The work of a number of Suffolk photographers is to be proudly displayed along Ipswich Waterfront later this month after they were selected as winners in a festival’s Instagram campaign.
The theme of this year’s PhotoEast festival is ‘belonging’, and a social media appeal asking photographers to capture what this meant to them attracted almost 3,000 entries.
Using the hashtag #ibelong18, photographs ranged from personal family archives, to political statements about the refugee crisis or Aboriginal rights in Australia. Those chosen include a mixture of landscape and portrait, street photography and still life, images drawn from long-term projects or simple moments of reflection on the theme.
Forty of the best images will form the On The Fence exhibition, along the Ipswich Waterfront, for the duration of the PhotoEast festival, which opens on Thursday, May 24.
The winning entries were selected by Fiona Shields, Head of Photography at The Guardian, and Adrian Evans, Director of Panos Pictures photo agency. Among them was Archant’s very own photographer, Sarah Lucy Brown.
One of Miss Brown’s pictures was of Ipswich veteran Stanley Chambers who flew Spitfires during the Second World War and supported squadrons at the D-Day landings. He was one of six Ipswich war veterans to be given the Legion d’Honneur, the highest honour in France, for the part he played that night. “Belonging is contributing to a greater cause,” said Miss Brown. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be part of this amazing festival, and what makes it even better is that the photographs selected were taken in Suffolk.”
Chris Mapey, landlord at The Angel in Woodbridge, was also selected for his picture taken at a friend’s wedding last year.
“I was asked to shoot candid portraits of the guests, and this woman turned away from the camera at the last moment,” he said. “Sometimes people don’t want to belong.”
On judging the entries, Ms Shields said: “True to the social nature of Instagram, the topic ‘I belong’ inspired contributions from far and wide, coming together to form a varied and vivid collection of images.
“With entries by photographers from Ipswich to Iran, it has been a privilege to take part in making the final selection to exhibit and to share some wonderful interpretations.”
The PhotoEast festival runs from May 24 to June 24 on Ipswich Waterfront.
For a full programme of events, visit www.photoeast.co.uk or follow @photoeastuk on social media.
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