The National Media Museum is pleased to announce the five successful applicants to its 2009 Photography Bursary, who each receive a share of the £20,000 award fund.
This year generated more than 200 applications, by far the greatest number in the Bursary’s three-year history and double the number received the previous year. The final selection was judged to reflect the range and diversity of the submitted pieces of work, as well as photographic practice in the UK today.
Greg Hobson, Curator of Photographs at the Museum said: "It was a real pleasure to see a consistently high standard of creative photography alongside intelligent and inspired proposals."
The 2009 awardees are:
David Birkin who will receive funding to complete The Confessors, forming part of his ongoing Confessions series.
Jonathan Foulger's Bursary will enable him to show his first major project The Simon Community, to photography professionals at UK portfolio viewing sessions.
http://www.jfoulgerphotography.com
Tess Hurrell, recipient of a 2008 Pavilion Commission, will receive support towards studio hire and materials costs for the continuation of her Basic Needs series.
Jo Longhurst, another 2008 Pavilion Commission recipient, will be funded to create a discreet body of work that will form part of her Perfect series, which interrogates the world of competitive gymnastics.
Finally, Indre Serpytyte's Bursary will enable her to commission the design and production of a limited edition book. The book is a powerful meditation on the hidden histories of the brutal Second World War Soviet occupation of Lithuania , Serpytyte's home country.
http://www.indre-serpytyte.com
The award is generously supported by sponsors Michael G Wilson (Chairman of the Trustees of the National Media Museum), Zelda Cheatle (WMG Photography Advisor and Curator), Simon Crocker (Chairman of The John Kobal Foundation), Pierre Brahm (Chairman of the BRAHM and Henry & James Property Group), and James Hyman (James Hyman Gallery), all of whom also sit on the Bursary panel.
This year’s selected artists, working closely with the National Media Museum, will develop their projects throughout 2010 and see them represented in the Museum's Photography Collection.
Bursary winners
David Birkin
Indre Serpytyte