Nikon & British Journal of Photography present ‘Female in Focus’: capturing a world on the cusp of change

Giya Makondo Wills, Untitled

Following the opening of the latest edition of Female in Focus, British Journal of Photography’s Zoe Harrison joins winning photographer,  Giya Makondo-Wills, and fellow photographer and judge, Carolyn Mendelsohn to explore the theme for the award: On the Cusp. In a rapidly changing world, this panel discussion will consider photography’s role in capturing these shifts, both quiet and monumental.

Considering this space of anticipation, Makondo-Wills will discuss her most recent work, New Scramble, which looks at the rapidly growing number of data centres across South Africa and their environmental and social impacts on local communities. Mendelsohn will consider her own practice photographing people at pivotal moments in their lives, as well as drawing on her experience as a judge for this year’s award.

Together, the panel will consider: what is the value of preserving these in-between moments? What does it tell us about what has come before and what is yet to come?

Giya Makondo Wills is a British-South African photographer, educator and talk show host based in The Netherlands, although you can sometimes find her in South Africa or the U.K. While her foundations lie in documentary photography, her practice has evolved alongside shifting cultural understandings of representation, documentation, and witnessing. Working across the still image, text, sound, archives and moving image – her stories stem from questions of identity, community, systems of power, and challenging dominant narratives. De-colonial and decentering Eurocentric modes of thinking are central to her practice, as is the preservation of the stories from the margins. In 2024, Giya became a Magnum Foundation Fellow. In 2022, she joined the FUTURES Photography network. Since 2021 she has been a lecturer in the BA Photography program at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague since. She also runs guest workshops internationally and hosts the live talk show FOTODOK Book Talks at Tivoli Vredenburg. Since 2017, she has collaborated on various projects internationally, participating in de-colonial exchanges with practitioners from various fields and served on juries and steering groups developing arts education and opportunities for marginalised artists. She has been commended for her work and regularly exhibited and published her work internationally.

Carolyn Mendelsohn FRSA FRPS is an artist and portrait photographer whose practice is rooted in telling stories and amplifying those quieter voices through co-produced portraits. Her portrait work has been, selected, collected, and exhibited internationally, within solo and group shows including Impressions Gallery, Bradford, Phillips – Berkeley Sq,Mayfair, The Wellcome Collection, London, Bradford 2025 City of Culture, The Brontë Parsonage Museum, Imperial War Museum London and Manchester, Open Eye Liverpool, Portcullis House, Uk Parliament, Royal Albert Hall, Galerie Huit Arles, France, Bologna, Unesco Paris. She has been selected for the BJP’s Portrait of Britain, OpenWalls Arles, and the Royal Photographic Society International Photography exhibition , as well as winning first prize for the IPE 159, The Kuala Lumpa International Portrait Awards 2021, and being named the winner of the Portrait Series category for the 15th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards . Her work has been published widely and includes the following BBC, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, Le Monde, The British Journal of Photography, Photo Monitor. The Royal Photographic Society Journal, Huffington Post, Buzz feed. She is recognised internationally for her work with young people, including her portrait series, exhibition and book Being Inbetween (2020), a series of 90 portraits and stories of girls aged between 10-12 years, and Through Our Lens, an initiative that was developed by Carolyn working with and for young people, during the pandemic. It is a workshop and mentoring programme that enables people to tell their stories through the medium of photography. It has become recognised by Arts Council England and curators internationally as a model of best practice. In 2024 she was awarded the international prize for her photography work with young people by The Royal Photographic Society. Carolyn is currently a photographer and the artist in Residence for Born In Bradford, one of the largest health research studies in the world. She is working on BiB Age of Wonder – Teenage Stories , a seven-year project capturing the journey through adolescence and adulthood for teenagers in Bradford, alongside this she works on personal projects, and portrait commissions. She is an Ambassador for Nikon Europe , the first Ambassador for The Royal Photographic Society, and a patron for Photo North.

Zoe Harrison is a Northern Irish curator, project manager, and photographer based in east London. Currently Head of Awards and Partnerships at British Journal of Photography, the world’s longest-running photography title. Here, she curates magazine’s prestigious awards program, including Portrait of Humanity, OpenWalls, Female in Focus, BJP IPA and Portrait of Britain, and oversees partnerships and collaborations with the publication with organisations like WeTransfer, Nikon and Bodleian Libraries. She has been invited to review portfolios at a number of institutions and events such as PHotoESPAÑA, LCC, Falmouth University, and Nottingham Trent University; and serve on the juries of the Indian Photo Festival and Format Festival.

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