Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up

November 11, 2016

Friday Round Up - 11 November, 2016

This week Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up features photographic essays on Iran, Russia and Scotland.

Exhibition: Melbourne

Hoda Afshar – In the Exodus, I Love You More

Hoda is originally from Iran and now lives in Melbourne. I interviewed her a couple of years ago about her series Under Western Eyes and am pleased to share some of her new work with you.

In the Exodus, I Love You More is a continuation of her work on her homeland. “This series captures Iran and Iranians' lives and their changing faces during a time of great transition,” Hoda says. “(It) is very close to me, and I am honoured to be holding the first major exhibition of the work at Brightspace Gallery.”

Valeriy Klamm - The Siberians: Daily Life of Rural Russia

In 2012 I interviewed Valeriy Klamm the project coordinator of the community blog ‘Birthmark on the Map’, a project capturing rural Russia with a focus on Siberia. At the time he told me of his decade long bid to bring a view of rural Russia to a broader audience – to tell a different story about Russia, one that didn't focus on war, climate or deprivation.

Valeriy works in the cultural sector in his hometown of Novosibirsk, Siberia. He said, “I wanted to tell the story to the outside world of who we are in reality, not a polished view... I am very happy that the content has stayed real. The blog continues to develop and it is like an endless puzzle, an endless chain”.

This puzzle now has a new piece, Valeriy’s own series The Siberians which is also a book. You can see the book here. I visited Russia some years ago now, but I didn't get to Siberia; the country is so vast it was impossible to cram everything on my 'to do' list into three weeks. Russia is incredibly rich culturally and I found it fascinating, as are Valeriy's photographs.

French photographer Laetitia Vancon’s photo essay of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland’s western islands, captures some of the last Gaelic-speaking villages and their inhabitants. It’s a hauntingly beautiful series that will be exhibited next month in Paris. Laetitia’s documentary photography encompasses a diverse range of topics with essays on the blood feud in Albania, the vanishing art of mud wrestling in India and the gentrification of Istanbul. You can see more of her work here.