Reflecting The Real

Anne Nwakalor is a British-Nigerian curator, artist and writer working within the photography field. She is currently based in Manchester, UK and is the Founding Editor of one of Africa’s first contemporary photography magazines, ‘No! Wahala Magazine’. This is a print photography publication championing authentic visual stories told by African creatives. Anne currently works full-time as a Communications Officer at Arts Council England, the governmental funding body for creativity and culture. Anne’s practice developed whilst studying a BA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the University of The Arts London and a Masters in Media, Ethics and Social Change at the University of Sussex. Her interests focus on ethical storytelling in photography, Afrofuturism, representation, and elitism within the art world, among other topics. With a background in creative writing and film, Anne often integrates text and moving images into her work, creating multimedia pieces alongside still photography. In addition to her visual practice, she is a critical writer, focusing on themes such as othering, exoticism and colonialism within the photography industry. Anne frequently facilitates workshops on photography, ethical storytelling and printed media. She has featured on panels for numerous photography contests, reviewed work at several portfolio reviews, and delivered presentations, talks and lectures at universities, exhibitions, art events and photo festivals.

Fiona Shields is Head of Photography for The Guardian News and Media Group. She has more than two decades of experience working for a range of newspaper titles, including in her previous role as picture editor of ‘The Guardian’. Throughout her career, she has been involved in the coverage of some of the most historic news stories of our time, including the events surrounding 9/11, multiple conflicts and large-scale natural disasters, and the humanitarian crises resulting from the growing refugee numbers across the globe. In addition, she has delivered talks at photo festivals, mentored photojournalism students, and served as judge of numerous awards and competitions, including the Sony World Photography Awards, The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize, and the Renaissance Photography Awards. In 2019, she joined the panel for the Carmignac Photojournalism Award and has also served as a regular nominator for the prestigious Prix Pictet Prize.

Gwen Lee is the co-founder of the Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF) and founding director of DECK Photography Art Centre. She was recognized in 2010 by the Japan Chamber of Commerce & Trade for her contributions to the arts in Singapore and conducted curatorial research in Germany in 2013 with support from the Goethe Institut Singapore and the National Arts Council. In 2012, SIPF received grants for public photography education programmes. In 2014, Lee and her team built a repurposed container art space for exhibitions and residencies, winning the Singapore President’s Design Award in 2015. In 2022, she was awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Arts & Letters by France’s Ministry of Culture. Lee has curated notable exhibitions, including those of Daido Moriyama (2016), and book awards & projects with Steidl Publishing. Gwen has served as a jury member and portfolio reviewer for various prestigious photography awards and festivals such as FOAM Paul Huf Award, New Cosmos Japan, FORMAT, KL PHOTO Award, KG+, DIPE China, Houston Fotofestival, Daegul Photo Biennale, Rencontres d’Arles, World Press Photo 2024, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025

Image by Isaiah Cheng

Pauline Vermare is a curator, historian and writer on photography. She is currently the Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography at the Brooklyn Museum.  A French American photography historian, she has a specialist interest in Japanese and Irish photography. Vermare was formerly the cultural director of Magnum Photos in New York and curator at the International Center of Photography and Museum of Modern Art, both in New York.  Vermare was also the curator of 10/10 Celebrating Contemporary Japanese Women Photographers for the 2022 Kyotographie International Photography Festival. She edited the award-winning Akihiko Okamura – The Memories of Others’ – published by Atelier EXB and Prestel in partnership with the Estate of Akihiko Okamura and Photo Museum Ireland to accompany the premiere exhibition in 2024. Along with Lesley A. Martin, she edited and curated ‘ I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to the Present’, the acclaimed exhibition and catalogue organised by Aperture in association with the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival.

Trish Lambe is the Artistic Director/CEO at Photo Museum Ireland, Ireland’s national centre for contemporary photography. She leads the artistic programming team and the development of the museum’s collection initiative. She has curated exhibitions by leading Irish and international artists and programmed national and international commissions, exhibitions, events, and symposia addressing key issues in contemporary photography. Recent projects include the co-curation of the Akihiko Okamura ‘The Memories of Others’ exhibition and photo book. She is a nominator,  juror and portfolio reviewer for national and international artists’ awards and commissions, most recently the Deutsche Borse Prize,  LSI Women in Photography Grant, Prix Pictet, Format, Rencontres d’Arles, Hendrik teNeues Photo Award, Encontros da Imagen, Braga and the Creative Europe Project Groundswell Awards.

Michael Famighetti is editor in chief of Aperture magazine and the editorial program. In 2013, he organized a relaunch and reconceptualization of the magazine, which won a 2018 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. Together with guest editor Sarah Lewis, Michael is the recipient of an ICP Infinity Award for Critical Writing and Research for “Vision & Justice,” the Summer 2016 issue of Aperture. In addition to editing the magazine, Michael works with the digital team to shape online content, and commissions and edits books. He is currently also a visiting critic at the University of Hartford’s MFA program, and a participant in the School of Visual Arts’s Mentors program. His writing has appeared in Frieze, Bookforum, and Aperture, among other publications. He is a member of the American Society of Magazine Editors and has been a guest reviewer and speaker at many international festivals and institutions.

Image by Pari Dukovic