVVY art journal and more. She was a 2017 nominee for the Absolut Art Writing award. Libsekal is involved in cultural advocacy, facilitating artist residency programs, arts education and jurying. Her most recent curatorial work is the exhibition Beyond What We See, once upon a time, one upon a future at Musée des Abattoirs, Toulouse (2020). Featuring women artists, the exhibition is part of the Africa2020 Season held throughout France. She is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Olivia Anani
Co-Director, Africa + Modern and Contemporary Art
PIASA Auction House, Paris
Beninese/French, born in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
With a background in Asian Studies and Contemporary Art spanning three continents, Olivia Anani has worked for several prestigious auction houses prior to joining PIASA as Co-Director of the Africa + Modern and Contemporary Art Department. At Sotheby’s, Phillips and Christie’s, she was involved in the sale of masterpieces by Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, Wassily Kandinsky, Marcel Duchamp, Dan Flavin, Yves Klein, Man Ray, Nicolas de Staël, as well as works by Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Barthélémy Toguo, Seydou Keita. She was also involved in projects around loans and acquisitions for institutions such as the Musée du Louvre and the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the iconic charity auction Bid for the Louvre and the African Art Fair 1-54 at Christie’s.
As a writer and curator, she is interested in art from a global perspective, working with the Taipei, Dakar and Kampala Biennales, Zajia Lab in Beijing, France’s Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Centre Pompidou, Fondation Gulbenkian and the Columbia University Center – Reid Hall in Paris.
A board member of the Friends of Palais de Tokyo in Paris, an institution she has been supporting since 2013, she was part of the jury for the 2018 Prix des Amis, a prize devoted to supporting young artists for their first major institutional exhibition. She remains a contributor and supporter of independent critical art journals such as Afrikadaa and Something we Africans got.
Osei Bonsu
Osei Bonsu is a British-Ghanaian curator and writer based in London and Paris. He is currently a curator of International Art at Tate Modern, where he is responsible for organising exhibitions, developing the museum’s collection and broadening the representation of artists from Africa and the African diaspora. As a leading curator of contemporary art, he has advised museums, art fairs and private collections internationally and mentored emerging artists through his digital platform, Creative Africa Network. Bonsu has worked as a contributing editor for Frieze magazine and has contributed to a number of exhibition catalogues and arts publications including ArtReview, Numero Art and Vogue. Through his writing, Bonsu focuses on the relationship between art and issues of migration, race and identity in contemporary society. He has lectured widely on these subjects at various institutions including the University of Cambridge, Courtauld Institute of Art, and Royal College of Art among others. Bonsu holds a Masters in History of Art from University College London, and a BA in Curatorial Studies from Central Saint Martins. In 2020, he was named as one of Apollo Magazine’s ‘40 under 40’ leading African voices.
Paul Moakley
Paul Moakley is an award-winning visuals producer, director and journalist. He’s currently editor at large, special projects at TIME.
In his previous role as Deputy director of Photography and Visual Enterprise from 2010-2018 at TIME he co-created some of the magazine’s most ambitious projects including the Emmy award-winning Beyond 9/11 multimedia project with HBO, TIME’s 100 Most Influential Photos and The Opioid Diaries. For nearly a decade he managed TIME’s visual coverage of breaking news, presidential elections and key franchises such as TIME’s Person of the Year, TIME 100 and the award-winning visual storytelling platform LightBox.
Previously he was senior photo editor at Newsweek and photo editor of PDN (Photo District News). Moakley has also worked as an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
He is caretaker and curator of the Alice Austen House Museum.
Rahaab Allana
Rahaab Allana is Curator/Publisher, Alkazi Foundation for the Arts in New Delhi (alkazifoundation.org); Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (London) and was previously, Honorary Research Associate at the University College, London (Department of Visual Anthropology). He has curated, contributed to and edited several publications and exhibitions on South Asian photography and its trans-national histories, working internationally with museums, universities, festivals and other arts institutions such as The Brunei Gallery (London), Rencontres d’Arles (Espace Van Gogh), Jimei x Arles (China), The Folkwang Museum (Essen), The Photography Museum (Berlin), The Fine-Art Museum (Brussels), the Science Museum (London) and the Rubin Museum (NY) among others.
