Futures Talents 2024
Here are the Futures 2024 Talents: artistic individuals invited by Fotofestiwal to collaborate on the international promotion and development of their careers under the Futures Platform.
One of the first collaborative activities will be a slideshow at Fotofestiwal and the participation of artists in Photo-Match, a Different Kind of Portfolio Review. Subsequent events will include meetings, workshops, exhibitions and publications co-created by eighteen European galleries, photography festivals, museums and media from Europe affiliated with the Futures Platform.
More about the Futures Platform and talents selected by partners ➔ Futures-photography.com.
Futures Talents Fotofestiwal 2024:
More about artists:
Grzegorz Wełnicki (PL)
The photo of Josephine – a woman from Philippines suffering from a rare skin disease – in the costume of Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl” appeared in 2013 in “Wysokie Obcasy” (High Heels) and remains one of the most memorable Polish magazine covers to this day. Other photographs from the expedition to the Philippines were published with Wojciech Tochman’s text in the book “Eli, Eli” (published by Czarne), and Wełnicki has many more magazine covers to his credit, working with Rats Agency and the Public Protest Archive (the group was nominated for the Polityka Passports).
He has devoted much of his artistic work to the subject of death. For 13 years he has photographed people and places in Poland, India, Ukraine and Russia developing this story in various ways. Some of this projects have been shown at festivals such as Photo Is:rael and Verzasca Foto Festival in Switzerland. The “No’am” exhibition at the Lodz Fotofestival will be the premiere of many of the photos and the culmination of much of the artist’s work with this theme.
Wełnicki’s works have been shownat the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Pauza Gallery in Krakow, among others, and have also appeared in: “British Journal of Photography”, “Frieze Magazine”, “Life Framer”, “Szum Magazine”, “DOC! Photo Magazine,” and “GUP Magazine.”
Karolina Gembara (PL)
Based in India for 7 years, she produced her second book “When We Lie Down, Grasses Grow From Us”, and started exploration of the migratory experience as a theme of her artistic work. During this time she became a member of Sputnik Photos and after coming back to Poland – the Archive of Public Protest, which developed her focus on photography as a tool of change, and creating and developing participatory projects involving refugees, creating spaces for collaboration and self-expression.
Much of her recent activity has been devoted to politics and activism, for which – as part of the Archive of Public Protest – was nominated to Paszport Polityki in 2021. Dedicated to teaching, leading workshops and academic work.
Her work has been published in Le Monde, Royal Photographic Society, British Journal of Photography, Ojo de Pez, GUP Magazine Online, LensCulture, OAI13, PDN, It’s Nice That, The Calvert Journal etc.
Maria Guțu (MD)
Maria Guțu is a moldovan photographer of the young generation who has been selected as One of 30 women photographers under 30 to watch by Artpil.
While studying film in the capital of her country she became interested in photography as well as in the villages of Moldova. For her personal project “Homeland” she started to explore everyday life of people in the countryside, their youth and relation with nature. In her photography and collage works she also explores the post-soviet heritage of Moldova, seeing her work as a tool to share the story of her nation to a broader audience.
Her work has been shown in Romania, France and The United States. In 2020 she became a finalist of 2020 People Photography Award by The Independent Photographer. She was shortlisted at Sony National & Regional Awards. From 2021 Maria is a member of WomenPhotograph.
Michalina Kacperak (PL)
A philosopher by educations, she is currently a student of photography at the Film School in Lodz. She dedicated her debut – aesthetically subversive and very personal – project to the experience of an alcohol problem in her family.
“Soft Spot” she co-created with her entire family, working with how her youngest sister deals with her emotions and decorates her room in intense colors. The honesty and take on the subject was quickly appreciated by international and Polish audiences. The “Soft Spot” project won the 12th Circulation(s) festival award in Paris, the Bartur PhotoAward in the Ann Lesley Bar-Tur Student category, and photos from the project were shown in group exhibitions at the Fringe Festival, In the Frames of Sopot and Interphoto in Bialystok, and in an individual exhibition at the Riga Photography Biennial. Michalina is represented by Gallery Jednostka. The project will have its Polish premiere in the form of a solo exhibition at Fotofestiwal 2024.
Mykhaylo Palinchak (UA)
One of the most active Ukrainian photographers, who has dedicated his recent work to the documention war struggles of his country. Former official photographer of the President of Ukraine.
He photographed the locations of war crimes of Russia all over Ukraine such as torture rooms in Kherson, a mass grave in Izum and Bucha, school in Yahidne village, looted Kherson Fine Art Museum and many others. At the same time he documented life and work of people who remained hiding in bomb shelters, started volunteering and took up weapons in their arms to defend the country, their cities and streets.
In his work he uses his experience from pre-wart times: being a dedicated street photographer, Founder of ‘Untitled’ online magazine and co-founder of Ukrainian Street Photography group. His work has been published and exhibited worldwide.
