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Visitor Information: The RPS Gallery and coffee shop will be closed on Saturday 7 December

I Miss Myself By Andreea Andrei
CREDIT:  Andreea Andrei

SELFIES

Online photo exhibition by the RPS Women in Photography Group

Selfies: a celebration of a modern-day obsession

Self-portraits by women and women-identifying photographers who submitted from around the globe for this online exhibition.

More than 500 female and female-identifying photographers from around the world responded to an open call by the RPS Women in Photography Group. A curated selection of 50 self-portraits was shown in an online exhibition. SELFIES:  Women in Photography celebrates the current take on a classical form of artistic expression, with the winning entries announced on social media and presented in digital form in keeping with the most visible modern iteration of the genre. 

 

Congratulations to our winners

Best of Show: Jekyll and Hyde by Frankie MacEachen (UK) 

Best B&W SELFIE: Do I Sitwell by Dee Robinson (UK) 

Best International SELFIE: Reflections by Aljohara Jeje (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) 

Judges Gold: to Eloisa Sanchez (Mexico) as the only photographer with both submitted images selected for the exhibition 

People's Choice Award: Do I Sitwell by Dee Robinson (UK)

 

The exhibition reflects the great diversity within self-portraiture, traditionally driven by personal salvation, self-scrutiny or vanity; while feminist artists in particular have used the human body to express facets of identity such as gender, sexuality, race or ethnicity. With artists increasingly turning the camera on themselves during lockdown, the presentation provides an intimate snap shot of self-representation. 

The Women in Photography Group is a special interest group with the objective of facilitating the celebration, education and collaboration of female and female-identifying photographers and is available to members of the Royal Photographic Society. The SELFIES call was open to members and non-members, with the selection panel including photographer Amak Mahmoodian; RPS Director of Development Tracy Marshall-Grant; RPS Women in Photography Chair Teri Walker; and Laura Noble, curator and founder of LA Noble Gallery.

SELFIE: 50 Selected Images

Alone 37 By Sarah Grounds
CREDIT: Sarah Grounds
Alone 37
By Sarah Grounds
Asphyxia By Eloisa Sanchez
CREDIT: Eloisa Sanchez
☆ GOLD MEDAL - Asphyxia
By Eloisa Sanchez

Eloisa is a Mexican professional photographer based in Mexico City. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture and a degree in Photography. Eloisa started taking pictures at an early age. Since she was born, her father always had a camera in his hands and at the age 6 he gave her her first own 110mm camera. Self-taught at the beginning, she grew up with photography as a hobby; but with time, and after graduating in Architecture, the idea of making photography her life consolidated in her head. Self-portraits for her at first were a way to explore photography, light and colour, being shy and introverted she always preferred to take photos of herself than someone else. But later it became a means of venting emotions and concerns.

Eloisa Sánchez's photographic work has been published in several Mexican and International media outlets as The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, ESPN, Fox Sports, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, Marca, among other newspapers and magazines. During her professional career Eloisa has also photographed content for art books and documentaries, conferences, portraits and product shots for Grupo Modelo, Adidas, VISA, Nestlé, etc.

Gold Medal - Asphyxia by Eloisa Sanchez (Mexico) @saudadelo

Born Wild By Aga McPherson
CREDIT: Aga McPherson
Born Wild
By Aga McPherson
Do I Sit Well By Dee Robinson
CREDIT: Dee Robinson
☆ BEST B&W AND THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE ☆ Do I SitWell
By Dee Robinson

"Usually faces have been a part of my pictures, now they are the main event.

I started out taking pictures of architecture, would even wait until people moved out of shot. This was a long time ago, maybe I got a little bored with bricks and mortar, maybe I needed actors for my stage of beautiful buildings but people started to appear and it started a fascination that grew slowly into a love of portraiture.

It was during the first lock down when as a group of photographers we couldn’t decide on a project to show for our next Zoom meeting and came up with the idea of selfies. Not being terribly keen on the idea of seeing myself on a screen I decided to hide behind another’s persona, in this case Dame Edith Sitwell and all her rings."

Best B&W Selfie - Do I Sitwell by Dee Robinson (UK) @deerobinson5

Flowering 1 By Violeta Sofia
CREDIT: Violeta Sofia
Flowering
By Violeta Sofia
Growing By Molly Fletcher
CREDIT: Molly Fletcher
Growing
By Molly Fletcher
Jackdaw By Fern Leigh Albert
CREDIT: Leigh Albert
Jackdaw
By Fern Leigh Albert
Jekyll and Hyde by Frankie MacEachen
CREDIT: Frankie MacEachen
☆ BEST IN SHOW - Jekyll and Hyde
by Frankie MacEachen

"I first picked up my camera in 2016 after performing onstage for many years. As an actor, much of my preparation focused on stillness. Capturing the essence of a character and building a narrative from within.

In making the transition from one creative medium to another, this process became a driving force in my photography whether it was portraiture or landscape. I strived to get under the skin of my subject.

I was diagnosed with a mental health condition in 2019 at age 49. On a personal level the diagnosis finally gave me answers but it subsequently inspired me to dig deeper in my photography with an emphasis on putting ‘the inside on the outside’ so to speak and to convey a deeper story through a still image.

During lockdown, I had no option but to turn the camera on myself. I started to consider how light and shade could be utilised to capture different moods within one image. Moving forward I want to explore further the impact of managing the highs and lows of a mental health condition through the stillness of an image."

Best in Show - Jekyll and Hyde by Frankie MacEachen (UK) @boldfrankphotography

Life By Lorraine Wales
CREDIT: Lorraine Wales
Life
By Lorraine Wales
Reflections By Aljohara Jeje
CREDIT: Aljohara Jeje
☆ BEST INTERNATIONAL SELFIE (Saudi Arabia) - Reflections
By Aljohara Jeje

"As long as I can remember I have been a woman and artist. Enraptured by techniques, I graduated in Product Design, after Art-Photography, in between propaedeutic in Art History, and later in life I took courses in medieval artistry techniques (in China and in Portugal). I raised my family in various countries and four years ago I restarted my career in the arts, slowly overcoming a 20+ years professional hiatus.

Enjoying Saudi Arabia’s vibrant society so much and convinced that its culture has all the elements to become the next artist's hub on par with Berlin and the like, I closed my house in Europe indefinitely and choose to live and work here, as long as The Kingdom is willing to have me, of course."

Reflections by Aljohara Jeje (Saudi Arabia) @aljohara.photography

Self, 2022 By Julie Derbyshire
CREDIT: Julie Derbyshire
Self, 2022
By Julie Derbyshire
Sinking By Eloisa Sanchez
CREDIT: Eloisa Sanchez
Sinking
By Eloisa Sanchez
Torn Apart By Helena Jones, LRPS
CREDIT: Helena Jones, LRPS
Torn Apart
By Helena Jones LRPS
Unseen(2) By Nicola Muirhead
CREDIT: Nicola Muirhead
Unseen
By Nicola Muirhead
Untitled By Lucy Bentham
CREDIT: Lucy Bentham
Untitled
By Lucy Bentham