Winners of the 2021 Female in Focus Award

WOPHA / 10.05.2021

We are pleased to present in collaboration with 1854 Media, publishers of the British Journal of Photography, the winners of the 2021 Female in Focus international award. 

Female in Focus was conceived to address gender inequality in the industry and bring awareness around the ever-growing issue. Its purpose is to discover, promote and reward exceptional women and non-binary photographers all over the world. From a pool of thousands of entries, a panel of internationally esteemed judges including Aldeide Delgado, Founder & Director of WOPHA; Joanna Milter, Director of photography for The New Yorker; Holly Fraser, Editor-in-chief of WePresent / WeTransfer and others, selected two outstanding bodies of work and 20 single images.

Jodie Bateman’s My Hijab Has a Voice: Revisited is series of bold portraits of both the artist and her sister, which investigate the experiences of Muslim women from an autobiographical perspective. Shot in Bateman’s home in Surrey, England, the series invites audiences into a Muslim woman’s private space with the intention to humanize. On the other hand, Paola Jiménez Quispe’s Rules for Fighting (Reglas para pelear) constitutes a compelling amalgamation of photographs, texts, and objects —all of which are related to Jiménez’s research into her father’s death, and a manifestation of her grief: from rolls of film he made to his personal notebook; belongings that were found on him when he was killed to police documents from the case.

Traversing tales of beauty and pain, joy and injustice, humans and nature, the single images selected are by Imogen Freeland, Natalia Garcia, Marzena Hans, Maryam Khastoo, Yushi Li, Thandiwe Muriu, Joanna Musial, Orna Naor, P. Wamaitha Ng’ang’a, Stephanie Noritz, Bailey Quinlain, Anouchka Renaud Eck, Layla Sailor, Kali Spitzer, Lebo Thoka, Annie Tobin, Teri Varhol, Paola Vivas, and Virginia Woods-Jack.

The Female in Focus exhibition will be co-curated by Aldeide Delgado, WOPHA Founder & Director based in Miami, and Héloise Winstone, 1854 Media & British Journal of Photography’s Award Production Manager based in London. Taking place at the new Green Space Miami gallery on the eve of Art Basel Miami Beach, the exhibition will be presented as part of the cultural programming of the WOPHA Congress.

We wish to congratulate all the winners on their innovation, creativity, and photographic ability to convey challenging messages of gender, ethnicity, sexuality and beyond, weaving delicate stories of beauty, resilience, femininity and humanity.

About 1854 Media & British Journal of Photography

1854 Media is an award-winning digital media organization with a global audience of photographers, arts lovers, and industry experts. At 1854’s core is British Journal of Photography, the world’s longest-running photography title, which has been showcasing pioneers of the art form since 1854. It manifests in a monthly publication that takes an international perspective on contemporary photography, focusing on fine art and documentary, and the cutting edge of editorial and commercial practices. It has also created internationally renowned photography awards –including OpenWalls, Portrait of Britain™, Female in Focus, BJP International Photography Award, and Portrait of Humanity™ all of which aim to discover and promote new talent. Academy 1854 is a brand new online learning community for photographers and industry professionals to connect, earn and learn. Our visual content agency, Studio 1854, helps brands use the power of photography and video to cultivate and engage larger audiences, by leveraging our relationships with the world’s top photographic influencers and our understanding of the visual content that engages them.

About Green Space Miami

Green Space Miami is the Green Family Foundation’s new art space. Guided by the Foundation’s principles of inclusion, community empowerment, and education. Green Space Miami centers marginalized stories at the intersections of lived experience, hosted in a space for dialogue. Green Space Miami’s mission is to be a catalyst for action around critical social issues, collaborating with community partners and educational institutions.

About MPB

MPB transforms the way that people buy, sell, and trade in photo and video kit. The world’s largest online platform for used photography and videography equipment, MPB is a destination for everyone, whether you’ve just discovered your passion for visual storytelling or you’re already a pro. Founded by Matt Barker in 2011, MPB has always been committed to making kit more accessible and affordable and helping to visualize a more sustainable future. We recirculate more than 300,000 items of used kit every year, extending the life and creative potential of photo and video equipment for creators around the world. Headquartered in the creative communities of Brighton, Brooklyn, and Berlin, the MPB team includes trained camera experts and seasoned photographers and videographers who bring their passion to work every day to deliver outstanding service. Every piece of kit is inspected carefully by our product specialists and comes with a six-month warranty to give our customers peace of mind that buying used doesn’t mean sacrificing reliability.