He serves, and has served on the Advisory Committee/Juries of various cultural fora including the India-Europe Foundation for New Dialogue (FIND, Rome); the Prix Pictet Award (London/Switzerland/Paris); the Gabriele Basilico Prize in Architecture and Landscape Photography; 6×6 Global Program (World Press Photo, 2020) as well as the Editorial Board of the Trans-Asia Photography (TAP) Review, University of Michigan.
He is also the Founding/Managing Editor of PIX (enterpix.in), a theme-based photography initiative – an exhibitionary and online platform for South Asian practitioners in its tenth year; Founder of the first app for photography from South Asia called ASAP Connect (asapconnect.in); and has currently Guest Editing two volumes on lens-based practices in the subcontinent – for Aperture Magazine (NY) due in the summer 2021; and the other for Tulika Books (Delhi).
Sagal Ali
Sagal Ali, is a Somali-Danish art and cultural heritage professional and a businesswoman. She specialises in arts and heritage in the aftermath of conflict. She holds a BA in African Language and Culture from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies from University College London (UCL).
Sagal’s ongoing work and research looks into the efficacy of art and heritage in post-conflict reconstruction. She considers art and heritage not merely about objects, monuments and practices – but rather that at risk is the re-visioning and reconstruction of people’s identities. Sagal seeks to apprehend the ways destruction and the following selective reconstruction of the Somali cultural heritage will affect notions of belonging and identities.
Sagal has been working in the Horn of Africa for a number of years. She was the Cultural Heritage Expert Consultant on the project Reviving Culture, Building Peace in Somalia from 2015 to November 2017, where she designed and implemented numerous projects using art and cultural heritage as means to foster peace, dialogue, and self-expression. In November 2018, Sagal started to work directly with the Federal Government of Somalia, as the Senior Technical Advisor for Art and Heritage, as well as the Deputy Secretary General of the Somali National Commission for UNESCO. Two positions she was extremely proud to hold, as she was able to lead on the ratification of the UNESCO 1972 Convention for the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage and the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage by Somalia; the re-establishment of the Somali National Commission for UNESCO; represent Somalia on international platforms dedicated to Art and Culture; as well as supporting institutional and capacity building efforts for the National Museum and Library, amongst many other interventions.
On the 26th of September 2020, Sagal launched the Somalia Arts Foundation (SAF), a life-long dream of hers. SAF is the first ever independent contemporary arts institution in the history of Somalia. SAF came from Sagal’s desire to create a home for the arts and by extension for young artists in Somalia. The main purpose behind SAF is to promote and create conducive environments for contemporary art to flourish in Somalia, while also leveraging the arts to ignite critical discourses around issues on identity, memory, loss and healing.
Sagal holds a firm belief that art and culture hold the answers to address Somalia’s recent traumatic past. She remains steadfast in paving the way for art and heritage to thrive in Somalia.
Samira Larouci
Samira Larouci is a writer and editor based in London. As a regular contributor at Vogue Italia, her writing has also appeared in L’Uomo Vogue, Casa Vogue, i-D, Dazed, GQ, CR Fashion Book and other publications. She formerly helmed editor positions at i-D and Marfa Journal, as well as having co-founded the first trilingual platform documenting youth culture across the Middle East and North Africa. She has been profiled in The Guardian, Dazed, Elle and more, and has led talks and live interviews for California’s longest-running photographic fair Photo LA, Photo Vogue, Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue.
Selma Blair
Throughout her diverse career, Selma Blair has been one of the most versatile and exciting actresses on screen. Blair’s longstanding career began with her comedic roles in pop culture classics in the early 2000s. Blair has worked with an array of acclaimed directors including Guillermo del Toro and Todd Solodnz, to name a few. Additionally, Blair was named one of Time Magazine’s Person of The Year in 2017 as one of their Silence Breakers.
