portrait of britain WINNER volume 7
My portrait of Sarah-Jane has been selected as one of 100 winners of the Portrait of Britain Volume 7 award.
Portrait of Britain is The British Journal of Photography’s annual competition celebrating the diversity and resilience of the UK.
The portrait forms part of ‘LGBTQ+ gynae stories’, a socially engaged project I’m now working on with the Wellcome Collection.
The winning photographs will be on display until 2 February 2025 on JCDecaux digital advertising screens located across the country. Keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you spot Sarah-Jane!
Thanks to all the judges for believing in this work:
Mick Moore - CEO and creative director of British Journal of Photography
Tom Booth Woodger - Publisher, Bluecoat Press
Caroline Hunter - Picture Editor, The Guardian
Jermaine Francis - Photographer and Curator
Ashleigh Kane - Editor, Dazed
Deirdre Robb - Director, Belfast Exposed
Siân Davey - Photographer
Louise Pearson - Curator, National Galleries of Scotland
Sarah-Jane told me: “It took a doctor that looked like me to listen. She was the first doctor in two years to physically examine me, and as soon as she did, she could feel my tumour. Six hours later after an emergency CT scan I was told that they had found a 4kg mass measuring 20cm x 20cm x 19cm which was filling my abdomen, crushing other organs, causing damage to my bowel and pushing up into my diaphragm - reducing my lung capacity and ability to breathe. Medical weight stigma allowed my cancer to grow unchecked, many others are medically gaslit and told that we don’t know what’s happening to our bodies or the pain we are experiencing is considered a ‘normal’ part of ‘womanhood’, leaving our symptoms to go unheard, untested and untreated until it’s too late.”
