EDITORS’ PICK
Made with Flesh and Blood
HUMANS OF THE WORLD
The Life Framer editors make their pick of the images and stories not included in the judge’s selection for our ‘Humans of the World’ theme.
Following Zed Nelson’s selection of winning images for our theme ‘Humans of the world’, this compilation of 20 images represents some of the other talented photographers whose work struck us and left a mark. Some are more literal representations of us as humans, and others are more abstract, but each one is a stunning image worthy of exposure and attention. These are intended to be a conversation starter… so feel free to join the discussion on our social networks.
Banner image courtesy of Cody Punter.
www.codypunter.com and Instagram: @cody.punter
“Taking its name from the classroom activity, my series ‘Show and Tell’ is an ongoing portrait project depicting people with possessions that have an interesting story behind them. I have always been really interested in symbols in art and their subtle references to an array of stories beneath the surface. These symbols tend to stem from biblical and mythological references, which used to be widely known by the people who would view them. With this project, I want to collate symbols with stories sourced from individuals living today that more accurately represent our contemporary society, which is more secular and becoming increasingly more individualistic.”
Text and image courtesy of Jessica Mcdermott – www.jessicamcdermott.com
Self portrait exploring the issue of domestic abuse courtesy of Maria Falconer from her series ‘Keep Her Unnoticed ‘.
“There is a human condition in which the speech fades. When the ability to communicate with words is extinguished or impaired, to human beings remain gestures and facial expressions to convey their emotions, thoughts and fantasies.
Hundreds of muscles that animate our faces, often unconsciously, speak an archaic and powerful language, transforming our features in ancient masks, either tragic or comic, giving corporeality and tangibleness to the infinite nuances of our hearts. These portraits represent the testimony of an extreme condition of human life, when the body is transformed, disfigured by suffering or by old age, when the intellect becomes dull and the emotions get extreme.”
Image courtesy of Enrico Berni – www.enricoberni.com
The origin of my series was how young people deal with today’s media. As “digital natives”, their use of the information possibilities offered by the Internet and social networks comes easily and natural to them. At the same time and in order to get a participant of the social community, through the use of social media, private information is always being fed to this media. Such information needs to be selected very carefully and responsibly.
Due to a reduction of information and a lage-sized presentation my portraits receive a very strong, almost sculptural presence. The person “metamorphoses” to a human, expressive sculpture.
Image courtesy of Stefanie Minzenmay from her series ‘Protected Privacy – Protect Yourself!’.
www.stefanie-minzenmay.de and Instagram: @fotografiesmy
“By necessity there is no narrative linking the people in my 20 year long portrait series CITIZEN, spanning over 50 countries. Instead the work is connected by process alone. I am compelled to find resolve in the disordered. Looking for conclusions or patterns in what is already there and accepting the sensory and emotional end product of this search. The taxonomy in the work is never intended, yet inevitable. There is no story to be forced, no side to be on, no issue.
The very act of taking photographs becomes the constant, the purpose. The finished photographs the understanding. The result is a journal of collected uncertainties that are exposed to the same applied rigour. Side by side the portraits becomes a democratic equalizer, an opposite to to the accidental gathering of the photographs.”
Text and image courtesy of Ingvar Kenne.
www.ingvarkenne.com and Instragram: @ingvarkenne
Image courtesy of Martin Buzora – www.escapedape.com
Image courtesy of Valerie Morosi – Instagram: @valmorosi
“When travelling to the Islamic Republic Of Iran I was occupied capturing daily life in all its differing shapes. The series attempts to give a humanistic view upon the wealth, the people and the scenery of the country and the state in which the country finds itself today, marked by religion, an ancient Persian history, a hasty westernization and the more recent evolutions that followed afterwards.”
Text and Image courtesy of Jan Duerinck.
“Research shows that one third of Dutch adults have, at some time in their life, thought seriously about their own death. 10% have had a deathwish at some time for a minimum of two weeks, and 2.7% have made a suicide attempt at some point in their lives, most of whom are ‘forced’ to keep it a secret for the rest of their lives. I am one of them. These people photographed survived a suicide attempt. Together we make it possible to speak about it”.
Image and text courtesy of Patricia van de Camp from her series ‘(To be a) Suicide Survivor’.
“Artefacts often tell a story, hold a history about the people whose living space they are contained within. Those interesting places that you can always find something you want to pick up or perhaps an environment that you are afraid to touch anything. Sometimes those very things that give us security can trap us. The things we associate ourselves with represent our identity and communicate who we are.”
Image and text courtesy of William Gillingham-Sutton from his series ‘People and their Possessions’.
williamgillingham-sutton.co.uk and Instagram: @imagine_wills_world
“Sited in a claustrophobia-inducing flat in Croydon (south of London) this project bears testament to the impact of mental illness on a life. Hynes-Allen’s young protagonist is pictured seemingly trapped in a world of mood controlling drugs, cigarettes and daytime television. The pictures reek of the dirty velour and nicotine-stained wood chip wallpaper. This project draws into sharp relief an underclass the mentally ill are forced by their illness to join. Paul Hynes-Allen’s work A Sense of Madness is no ordinary photo-documentary project – it is not another cold and analytical view of the ‘other’, or a concerned sociological rendition of a situation compassionately observed, but never really understood. This bleak story of loneliness, despair and isolation, though keenly observed and extremely well crafted, is the result of concern for a sick friend. Hynes- Allen made this project so much part of his personal experience that he has added his own belongings to the images; reinforcing his relationship both to the subject matter and to the subject. ” – Gordon MacDonald
Image courtesy of Paul Hynes-Allen from his series ‘A Sense of Madness’.
