MENTORSHIP AWARD WINNER
Year long mentorship
GEREMEW TIGABU
Runners up:
Six Month Mentorship
SILASSE SALOMONE
MIKHAILIA PETERSEN
HASHIM NASR
SARAH BEN AMAR
Geremew Tigabu
Geremew Tigabu is an accomplished photographer based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. With over nine years of experience in the field, he has built a reputation for his exceptional work in documentary photography. Geremew began his career as a freelance photographer before joining the leading newspaper Fortune (circulated in Ethiopia) as a photojournalist. After several years of practicing photojournalism, he co-founded Stops Creative Communication
Plc and worked as an Art Director. Today, he continues to work as a freelance photographer, bringing his unique perspective to a wide range of projects. Geremew’s work has been recognized both locally and internationally.
He exhibited his works at the prestigious Addis Foto Fest in 2016, He was also part of the Young African Photographers exhibition at the Alliance Ethio Francaise in 2018, Capture Addis at the City Hall in 2019, and at Lagos Photo-Home Museum in 2020. In addition to his artistic achievements, Geremew is a member of the African Photojournalism
Database (APJD) and was one of the winners of the ‘Celebrate Africa Photography Competition’ in 2017, organized by PicFair and Canon, He was short-listed for the Ugandan Press Photo 2021 and His project Eye of the Storm was shortlisted for the CAP Prize 2023. His works have been featured in prominent print and online platforms including The Guardian, Wired, CNN, and the World Press Photo. Geremew’s passion for photography
is evident in his thought-provoking images, which capture the essence of the human experience. Through his lens, he tells stories that are both powerful and poignant, showcasing the beauty and complexity of life in Ethiopia and beyond.
SIX MONTH MENTORSHIP RECIPIENTS
SARAH BEN AMAR
Born in 1994, I started practicing photography at 17 when my father gave me a compact camera. I continued throughout my studies in British and American literature and history. I also became interested in film during that period.
My primary focus is on the relationship between the collective and the individual and how space shapes or mirrors that relationship. I have been a resident in the 13th edition of
ARTIFARITI (Western Sahara), as well as in the first edition of the Derb Cinema documentary film residency (Tlemcen, Algeria). I am also a recipient of Tasweer Qatar’s 2023 Sheikh Al Thani Project Award for sandcastles (2019-2024).
HASHIM NASR
Hashim Nasr (b.1990, Khartoum, Sudan) is a self-taught visual artist whose work explores themes of heritage, identity and childhood memories through surreal imagery with a blend of avant-garde photography, he creates unconventional images that delve into the subconscious. His recent works explore the consequences of being a refugee as he is currently based in Alexandria, Egypt.
After graduating with a degree in Dentistry, and with a strong interest in art photography, Nasr soon evolved into creating images with a strong surrealist and conceptual base, using portraiture, props made by him and locations to explore themes of gender equality and diversity and create other-worldly scenes.
MIKHAILIA PETERSEN
Mikhailia Petersen is an independent, multi-faceted creative, living and working in Cape Town, South Africa. Working through the medium of photography, Petersen is skilled in the fields of styling, creative direction and as a stills producer, cultivating a layered means of engaging with projects and work.
Often working in portraiture, Mikhailia aims to capture her subjects in a truthful and celebratory manner, portraying those individuals she shoots through narrative-based story-telling, as opposed to isolated and essentializing single images. Her practice lends itself towards the emotive, harnessing elements of history, culture and the lived archive of those who surround her and the individuals she works with.
SILASSE SALOMONE
Born in Maputo. He is a self-taught photographer. His relationship with photography begins as an extracurricular activity that over time becomes resistance and a mechanism of manifestation that begins in the photographic tours of the group of professional and amateur photographers “VÊSÓ”. For the first time, he has a work exhibited in the Núcleo da Arte gallery as one of those selected in the “Pais Com Amor” competition in (2017), and remains the winner in the photography category of the “Ponte Que Liga Vidas” competition promoted by the CCMA in ( 2018), from the democraSEE photographic narrative construction workshop in (2020) guided by John Fleetwood, participates in the CATCHUPA FACTORY artistic residency (2021) and exhibits in a collective at the KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+2021 festival, collective exhbiton THE MARKET PHOTO WORKSHOP (2024).
Shortlist announced:
Pleased to announce the 8 shortlisted artists for the 2024 TTLC MENTORSHIP AWARD, from over 50 submissions from across our continent. Congratulations!
SHORTLISTED ARTISTS:
Geremew Tigabu (Ethiopia) @ghost_ti
Sune Van Tonder (South Africa) @aftersune
Silasse Salomone (Mozambique) @silasse887
Mikhailia Petersen (South Africa) @mikhailiapetersen
Hashim Nasr (Sudan) @hashimnsr
Israa Alrrayah (Sudan) @israa.alrayah
Sarah Ben Amar (Algeria) @sarah.ben.amar
Ryan Adams (South Africa) @mrryanadams
Thank you to everyone who submitted work.
