FIRST PRIZE – LEAH NASH AND CHRIS ONSTOTT (NASHCO PHOTO)
 

“This image sends a clear message of body positivity that has been translated by the photographer with a conscious choice of photographic aesthetics to underline a visual representation that portrays the subject with respect. It comes across like a bodily expression of joy and freedom. By capturing this moment in reality yet photographing her as an anonymous ‘icon’ she represents a movement that seems to stretch its arms out to inspire and embrace.” – Sanne De Wilde

Photographer statement – This image was created through a collaboration with Body Home Fat Dance, a fat-celebrating dance troupe. Their goal is to inspire joyful movement, fat liberation, body connection, and creative expression, while honoring unique abilities and challenges with compassion. Inspired by a performance called Weighted Bodies, the project embraces and celebrates the jiggles, ripples, folds, mass, and softness of bodies though evocative movements that highlight these qualities.

SECOND PRIZE – MAX CAVALLARI
 

“A subtle and mysterious image yet a clear a reference to 2020, an image that speaks about the psychological aftermath of Covid-19 where the absence of touch takes its toll and the human body, physical presence, is in a sense ‘rediscovered’. An abstract representation of this very tangible experience that translates the longing, the missing, the hunger for an embrace that no longer can be taken for granted. The thin layer of plastic acts as a (photographic) filter that seems to bring them together rather than to separate them.” – Sanne De Wilde

Photographer statement – In the Domenico Sartor nursing home in Castelfranco Veneto, a plastic tent called “The Hug Room” has been installed. It allows relatives to finally hold their loved ones while avoiding the risk of contagion for those who are hospitalized in the structure. “It was like opening a pressure cooker, hugging my mother after 8 months reminded me a feeling I had long forgotten”.

The feelings I had watching them hug pushed me to make this picture, where the plastic tent looks like it’s melted with the heat of bodies and the curves of grey hair are mixed with the reflection of the tent.

CARINA LAU

“A very well captured image that speaks to the uniqueness of a body. Carina’s sparse framing and black and white treatment accentuates the characterful curves and dimples of this man’s bald head – a view perhaps as interesting and revealing as the front of many other heads. The interplay between the organic form of the man’s head and the geometric pattern on his shirt is a lovely bonus.” – Life Framer

MARCUS RIGGS
 

“Set against a striking pop-art blue sky and bleached white sand, Marcus expertly lights his subject, capturing him half in silhouette, face lit against the high sun. Nude in an empty landscape, it draws on ideas of escape, and of thriving despite the odds. It’s serene and artful, and hugely compelling for it.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – The year 2020, has been a year of unprecedented horrors of continued televised police savagery, emotional trials of being faced with a deadly global virus, numerous tribulations around the world, personal setbacks and breakthroughs, concluding with experiences that will deliver testimonies of survival.

This nude scene is inspired by a poem written by Mya Angelou, “Still I Rise”. Stripped from the worldly materials that dress us as individuals, I aimed to capture what all makes us uniquely individual and yet the same from the bare skin we are in. Located in an ecosystem that brings us solace, balance, and tranquility. Through all of the pain, we may have endured thus far and will continue to endure, we will also continue to rise and rise again.

KETIL BORN
 

“This is a breath-taking portrait that speaks of love and resilience in the face of adversity. Draped in black fabric and revealing her bald head and post-mastectomy chest, this mother embraces her children skin on skin, reminding us how much there is to be gained for everything lost. Shooting them in formal pose and with gloomy (but not to say excellently controlled) lighting against a dark background, Ketil creates a somber sensibility worthy of the subject matter, and yet it is the mother’s radiant smile that draws you in, a beacon of light in the darkness.” – Life Framer

FARIDA LEMEATRAG
 

“This is an intimate, revealing portrait of a young transgender person, Farida photographing them in profile to subtly draw emphasis to their chest, shoulder, throat and nose – features that will continue to change as they go through gender reassignment surgery. Their eyes are the focal point however, perhaps just hinting at some of the uncertainty and insecurity they must experience as they go through this personal evolution. Brave is perhaps a word that is overused, but there’s something truly brave about baring all for Farida’s camera, exposing oneself to explore such a complex and personal issue. Captured sparsely in soft monochromatic light, Farida’s portrait invites reflection and compassion in the viewer.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – In this series Transgender Youth I capture the inner struggle and at the same time the disarming beauty of feelings such as hope and pride in 40 transgender youth. I portray a number of young people before, during and after their transition, subtly showing the transformation through a classic portrait. These intimate and emerging portraits on the one hand open the dialogue with the viewer, but at the same time invite taciturn reflection.

