Congratulations to the following special selections chosen by our wonderful jury.
2024 Daylight Photo Award Jury Highlights:
Jean-Christophe Godet Guernsey Photography Festival (Guernsey UK) + Glaz Festival (Rennes France) - Antone Dolezal
Sarah Gilbert (The Guardian) - Liam Kennedy
David Johnson (Print Study for All) - Riel Sturch
Paul Ninson (Dikan Center) - Benjamin Kis
ANTONE DOLEZAL
PART OF FORTUNE AND PART OF SPIRIT
Part of Fortune and Part of Spirit focuses on new religious movements of the region and the beliefs to which they adhere. Influenced by folklore of the American West, Sci-Fi cinema, secret military programs and the appropriation of Indigenous spiritual practices, the religious faiths I follow form a complex and entangled story. A story of American utopia that is grand in vision, yet historically rooted in the expression of American Imperialism.
"Through an intensive research on new religious movements in the American South West, Antone Dolezal manage to construct an intricate multi-layered narrative that delivers a fascinating reflection on the fractures of our contemporary society. Each element of this series has the power to intrigue and convey the viewer to the link between modern mythology, folklore and social reality. Highly artistically executed the images also release some kind of strange visual poetry that reinforces the coherence between the form and the content and define Dolezal as an exceptional artist."
- Jean-Christophe Godet Guernsey Photography Festival (Guernsey UK) + Glaz Festival (Rennes France)
LIAM KENNEDY
SHAKEDOWN
Liam Kennedy's SHAKEDOWN explores complicated themes of the leather-clad, violent and burly bikers, uncovering a tenderness and tribal approach to freedom in an uncertain world while reimagining the American pop culture narrative and the relevance of a new generation of bikers; many of whom embrace nonconformity and forge bonds with man and machine, often sacrificing life, limb and acceptance in exchange for their own authenticity.
"Choosing my favorite submission was incredibly hard - the entries were complex, challenging and beautiful, but I was drawn back to the essay Shakedown by Liam Kennedy.
Drawing on a tradition of photojournalism documenting outlaws from Danny Lyon onwards, it updated the genre in a fresh and novel way, bringing vibrancy, humour, tenderness and a brutal honesty. I admire the dedication to the project, but most of all, wanted to know more about the subjects."
- SARAH GILBERT (THE GUARDIAN)
RIEL STRURCHIO
SIGNAL
Signal explores the intricacies of personal mythology, esoteric objects, and the embodied expressions of practitioners. Powerful, misunderstood, and non-normative LGBTQ+ and femme folks continue to confront scrutiny, erasure, and challenges to agency and bodily rights. Magical, ceremonial, and spiritual practices that engage in personal and collective hope directly push back against these oppressive social systems. Through collaboratively imaging often private, secret, and personal rituals within these practices, Riel Strurchio positions the gestural body as a site of resistance and a vessel for liberation.
"Singling out one portfolio was no small feat, considering the quality, consistency, and depth of many submitted bodies of work. riel Strurchio’s Signal has risen to one of the top portfolios during this jury process for Daylight. Their photographs focus on fringe spiritual rituals posed by queer and femme practitioners. Most importantly, riel’s lens is directed at their subject with a sense of hopefulness; this optimism provides the viewer with a reading that is both empathetic and didactic. These images don’t force; they suggest the possibility of belonging beyond traditional perspectives; the photographs are subtle enough to be curious to dive into but do not read as overly bizarre or inaccessible. I don’t know all the rituals and spells on display here, but these gesture-laden images provide insights into personal faith journeys and the search for deeper meaning when faced with oppression from outside forces. riel’s calmness in framing their subjects and spiritual tools provides space for the viewer’s patience to navigate the series; perhaps it’s a similar kind of calmness and patience needed for navigating things beyond what and who we know."
- DAVID JOHNSON (PRINT STUDY FOR ALL)
BENJAMIN KIS
"Benjamin Kis’s body of work is a gripping set of images with a documentary focus, which trace the progression of a specific landscape over several years. To show this progression, Kis layers photos of the location, within a single framed photo, using an overlay of images that communicates the passing of time. The photographs are sharply taken - the positioning, and placement of chosen scenes provide an illusion of motion and highlight the movement that has occurred over time: the degradation of a home - perhaps after a natural disaster, a car buried in overgrown weeds and flowers, a street curve where an electronics shops has come to stand, the construction of a bridge or piling up of garbage bags over rice fields, growth of a station and a train coming through it. The resulting arresting set of images are able to speak to a single narrative in a way that is compelling, and visually engaging. The story is ever relevant - this is the story of how human beings affect the environment, a relationship that is always clear to see. These images with skillful edits bring out and illuminate nature’s response to our habits, behaviors, and needs. The images are innovative and unique in the technique used to create them, and are able to communicate a strong body of images with a distinct narrative."
- PAUL NINSON (DIKAN CENTER)
OUR 2024 DAYLIGHT PHOTO AWARD JURY
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Jean-Christophe Godet, Guernsey Photography Festival (Guernsey UK) + Glaz Festival (Rennes France) Jean-Christophe Godet is the artistic director of the Guernsey Photography Festival which he founded in 2010. He is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of Glaz: Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, a major new cultural event in Rennes (France). |
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Sarah Gilbert, The Guardian, London, UK Sarah Gilbert oversees online and print content as the features photo editor at the Guardian. Her previous roles include working for numerous book and magazine publishers, picture editor at Conde Nast, and several years as Photo Editor for the Guardian. Sarah Gilbert was a mentor on the Women Photograph program, and is a lead on the positive action scheme at the Guardian. |
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David Johnson, Print Study for All, South Carolina
David Johnson is a lens-based artist, curator, Assistant Professor of Photography at Coastal Carolina University and Co-Founder of Print Study for All, an initiative to provide museum-quality photographic print portfolios for in-classroom study to intuitions within culturally underserved areas. Johnson’s books included Wig Heavier Than a Boot, a collaborative project with poet Philip Matthews, by Kris Graves Projects, and It Can Be This Way Always: Images from the Kerrville Folk Festival from The University of Texas Press. |
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Paul Ninson, Dikan Center, Accra, Ghana Paul Ninson is a Ghanaian photographer, filmmaker, and curator. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Dikan Center. The Dikan Center is a non-profit visual education organization that combines a unique interdisciplinary program with a strong foundation in the African context, history, and practice. The center comprises; a photo library, gallery, story lab, classrooms, studios, and community space. |