Upcoming, Blair will be seen as the subject of the documentary, Introducing, Selma Blair, which premiered to rave reviews at the 2021 SXSW Festival. At the festival, the feature won the Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling. Following SXSW, DEADLINE wrote “Selma Blair’s unflinching and raw vulnerability in Introducing, Selma Blair, coupled with director Rachel Fleit’s almost voyeuristic chronicling of her MS diagnosis, invites us not just to feel empathy for the star. More than that, it invites us into her fight, prompting anyone watching to feel joined with her in battle.” The documentary, which reveals Blair’s intimate and raw journey with Multiple Sclerosis, was acquired by Discovery+ and is slated for release in Fall 2021.
Previously, Blair starred in the comedy/horror thriller Mom and Dad, alongside Nicholas Cage. The film, which follows a teenage girl and her younger brother as they must survive a wild 24 hours during which a mass hysteria of unknown origin causes parents to turn violently on their own kids. The film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and later screened at the 2017 Sitges Film Festival and the 2017 Molins Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Jury Prize for Best Film and the Audience Award for Best Films. VARIETY critic Dennis Harvey wrote “She [Blair] covers a gamut from bittersweet sympathy to farce to monstrousness, running amok like a cat on piano keys, yet hitting each note perfectly. “Mom & Dad” isn’t the kind of movie they give acting awards to — but in a just world, it would be.”
On television, Blair was recently seen co-starring as “Kris Jenner” in FX’s The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story for Ryan Murphy.
Blair also starred in Todd Solodnz’s Dark Horse in 2011 as Miranda (formerly ‘Vi’), alongside Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow. The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival and was later released by Virgil Films & Entertainment. Blair also starred in Todd Solodnz’s Storytelling in 2001.
In 2008, Blair reprised her role as Liz Sherman in Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army, after starring in the original Hellboy in 2004 (also directed by del Toro).
Blair is perhaps best well known for her scene stealing performance as ‘Vivian Kesington’ in MGM’s hit Romantic comedy Legally Blonde, alongside Reese Witherspoon. The film was nominated in 2002 for a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
In 1999, Blair played the role of Cecile Caldwell in Cruel Intentions, alongside Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe. Columbia Pictures released the film, which was directed by Roger Kumble.
Other film credits include the YA film After (2019) and its sequel, After We Collided (2020), based on the popular romance novels of the same name. Blair also starred in Robert Benton’s Feast of Love in 2007, and John Water’s A Dirty Shame in 2004. In 2002, Blair reconnected with her Cruel Intentions director Roger Kumble in The Sweetest Thing for Columbia Pictures, alongside Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, and Jason Bateman.
Blair also starred on television as ‘Kim’ on Kath & Kim for NBC from 2008-2009, opposite Molly Shannon. Blair has made memorable guest star appearances including Friends, Another Life, Heathers, Portlandia and Web Therapy.
On stage, Blair starred in the World Premiere production of Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries at The Alley Theater and was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Spoken Word Recording” for her reading of The Diary of Anne Frank.
Blair currently residents in Los Angeles.
SEOK Jae-hyun
Independent Curator / Director of Art Space LUMOS
SEOK Jaehyun was born in Daegu, Korea. He completed his graduate studies at Ohio University majoring Visual Communication. His career can be summarized as a photographer, educator and curator. His experience from working as a photographer—for New York Times, International Herald Tribune and Korean GEO—in the past has brought him where he is now.
SEOK has organized Daegu Photo Biennale in 2006 with others. Moreover, he has curated many international exhibitions including Imaging Asia in Documents (2006) and Women in War (2014) for Daegu Photo Biennale and has been involving several Photo Festivals such as Busan International Photo Festival (2020, 2021) Dali International Photo Festival, Jimei x Arles Photo Festival in China and FotoIstanbul as a foreign curator. SEOK received the Best Curator Award twice from DIPE in China, 2015 & 2017.
