#SWPAnews: Latest updates from past Sony World Photography Awards winners
The past winners of the Sony World Photography Awards are making waves in the photography community once again this month. From intimate cowboy portraits in Madrid to meditative documentaries hitting UK screens, here's what's been capturing our attention in the world of photography.
EXHIBITION
Look Again by Alex Bex at GABY VERA
A selection of images from Alex Bex’s ongoing project Memories of Dust is now on show at GABY VERA gallery in Madrid. The Franco-Texan photographer assumes the role of both photographer and active spectator, participating in the daily lives of several cowboy groups to capture their routines, vulnerabilities, and contradictions from the inside. This closeness allows him to expose the cracks in the stereotype, portraying cowboys not as heroic figures hardened by desert dust, but as complex, sensitive, and profoundly contemporary human beings.
Image: © Alex Bex
PHOTOFESTIVAL
PhotoMonth, London
PhotoMonth, a festival of photography in London features a number of past Sony World Photography Awards winners. Get ready for a dynamic programme of photography exhibitions, events, screenings, and walking tours.
- Exhibition: The Anthropocene Illusion by Zed Nelson, Mile End Arts Pavilion, 15th October- 26th October
- Exhibition: @28Sunbury presents: Tom Oldham, Ron Timehin and James Hole at Printspace Kingsland Road, 2 October 7-10pm
- Screening and Q&A: Mother Vera Dir. Alys Tomlinson, Cécile Embleton, The Source, Stratford, 30th October 6:30pm
PhotoMonth festival is open from 2 October - 3 November.
Image: © Tom Oldham
PHOTOBOOK
Kongo by Thomas Nicolon
Photojournalist Thomas Nicolon shares over a decade of work in the Congo Basin, documenting wildlife, Indigenous communities, scientists, and park rangers who protect this vital region. This collection brings together his most powerful images - a tribute to the forest and its human and non-human inhabitants. Available to pre-order.
Image: © Thomas Nicolon
SCREENING
Mother Vera dir. Alys Tomlinson, Cécile Embleton
Directed by Alys Tomlinson (2018 Photographer of the Year) and filmmaker Cécile Embleton, Mother Vera is a meditative portrait of a Belarusian nun who has spent decades in an Orthodox monastery, seeking redemption from a past marked by addiction and loss.
Emerging from Tomlinson’s photographic series Ex-Voto, the film’s stark black-and-white imagery moves through candlelit chapels, snowbound fields, and moments of quiet communion with animals, tracing Vera’s conflicted devotion and tentative steps toward freedom.
After taking the coveted Grierson Documentary Award at its UK debut at the 68th BFI London Film Festival, the stunning feature MOTHER VERA is out now in cinemas across the UK.
TALK
Daniel Murray speaking at a Scottish Creative Network event
The 2024 Youth Photographer of the Year will talk about his successes since winning the award and his creative journey so far. Join him on 25 September at 6:30pm at the Social Hub in Glasgow.
