Market Photo Workshop – International Dior Photography
Award for Young Talents 2019
Market Photo Workshop is part of 11 partner schools taking part in the International Dior Photography Award for Young Talents 2019. The House of Dior in Paris, France, launched this project January 2019 as an international photography competition among alumni and students from the best photo schools or photography departments in the world.
The first edition of Dior Photography Award for Young Talents was launched in 2018 by Dior in collaboration with Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie (ENSP) in Arles, France and the LUMA Foundation. It gathered 8 schools from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Russia, South Korea, Japan, United Arab Emirates, and France. The competition led to a collective exhibition of the laureates in Arles, inaugurated at the beginning of July during the Rencontres d’Arles festival. The winner of the competition received a 10 000 euros award as well as a photographic commission by Dior.
In 2019, Market Photo Workshop and 2 other schools from the Global South were invited to partner in the 2019 leg for this Award. In this edition, former Advance Programme in Photography student and current Courses team staff member at the Photo Workshop, Patrick Selemani was shortlisted in to the final list Laureates that saw their work being exhibited at The Rencontres d’Arles 2019 in Arles, France. The exhibition is currently running until August 2019 at the Dior exhibition hall. The Rencontres d’Arles celebrates its 50th year of existence and it is the oldest and largest photography festival in Europe.
It was with sadness that Patrick Selemani was unfortunately unable to travel to this momentous occasion due to Visa delays.
Market Photo Workshop congratulates Patrick for this milestone in his career.
The partner schools are:
Ecole nationale supérieure de la Photographie, Arles (France)
Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design, Geneva (Switzerland)
International Center of Photography, New York (USA)
California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles (USA)
Royal College of Art, London (UK)
Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts (China)
Kyoto University of Art and Design (Japan)
Fine Arts and Design College, University of Sharjah (UAE)
Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg (South Africa)
Centro de la Imagen, Mexico (Mexico)
Chung-Ang University, Seoul (South Korea)
I selected these women based on the themes of “Color”, “Femininity” and “Beauty”. Women who have natural makeup fascinate me and inspired me to produce this series of work. Most women I have met and interacted with are careful on how they present themselves. But the two women I worked with do their best to be natural and avoid wearing a lot of accessories and make up. They are proud of who they are: these women like natural hairstyles and apply minimal make-up. They are sensitive to artificial makeup and artificial hair. They love the texture of their hair and the tone of their skin and are proud of their natural aesthetics despite the darkness of their skin and the height which normally excludes them from infiltrating the popular modelling industry.
What does it mean for your images to be selected and exhibit at Dior Photography Award for Young Talents 2019?
I felt very excited to have my work critiqued by Dior’s influential panel of judges from different backgrounds and experiences. Being selected as the Market Photo Workshop Laureate is an opportunity for exposure, which has boosted my confidence. I think every emerging photographer like me will wish to see his work being published or exhibited by one of the most powerful brands in the globe.
