Photographers to watch from the Class of 2023

Join us in celebrating a new wave of graduating BA Photography & BA Commercial Photography students from Arts University Plymouth

Arts University Plymouth’s dynamic photography degrees, BA (Hons) Photography and BA (Hons) Commercial Photography, offer students the opportunity to learn the many types of image-making to develop them into industry ready photographers.

Here’s a roundup of some of the most innovative and ambitious graduates to look out for from Arts University Plymouth’s Summer Shows and Class of 2023:

Katy Johnson

BA (Hons) Commercial Photography – @katyjohnson.photo

Living on a farm in a remote village in Devon, Katy Johnson has a fascination with capturing memories and reminiscing on her life through image, which fuels her interest in photography and gives her inspiration to use her talent for creating moody, atmospheric landscapes to picture the memories of others.

In 2021, Katy won Honourable Mention in the International Photography Awards in the category of ‘Environment’ for her photograph entitled, ‘The farmer, the tractor and his land’, which was selected out of over 13,000 entries from 120 different countries worldwide.

Megan Selway

BA (Hons) Photography – @meganselway.photography

First developing her love for photography at the age of 13, Megan Selway has travelled around Somerset, where she captured wildlife, landscape and architectural images. With a focus on documentary photography, she seeks a deep dialogue between herself, the audience and the photograph. Her current body of work is a series of documentary images which focus on self-healing from a childhood trauma that continues to impact her adult life. Her work relates to emotions that an audience can connect with intimately, feeling a sense of safety through how they are framed, textured and transposed. 

Megan’s final major project at Arts University Plymouth, ‘The Way Starlings Move’, is a visual exploration of themes of grief. The work surrounds the absence and loss of her father, who left the family home and never contacted her again. Working through years of felt absence, Megan uses photography to move forward as a person through the work’s resolution as a process of healing.

Libby Ward

BA (Hons) Commercial Photography – @ipovphotographer

Libby Ward is a commercial photographer and creative provocateur, keen to push the boundaries of what is known and current. Libby is always looking to be the first for new trends within the industry, heavily inspired by creating a culture of acceptance in the commercial sector. 

Libby aims to confront toxic normalities that society imposes on individuals by focussing on the impact of gender expectations, and the use of the idea of what is ‘socially acceptable’ as a mechanism of social control to limit freedoms. Libby believes it’s important to speak out against the negative way people can be perceived, by contributing more inclusive approaches to the fashion, advertising and editorial industries that she hopes will influence them to take a more expansive view of how people are represented. 

Working in the tradition of documentary photography, Libby excels in developing small independent brands in client-based commissions while remaining true to her ethical and political values, creating photography that is new, honest, and socially tolerant. 

Skeet Sweeney

BA (Hons) Photography – @skeeterlone

Skeet Sweeney is a self-portrait photographer from London. Inspired by images of pop stars, Skeet uses the camera to portray characters based on aspects of themselves in a theatrical, playful manner. Expressing themselves in a performative way has given Skeet the platform to dig deeper into who they are.

Skeets’ final project at Arts University Plymouth, ‘Two-Way Twins’, presents a set of twins who represent the duality within Skeet’s personality, utilising costume and performance to capture the essence of each character.

Michael Man

BA (Hons) Photography – @m.manphoto

Michael Man is a portrait photographer from London who is fascinated by the interplay between photographer and subject as they sit in front of the camera’s lens.

For his final major project ‘Outer’, Michael deliberately sought out strangers and asked them to sit for him. Aware that being photographed can be a nerve-wracking experience, Michael gently directed his subjects. With little guidance other than to focus their gaze to the right, he observed the movement of his models from the outer to the inner gaze of their own worlds.