John Vink, born in Belgium in 1948, studied photography at a fine arts school in 1968 and began working as a freelance journalist 3 years later. He joined Agence Vu in 1986 and was awarded the Eugene Smith Award for his work ‘Water in the Sahel’, a photo-essay on the management of water South of the Sahara. Between 1987 and 1993 he compiled a work on refugees around the world and published ‘Réfugiés’ in 1994.

John Vink became a full member of Magnum Photos in 1997. In 1993 he started working on 'Peuples d’en Haut’, a series of chronicles about communities living in mountainous areas, published in 2004. He was based in Cambodia from 2000 to 2016 and published ‘Avoir 20 Ans à Phnom Penh’ that year. In 2012 he publishes ‘Quest for Land’, a compilation of 11 years on land issues in Cambodia, followed by a series of e-books for the iPad and Apple computers: ’30 Years for a Trial’, ‘Same Same’, ‘A Fine Thread’, and ‘Hearths of Resistance’. He left Magnum in 2016 and joined MAPS in 2017 and is now based in Brussels.

johnvink.com

Gulnara Samoilova is a street and fine art photographer based in New York City and the founder of WomenStreetPhotographers Instagram account and the traveling exhibition. With almost 40 years of combined experience as a documentary photographer, artist, photojournalist and photo editor for the Associated Press, Gulnara employs her experience and qualifications to research and curate an impressive body of work by women photographers from around the globe.

Gulnara holds a certificate in creative practices from the International Center of Photography in New York City and a diploma in photography from the Moscow Polytechnic College. She received national and international awards for her iconic photographs from September 11, including first prize in the World Press Photo and nomination for the Pulitzer Prize by the Associated Press. Her work is a part of major collections such as the Museum of the City of New York, The New York Public Library, New York Historical Society, the Newseum, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.

gulnara.com

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Maciek Nabrdalik is a Warsaw-based documentary photographer whose primary focus is on sociological changes in Eastern Europe. He is a member of the VII Photo agency and his work has been published and exhibited internationally. Maciek’s awards include honors from World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, NPPA The Best of Photojournalism and multiple awards in his native Poland.

He is author of three books. His project on German Nazi camp survivors worldwide was published as 'The Irreversible' in 2013. His second book, 'Homesick', that summarizes his long-term project chronicling the consequences of Chernobyl disaster was published in 2016. In January 2018, 'OUT', Nabrdalik’s latest book, portraying Polish LGBTQ community was published in the USA by The New Press.

nabrdalik.com

Graciela Magnoni was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. Her career began in Brazil in 1984, going from photographing for a small political newspaper to the more mainstream press. In 1990, she moved to New York and worked for Brazilian and Argentinian papers and magazines, covering the news. Moving to Singapore in 2003, she started to photograph on the streets of Singapore and also in many other cities around the region and the world.

Travelling and photographing have been a strong interest since she was 15 years old. She has also noticed that the older she gets, the stronger her obsession has become. There are moments when a totally banal scene is transformed by the camera into an original image with an intriguing story to tell. Her photographs are candid, captured from real moments.

She a BA in Journalism from PUC University, São Paulo, Brazil and an M.A. in Visual Communication from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States.

gracielamagnoni.com

After a 20-year career in corporate communications and media in France, Delphine Dumont came to Brussels in September 2004, where she founded a new communications agency while overseeing the restoration of an Art Nouveau mansion, the Ciamberlani Hotel. A lover of contemporary art and in particular photography, which she collects, she created the PhotoBrussels Festival event in 2015. She took over the management of Hangar in July 2016 with the mission of creating a full-fledged art center, today entirely dedicated to photography. Since then, she devotes all her time to it. She is both manager of the place and co-curator of the exhibitions organized there.

hangar.art

Max Pinckers, born in 1988, is an Belgian artist based in Brussels, Belgium. His oeuvre explores visual strategies in documentary photography. Not believing in the possibility of sheer objectivity or neutrality, Pinckers advocates a manifest subjective approach, which is made visible through the explicit use of theatrical lighting, stage directions or extras. Extensive research and diligent technical preparation are combined with improvisation to obtain lively, unexpected, critical, simultaneously poetic and documentary images. His work takes shape as self-published artist books and exhibition installations such as 'The Fourth Wall' (2012), 'Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty' (2014), and 'Margins of Excess' (2018). Pinckers is currently a doctoral researcher and lecturer in the arts at the School of Arts / KASK, Ghent and has received multiple international awards, such as the Edward Steichen Award Luxembourg 2015 and the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2018. In 2015 he founded the independent publishing house Lyre Press.

maxpinckers.be

The Velvet Cell is an independent photo-book publisher with a specific focus on projects that explore urbanism, architecture and our modern way of living in cities. It was established in London in 2011. They work with photographers to support the publication and promotion of their work. The Velvet Cell is based in Berlin, Germany. It was formerly based in London (2011-2012), Taipei (2013-2014) and Osaka (2015-2017).

