Student Shortlist

The term Tiramisu can be understood as a pick-me-up. This project is a testament to connecting with those closest to our living space – friends, roommates and neighbours, on a dark winter’s night. The subjects provided ideas on where and how to be photographed, casting aside the dictatorial picture-maker; a wolf leading from behind. The result sits somewhere between fact and fiction, implementing a collective imagination that shapes experience, interconnectivity and memory. The subjects are members of the Chinese student community in Espoo, Finland, aiming at subverting stereotypes and seizing a chance to write their own tale; a chance to reimagine quotidian surroundings, the stairs used weekly to do the laundry, the bed that is slept on, the expressions manifested after a profound statement or an embarrassing instant. Sitting at the common room table, sharing home-cooked meals, placing the mirror uncannily in an attempt to reveal something new.

Alexander’s (b. 1992) work aims to reveal geopolitical, mythological and philosophical nuances, and how they are manifested in the quotidian. The key is engaging dialectically with subjects - establishing rapport and dignifying their presence to shape their stories. Documentary strategies include collating performative, candid and collaborative approaches.