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Cebe Loomis main page
CREDIT: Cebe Loomis

RPS POSTGRADUATE BURSARY

Ioanna Sakellaraki
CREDIT: Ioanna Sakellaraki

ENTRIES NOW CLOSED FOR 2023

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

As part of The RPS remit as an educational charity we offer an annual bursary of £3,500 in support of a postgraduate student. For this bursary, photography is interpreted in its widest sense to include digital and traditional photographic media, the art and science of photography and image based written work.

Applications are invited from postgraduate students on courses in photography or undertaking research in photography. Applications must be written in English if applying from abroad. Applicants can apply at any stage of their studies but must demonstrate a specific outcome for their proposed project.

 

ENTRIES NOW CLOSED FOR 2023

For further info click here

 

This bursary is supported by MPB.



Based in Brighton, UK, MPB provide unrivaled online access to a vast range of some of the best used photo and filmmaking kit available. MPB love photography – read their blog here

2023 BURSARY RECIPIENTS

Sean Mckenzie
CREDIT: Sean Mckenzie

Sean McKenzie

Sean McKenzie is an artist based in London working primarily with photography, sculpture, and writing. His research focuses on locating and understanding queer histories by examining historical narratives located within established archives. Through a process of re-creating, and staging, McKenzie creates semi-fictional / factional scenarios as detailed, lifesize environments which he then photographs.

McKenzie’s work is often based on archival material, investigating case studies, criminal records, and newspaper articles as a means of rethinking the past in the present. 

see Sean's Website
Caroline Douglas
CREDIT: Caroline Douglas

Caroline Douglas

Caroline Douglas is an artist working with photography and moving image. She is currently undertaking a PhD by practice at the Royal College of Art, researching the role of gender and class in early Scottish photography. Caroline is a recipient of the AHRC-techne Scholarship (2017-). In her practice she moves across photography, writing and creative archival research processes to work cross-historically, re-touching the archive, to recover and repair marginalised histories.

See Caroline's Website
Chi Chi Cheng
CREDIT: Chi Chi Cheng

2023 Shortlist

Read more about this years shortlisted photographers. 

 

This year’s shortlisted entrants received a £250 MPB gift voucher to spend on equipment supporting their projects.*

2023 Shortlist

SOME PREVIOUS BURSARY RECIPIENTS

Jordi Jon Pardo

Jordi Jon Pardo - Recipient 2022/23

'Eroding Franco’ is a documentary photography project that relates the ignored scientific archives during Franco’s regime with the current visual documentation of Spain’s state of desertification. I came up with this story while developing a university project on the coverage that the Spanish press had done on the phenomenon of 'desertification'.

 

 

 

 

More about Jordi's Work
Jimmi Ho
CREDIT: Jimmy Ho

Jimmi Ho - Recipient 2021/22

Jimmi Ho is the recipient of the RPS Postgraduate Bursary for 2021/22. He describes his work in his own words:

"By capturing the tranquil moments in daily life, my photography documents the Hong Kong border and Hong Kong immigrants in the UK. It explores the impact related to geopolitics and the social environment between Hong Kong and the UK.
I rely on intuition and devote myself to creating a poetic language of photography, using nature's growth and migration metaphor. I attempt to record the finiteness of Hong Kong people and the calmness that arises in the environment."

More About Jimmi's Work
Cocoa Laney
CREDIT: Cocoa Laney

Cocoa Laney - Recipient 2019/20

Inspired by the current political climate, Cocoa Laney returned to her home state of Alabama for a six-week road trip, meeting and staying with diverse young women along the way.

Her project documents the trip and her encounters. It is an exploration of womanhood, shame, and Southern identity in 2019.

 

 

READ COCO'S TIP ON PROJECT CREATION HERE

More About Coco's Work
Ioanna Sakellaraki
CREDIT: Ioanna Sakellaraki

Ioanna Sakellaraki - Recipient 2018/19

Ioanna Sakellaraki received the 2018 Postgraduate Bursary. After her father passed away three years ago, Ioanna returned to her homeland Greece and followed her mother’s behaviour as a believer, seeking shelter in the wider system of religious traditions and cultural beliefs. As the project advanced and while inspired by the origins of ancient Greek laments, she dwelled within traditional communities of the last female professional mourners inhabiting the Mani peninsula of Greece looking for traces of bereavement and grief and documenting the rituals around death.

 

More About Ioanna's Project
Cebe Loomis
CREDIT: Cebe Loomis

Cebe Loomis - Recipient 2017/18

Cebe Loomis's photographic project focused on the largest historical landmark site in the United States, Virginia City, Nevada. Dedicated to unpacking the identities of the residential population, as well as the town's built and natural environments, this project aimed to create an understanding of complex American traditions.

Drawing from theories of space and memory, her project incorporated ethnographic text, analogue photography as well as ambient and interview audioscapes, each working to relay the stories and voices that make up Virginia City.

More about Cebe's Work
James Morgan
CREDIT: James Morgan

James Morgan - Recipient 2009/2010

James Morgan's project on the Bajau Laut, a nomadic marine community who ply the waters between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines using traditional breathe hold techniques to dive for fish and other seafood.
A quote from James:
"None of this would have been possible without the support of the RPS bursary, it has opened many doors for me, both photographically and in enabling me to travel to places and experience other cultures, that I wouldn’t otherwise been able to do. I’m very excited to continue the project and to continue my exploration of the space where documentary photography and environmental activism overlap."

More about James' project