SOPHIE EBRARD
 

“Sophie’s image is taken from a brave and insightful series that describes another, perhaps taboo side to motherhood – that of ambivalence. But exasperation is perhaps the emotion best described here. The image is brilliantly composed – against a black background there is nothing but child and mother, the former’s arm centrally framed and reaching up in full dependency, and the latter throwing her head back in seeming frustration. It describes a bond that is incredibly strong, and yet that can feel overwhelming, cloying, inescapable. It’s raw, provocative, and wonderfully realized.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – From the series I Didn’t Want to be a Mum. This project explores the ambivalent feelings of motherhood. The project is about telling women it’s ok not to be ok with motherhood. Motherhood is a psychological big bang. And yet it’s rare to find emotionally honest conversations about it. Becoming a mother involves an identity shift, and is one of the most significant physical and psychological changes a woman will ever experience. Yet when a woman gives birth, society puts pressure on new mums telling then it should be one of the most joyful moments of their lives.

I explore the ambivalent feelings of motherhood as I experienced them. I address the realities of taking on an entirely new identity: becoming a mother. For years after the birth of my first child I was uncomfortable with my new status as a mum and the supposedly appealing life-style changes and paraphernalia that comes with it. When I became a mum, I felt trapped and overwhelmed, and mostly I felt alone in the experience.

The aim of the project is to question the convenient assumptions that we make about motherhood, which are carried throughout today’s society in comparison to the realities of the experience.

SÉBASTIEN DURAND
 

“This isn’t perhaps a wholly original shot, but it’s a compelling response to the topic and perfectly executed – a very different interpretation that says something interesting about advertising and surveillance, this giant eye unblinkingly holding our gaze between the blur of passing train carriages.” – Life Framer

ANNA FÖRSTERLING
 

“Using the organic qualities of analog photography to highlight the organic nature of the subject matter, Anna produces a stunning, artful composition. A shadowy coiled body sheds its old skin – a metaphor that speaks of growth and renewal, a release of tension, that feels particularly apt as we enter a new year.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – The second Skin. The human separates from his skin, his mask. He reinvents himself. He leaves the old behind him.

JORDAN TIBERIO
 

“The hands are a subject that artists have returned to again and again – for their importance as our main tool of creation, but also as a vehicle for expression. “Hands can convey so much” Henry Moore once said, and in her statement Jordan describes the emotional importance of her Nana’s hands, which she captures here in bright, glowing sunlight. She reveals an interplay between the textures and shapes of skin, tablecloth and the outline of the metal table that’s visible below, and we see hints of character in the pose, painted nails and ring. It’s a gorgeous, subtle image that describes the beauty of ageing with a real emotional weight.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – This image is of my Nana’s hand, resting on the tea table in her backyard garden. Growing up, she introduced me to art and the magic it holds. How you can create your own universe through a brush, a pencil, a camera, or just about anything you can hold in your hands and mold. Time is fleeting, and the love I have for this woman can hardly be contained to a photograph, but it is the one thing that can preserve her for all of time. These hands helped form me, they helped turn me into the artist I am today. If not for these hands, this image wouldn’t even exist.

GUOMAN LIAO
 

“With soft light, a deep, muted color palette and simple contrast of a muscular body and fragile flower, Guoman creates an arresting portrait, playing with traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity to exquisite effect.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – From a collection of photographs that explore fashion from the point of view of different cultural backgrounds. Since social media plays an important role in shaping contemporary aesthetics today. I was interested in observing how unique individuals celebrate their vision of fashion. Driven by my attraction to cultural diversity, I approached this project with the aim of reducing the distance between different photographic genres.

PRZEMYSŁAW KOT

“This is a powerful, painful image to witness, showing a gravely anorexic woman baring all for judgement in front of her relatives, them watching on dispassionately and her twisting to avoid their gaze. It describes an extreme of the human body, and a helplessness of all involved in the face of such a disorder, that feels very real despite the staged nature of the scene. It’s provocative and important, if not easy viewing.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – The main aim of this image is to confront the eating disorder bulimia. The girl depicted is a model and makes a living by posing. As a result, her appearance is glorified and so she is not incentivized to be more healthy. My intention was to confront ordinary people to put her in an uncomfortable situation, where she and the viewer would feel how critical the state of her body is. She stands in front of two old people who, because of their age, associate such an emaciated human body only with malnutrition resulting from poverty particularly during the war.