To date they have published over 60 books, with a blend between up and coming photographers and seasoned experts such as Peter Bialobrzeski, Toshio Shibata, Greg Girard and Alexander Gronsky. Éanna De Fréine works closely with each artist and usually designs the books herself.

thevelvetcell.com

David Helbich (Berlin 1973) has been living and working in Brussels since 2002. He studied composition in Amsterdam and Freiburg. His works take place on stages, on paper, online and in the public space. His trajectory moves between representative and interactive works, pieces and interventions, between conceptual work and actions. His concepts are often presented in print, such as photo and illustrated score books as well as in live performances, sound interventions, audio guides and on social media. Many of his works address concrete physical and social experiences. A recurrent interest is the direct work with a self-performing audience.

His works have been recently presented a.o. at Martin-Gropius-Bau (Berlin), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Oude Kerk (Amsterdam), Botanique (Brussels) and Queens Museum (New York).

He is the author of the bestselling photo books 'Belgian solutions – volume 1' and 'volume 2' (Luster, Antwerp). Both have recently being added to the catalogue and exhibition Photobook Belge (FOMU). Also recently, his online selfie project 'Trying to look like a building' got published in print in 'Photography Performing Humor' (2019, Leuven University Press). The photo series 'Seoul Memes (2017)' is part of the collection of the Fusee de la Motographie (by Recyclart/Vincent Beekman).

davidhelbich.blogspot.com

Maciej Holy was born in 1971 in Poland and worked as a public officer for 25 years. He has changed his city of residence several times and lives since 2004 in Chelm, Poland, 20 km from the Ukrainian border. Photography helps him understand himself and others. For his own use, he hascompleted post-graduate studies in photography teaching. In 2018 he presented his photos at the StreetMeet meeting of the Un-Posed Collective. He also successfully took part in street photography competitions in San Francisco and Brussels, as well as Polish Leica Street Photo and took 3rd place in the first Warsaw Photo-marathon.

maciejholy.myportfolio.com

Ania Klosek is polish based documentary & street photographer, member of UnPosed, and Burn My Eye collectives. She was awarded with prestigious Grand Press Photo Award in 2017. Klosek’s works were featured at various street photography exhibitions such as Street Photography Now, Leica Street Photo, Miami Street Photography Festival, Brussels Street Photography Festival, EASTREET and Eyes on Main Street among others. Her work has been published on various national and international magazines and websites. She is interested in post-Soviet countries, where she often directs her visual researches.

aniaklosek.com

Vanessa Pallota lives and works in Rome. Every day she shoots the streets with a 28mm, which feels for her as a love affair. It’s a very intimate thing and make her move driven by instinct, spontaneously, without thinking about photographic practice. She remains in constant expectation of a chance encounter, but with thoughtful interpretative research in framing and composition. In 2015 she took part in an exhibition that attracted the attention of prestigious newspapers such ARTRIBUNE and LA REPUBBLICA and in 2016 she was mentioned by the Shooterfiles among the 20 Top Female Street Photographers on Instagram

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Mariano Silletti, born in Pisticci, Italy in 1972, is an Italian photographer active both in documentary and storytelling world. He lives and works in Matera (South Italy). He realizes long-term projects with a focus on exploring the human condition within every day and ordinary urban environment. In his personal work he often looks into his homeland, discovering and capturing the remote worlds and people who inhabit them.

Silletti has been a winner of various competitions. He is a recipient of the World Report Award / Short Story, Moscow International Photo Award, Italy Photo Series, and the Leica Talent Italy. His work has been shown in various international solo and group exhibitions, including the Festival della Fotografia Etica (2015), the Off Circuit Cortona On The Move (2016), Brussels Street Photography Festival (2018), Miami Street Photography Festival (2018), and appeared in such publications as Burn Magazine, Gup Magazine and many others.

He self-published his 'Ludovicu' series in 2015. He is a member of InQuadra, a collective promoting contemporary photography in Italy.

marianosilletti.com

Barry Talis was born in Bender, Moldova and is currently living in Tel Aviv, Israel. He specialize in photographing documentary style shots using a flash, working on various projects mostly dealing with the orthodox religious street. Being a professional documentary video editor, he approaches street photography with framing in mind, as well as an intuitive understanding of human situations and behavior.

Barry is a member of the international photography collective Burn My Eye.

Ximena Echagüe is a documentary and street Photographer hailing from Belgium and Argentina. Currently based in Brussels and constantly on the move, she captures the essence of life through her lens.

Ximena's work has been exhibited in over 20 countries across Europe, America, and Asia. Her portfolio boasts 5 Individual exhibitions and over 80 group exhibitions.

Recognized by prestigious publications such as the New York Times, BBC News, and the Washington Post, her photography has also been featured in Fotografiska NYC, Leica Fotografie International, L'Oeil de la Photographie, LensCulture, National Geographic, PHMuseum, Street Photography Foundation among many others.

Ximena's commitment to promoting and supporting fellow artists is evident through her involvement as a curator, jury member, producer, and mentor.

Ximena is also the mentor of the "La Vie en Bleu", A Photography Residency and Exhibition Program in Nice, France.

She has just released her first book titled "Trapped" in December 2023, published by Daylight Books.

Part of her photography is in the Museum of the City of New York collection, the International Center of Photography, New York, and several private collectors.

She is part of the finalists jury.

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ximenaechague.com