FINAL WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON THE 29 MAY 2024
TTLC Mentorship Award 2024/25
Each year Through The Lens Collective awards a year- long mentorship towards a body of work to a promising photographer from our continent. Through collaborative research, thinking and consultation, mentees are challenged, guided and supported over a year long period, with the aim of producing a solid and well considered photographic narrative. TTLC then works with the photographer for another year to develop avenues for professional engagement of the work, which can be used as a springboard for opportunities beyond the mentorship itself. The mentorship is designed to strengthen the practices of local photographers by providing a critical educational framework and a responsive yet focused system for development.
The recipient of the award will be selected by TTLC Founder and Director, Michelle Loukidis.
Applicants need to submit:
1. Bio
2.Portfolio 10 images
3.20/25 images from a Body of Work.
4.Letter of Motivation (200/250 words)
The application should be presented in the form of a pdf and emailed to Throughthelensc@gmail.com
It must be titled Mentorship Award Application.
Applications close on 30 April 2023.
Please note that work submitted for the application process may be used for social media to promote the Award.
SUBMIT work here:
Previous and current mentees include Flavio Cardoso (Angola), Dewald Bruwer (South Africa), Saad Eltinay (Sudan) and Godelive Kasangati (DRC).
Ugo Woatzi
" I received a mentorship from TTL in 2019 while being a resident artist in Johannesburg. TTL helped me build and develop my series "Chameleon". They made me understand how I could express myself and make a political statement through photography. Working carefully on concept, narrative and visuals TTL definitely changed the way I perceive and understand the medium. By getting to know my personal story they've been pushing me and my work in an incredible direction. "Chameleon" has been awarded 2nd prize of the Pride Photo Award Amsterdam 2019 and shortlisted for Cap Prize Basel 2020. I still work in a close relationship with TTL, they made me fall in love with photography forever. Thanks to my wonderful Michelle(s), I feel so honoured to have been mentored by them."
@ugowoatzi
TTLC WOMAN'S MENTORSHIP AWARD
Godelive Kasangati Kabena
We are proud to announce Godelive Kasangati Kabena as the recipient of the first TTLC Women’s Mentorship Award.
Godelive Kasangati Kabena was born in Democratic Republic of Congo in 1996. Her black and white photography, often staged/constructed self-portraits brings a distinctly conceptual approach to her exploration of identity, memory and human experience.
Through The Lens Collective’s Women’s Mentorship award is designed to support and strengthen the practices of female identifying African photographers who have demonstrated a consistent critical engagement with their own practice, and a desire to elevate their photography through a process of close personal mentorship, and the creation of a body of work.
@godelivekasangati
Flávio Cardoso
TTLC's 2019 Mentorship Award Recipient.
Coming from four years on Instagram, the very first question I asked Michelle Loukidis when I met her during the 2018 Catchupa Factory Residency was how one teaches something as subjective as photography. She replied that it was a process of opening up your mind, and that is exactly what she did. Working with her and Michelle Harris, it allowed me to develop my practice in ways I never considered before. Michelle has guided me with her vast knowledge, by discussing ideas, relevant work, continuous experimenting and curating. She motivated me and guided me to produce my first Body Of Work, called ALiEN. I was able to understand the relationship between photography and reality, and reach that which lies beneath the surface. ALiEN was selected to be part of LagosPhoto Festival 2019 and has been shortlisted for CAP 2020. He was also the recipient of the first TTLC Mentorship Award.
@notflavio
Dewald Bruwer
TTLC's 2021 Mentorship Award Recipient. (Work in progress)
Dewald Bruwer was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1987. He started photographing in 2007 when enrolling in a 2 year photography course from 2007 - 2009. After a long absence from photography, it was not until 2013 when he discovered street photography and personal documentation that he started taking the medium seriously. His current work abstracts reality, yet reveals certain truths of himself, his environment, and his chance encounters with others during his wanderings through the city of Cape Town.
"Working within the public domain, my attention and goal has never been to contribute to any social commentary, but I will be naive to think that my environment does not impact on how I feel and observe my surroundings. I follow my intuition and instinct, resulting in photos that reflect aspects of myself....An invitation to the atmosphere I experience. Although the work has a subjective vision, it reveals the common complexities of existence. Thus, anything that is truly personal becomes universal." Dewald Bruwer
@dewaldbruwer
Saad Eltinay
TTLC's 2022 Mentorship Award Recipient. (Work in progress)
Saad Eltinay is a Sudanese photographer based in Khartoum. He graduated as a software engineer in 2018 and has explored his passion for visual arts and photography since 2012. Using the practice as an occasional refuge and a method for self- expression, Saad’s observational approach is inspired by his interest in notions of emotion and memory. In the process, he questions his surroundings and ruminates on how space and society interact as constituents of change. His works on the Sudanese Revolution have been shown in several local and international exhibitions and publications.
Cover Image by Nonzuzo Gxekwa