After profiling 30 established photographers from other countries on VON photography magazine, he is working as an associate editor for Photo Dot magazine in Korea.
SEOK has established ArtSpace LUMOS focusing on mainly photography in Daegu 2018.
Also, he has participated in many international photo festivals as a portfolio reviewer such as FotoFest in Houston, Format Photo Festival in Derby, England, Koytography in Japan, Singapore Photo Festival, Festival de la Luz in Buenos Aires and etc.
Shannon Ghannam
Shannon Ghannam is the Global Education Director at Magnum Photos, responsible for the celebrated agency’s educational programming globally, including the recently launched online learning platform Magnum Learn learn.magnumphotos.com. Previously she managed Content Strategy and Development at Reuters, working to showcase on multiple platforms the agency’s multimedia content. Shannon has collaborated on numerous photographic books, international exhibitions and multimedia projects including the Emmy award winning photojournalism app Reuters The Wider Image. Shannon has worked in various roles during a 20 year career including Screen Labs, Night Contact photography and multimedia festival, Australian Associated Press (AAP), The Australian Photojournalist Journal, The National Archives of Australia as well as developing a year long collaborative portraiture project with refugee communities for the Australian Red Cross. She studied at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia where she graduated with First Class Honours in Photography.
Sunil Gupta
Sunil Gupta (b. 1953, New Delhi) India/Canada/UK.
Sunil Gupta was educated at the Royal College of Art, London, England, and received a PhD from the University of Westminster, England. Gupta’s work uses independent photography as a critical practice, focusing on race, migration and queer issues. His recent show (with Charan Singh), Dissent and Desire was presented at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India (2018) and his project Christopher Street 1976, published in 2018 (Stanley Barker) was also presented at Hales Gallery in New York (2019). His work has been exhibited in various group shows, including Paris, Bombay, Delhi… (Pompidou Centre, Paris, France, 2011) and The Place is Here (Nottingham Contemporary, England, 2017).
It was also on show as part of the permanent collection at Tate Modern and Tate Britain, London, England (2018). He is a Visiting Tutor at the Royal College of Art, a Professorial Fellow at the University for the Creative Arts and was the Lead Curator for the 2018 Fotofest in Houston, USA. His work can be found in many private and public collections, including the George Eastman Museum (Rochester, USA); the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography(Japan); the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Canada); the Tate (London, England); and the Museum of Modern Art (New York, USA).
Tasneem Alsultan
Tasneem Alsultan is a visual storyteller and mentor whose work focuses on social issues in the Arab Gulf region and challenges stereotypical perceptions of the Middle East. She is a regular contributor to National Geographic and National Geographic Travel. Her passion for photography developed through photographing Saudi weddings, which she still does today. Her work has been published in numerous influential international publications and featured in over 20 exhibitions worldwide. Tasneem became the first Arab female Global Ambassador for Canon in 2018.
Willy Ndatira
Willy Ndatira is a designer, creative consultant and owner of William Cult Agency , which counts Gucci amongst their clients. Based between Johannesburg and London, Ndatira is perhaps better known by his Instagram handle @williamcult, where he shares his visual research and discusses social issues.
Ndatira trained as a fashion designer, also graduating with an MA in Image Making from Central Saint Martins. He has written for titles including Another Man and i-D.
Yael Martinez V.
Yael Martínez
b.1984
Martínez’s work addresses fractured communities in his native Mexico. He often works symbolically to evoke a sense of emptiness, absence, and pain suffered by those affected by the state and the organized crime in the region. Recipient of the Eugene Smith Award in 2019, Grantee and former fellow of the Magnum Foundation. He won the 2nd Prize of the World Press Photo contests 2019 in the category of long-term projects. His work has been featured in group shows in America, Europe, Africa and Asia. His work has been published by: New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Blomberg news, Lens NY times, Time, Vogue Italy, Vrij Nederland, Aperture. Martínez became a Magnum Nominee member in 2020.