The British Journal of Photography has revealed the winners of BJP Breakthrough 2016, its annual search for the world's best student and graduate photographers. This year's Graduate Series award went to the Belfast School of Art graduate Jan McCullough for her series Home Instruction Manual, while the Graduate Single Image award went to the UK-based Polish photographer Piotr Karpinski for his image titled Woman in the Church No.1. Sicilian photographer Simone Sapienza won the Undergraduate Series award for his Vietnam-based project Charlie surfs on Lotus Flowers, while Irish photographer Daragh Soden won the Undergraduate Single Image award for an image from his series Young Dubliners. The winning work will be exhibited at BJP's dedicated space at Free Range, the UK's largest creative graduate showcase from Friday, 24th June - Monday, 4th July 2016.

British Journal of Photography Press Release

British Journal of Photography are pleased to announce the winners of BJP Breakthrough 2016, our annual search for the world's best student and graduate photographers. 

This year's Graduate Series award went to the Belfast School of Art graduate Jan McCullough for her series Home Instruction Manual, while the Graduate Single Image award went to the UK-based Polish photographer Piotr Karpinski for his image titled Woman in the Church No.1.

Sicilian photographer Simone Sapienza won the Undergraduate Series award for his Vietnam-based project Charlie surfs on Lotus Flowers, while Irish photographer Daragh Soden won the Undergraduate Single Image award for an image from his series Young Dubliners.

The winning work will be exhibited at BJP's dedicated space at Free Range, the UK's largest creative graduate showcase from Friday 24th June - Monday 4th July 2016.

Opening night 
Thursday 23rd June 2016, 6-9pm

Shop 13, Old Truman Brewery
Ely's Yard, 15 Hanbury Street
E1 6QR

“I like using a camera to try different lives on for size,” says Jan McCullough, and her multi award ­winning series, Home Instruction Manual, is a good case in point. The title is inspired by How to Make the Home You Want, a 1950s handbook for military wives, which the Northern Ireland born photographer found in a second hand bookshop.

"Complete with intricately detailed drawings, it sets out exacting rules on how one's personal space should be arranged and encouraged McCullough to find other similarly didactic how-to guides, including online chat forums, where strangers exchange tips. She then rented an unremarkable suburban house for two months, lived in it, decorated it according to her advisors, and photographed the results.

Putting the project together as a book dummy, McCullough won instant success at the prestigious Kassel Fotobookfestival. The series has gone on to be exhibited at the Format International Photography Festival, Sean Fifteen Gallery, Belfast Exposed and Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam; a group show at the world­class Landskrona Museum in Sweden is planned for this year.#

Charlie surfs on Lotus Flowers a series shot in Vietnam by Sicilian photographer Simone Sapienza, won the Undergraduate Series award.

Sapienza was curious about the Vietnam that exists beyond its infamous history and beyond the picture-perfect tourist brochures. “The series was taken with a free and personal style, using metaphors, suggestions and even different visual language in the same body of work,” says Sapienza.

BJP Breakthrough judge Liv Siddall, the editor of Rough Trade, said of Sapienza’s work: “This is one of the only series we saw where every image was strong in its own right. A lot of confidence came through – in the concept, in the edit, in the composition of the shots, and in the eye for detail within the reportage of a country going through a radical transition. There was an awful lot of personality in there; it didn’t just concern itself with taking beautiful shots.”

Piotr Karpinski, originally from Poland, won the Graduate Single Image award. He achieved an A level in photography at Farnborough College of Technology in 2010, then a BA in photography at Middlesex University in 2015. 

His prize-winning image was shot in a church, it's taken from a wider series titled Let's Talk About Life & Death Darling. “The thoughts behind this photograph are my fears and concerns related to existence and its ending,” says Karpinski. “I tend to depict my state of mind when creating a picture, and I think of death extensively. Watching Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal years before creating this photograph gave me some inspiration of how I could execute bringing this portraiture to life.”

Dean Chalkley, award-winning photographer and filmmaker, said of Karpinski's winning image: “For me, there was an immediate ambiguity to this picture. It works brilliantly, because you’re forced into eye contact, which triggers a lot of emotion. It forces you to make up your mind about what the picture means."

Daragh Soden won the Undergraduate Single Image award with a shot taken from a wider project titled Young Dubliners. His winning image was caught off-the-cuff on the bus. “I had just finished a long day shooting Young Dubliners and was catching the bus home,” he says “I spotted this young couple chilling at the back. Eventually, I plucked up the courage to turn around to ask for a photograph. I didn't see the photograph until a few months later, when I developed the film at university.”

Bruno Bayley, european managing editor of Vice UK, said of the image: “It’s a very tender picture. There’s a lovely dynamic between the two people in the picture, and there’s a timelessness to it; it’s difficult to place where and when the picture was taken. Young people get a lot of flak these days, but the image felt warm and celebratory and uplifting.”

Read more about the Breakthrough winners on BJP online

The four winners will have their work printed and framed by London pro-lab theprintspace and exhibited at The Old Truman Brewery as part of the Free Range graduate shows from Thursday 23rd June - Monday 4th July 2016. The winners will also see their work published in BJP’s acclaimed monthly magazine and across its online social channels, reaching over a million creatives worldwide. The images will be showcased globally on WeTransfer, which has over 80 million visitors a month.

About British Journal of Photography

Established in 1854, British Journal of Photography is the world’s longest-running and most influential photography magazine, defining the future of contemporary photography. It is available as a premium-quality monthly print magazine worldwide, online, on the iPad and for the iPhone. BJP is the largest professional photography magazine in the world on Facebook, and has a combined audience reach of over 1,000,000. BJP has won numerous awards, including App of theYear 2013 (PPA Digital Publishing Awards) and Most EffectiveTablet Application 2013 at the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. BJP was also named Photography Magazine of theYear at the 2012 Lucie Awards.

Photo credit: A flower seller in Ho Chi Minh City, from the series Charlie surfs on Lotus Flowers, Copyright Simone Sapienza

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