Along with this, I wanted to show the relationship between people suffering from bulimia or anorexia and their families. There is often immense suffering and despair because families are often unable to help or do not understand and cannot stand the fact that their child or grandchild is slowly dying. This can in turn lead to deterioration and breakdown of family relationships.

NEY MILÁ
 

“Photographed with a separation from his subjects and an ambiguity as to what holds their attention, Ney documents an intense brotherly bond, capturing something both intimate and universal, and heightened by bare skin and an empty sky.” – Life Framer

MICHELLE NEELING
 

“This is an intense and deeply moving portrait that describes both the failings and the resilience of the human body. A life ‘enjoyed and endured’ as Michelle eloquently puts it in her statement. With a short depth of field, tight and slightly off-kilter framing and a dark empty void behind her subject, Michelle brings a sharp clarity to her subject’s every feature, while emphasizing what she herself doesn’t see. It’s a wonderful image.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – I was recently commissioned by the Father Law Home, an aged care facility in Fiji, to create a visual record of the residents of the home. Some people were more verbal than others, and I was delighted to hear the stories that those people wished to regale me with. Others, however, were less willing or able to chat, and so it was only through the use of my camera that I was able to tell some of the stories that were written on their hands and faces.

My own father moved into an aged care home in Australia one year ago, and because of Covid I’ve been unable to travel from Fiji to go and visit him there. It was him in mind that I undertook this project, and I approached the people I met with the sensitivity that I hope would be afforded to my own father in the same circumstance. During my session at the home I was so moved by the grace and beauty of each individual’s face and body. In spite of blindness, illness or physical or mental impairment, each body told a story of human endurance. In Fiji as much as anywhere in the world, reaching old age requires tremendous resilience, and in looking at people’s hands and faces I could begin to imagine some of the life that they must have enjoyed and endured.

DIMITAR KARANIKOLOV
 

“A lone figure drifting free in a vast blue sea, this image would be trite if not so compellingly done – describing the immensity and beauty of the world we inhabit, and offering a pure dose of joyful escapism in what is a difficult, restricted time for so many.” – Life Framer

MICHAEL ERNEST SWEET

“With a brilliant compositional choice, his subject tightly captured and stretching out across the width of the frame, Michael documents a sun worshipper, his skin tanned and spotted from years under the sun. It’s a wonderful document of leisure time and with its in-your-face framing and probing outlook it’s reminiscent of Bruce Gilden’s iconic work on Coney Island.” – Life Framer

CHARLES TOPP
 

“Shooting nude bodies in the landscape is nothing new, but Charles’ execution – the distant vantage point, slight misfocus and over-saturation, and the choice of a barren, rock-strewn land – creates something that feels captivating; raw, strange and alien, as much found footage as a choreographed scene. A bare, delicate body navigates an unforgiving landscape, scrambling unrelentingly onwards. But towards what?” – Life Framer

AZIM KHAN RONNIE
 

“In an unexpected interpretation of the theme, Azim captures a burial from above – a poignant scene that elicits thoughts on the frailty of our bodies and ephemerality of life, particularly in the context of today with no funeral party present and the cemetery workers protected by masks. Azim’s aerial composition is appropriate – maintaining a respectful distance, and framing the bright orange flowers that echo the color of the worker’s jackets and act as a counterpoint to the intensity of the scene. It also conveys the idea of the soul ascending, whether deliberate or not.” – Life Framer

ERIN FISH

“With deft execution – the drapery nodding to traditions of portraiture and echoing the folds of skin on display – Erin captures her subject in formal pose, completely bare and unadorned, and holding eye contact with an uncertain, standoffish expression. It comes from someone who is perhaps very used to being judged, and invites both thoughts on health and how a body should look, and important self-reflection on the prejudices and preconceptions towards others that we all maintain.” – Life Framer

NATHAN MURRELL
 

“On first glance it seems like this man might be lying on a hospital stretcher, but it’s actually a makeshift sun lounger, wheeled into place on this temporary beach that Nathan describes in his statement. There’s a strange beauty in the sparsity of the scene and the muted colors, and a universality to that feeling of sunlight breaking through the clouds onto bare skin.” – Life Framer

Photographer statement – This image, The Sunbather, was taken on the Danube River just on the outskirts of Vienna. Vienna has no beaches, but the sand came about from extreme flooding days before. He was just lying there, lifeless. When I released the shutter I was convinced I was going to wake him. However he laid still more and I got my shots. The light breaking through the trees from the afternoon sun lends a warmth to the blue tone.