What does it feel like to go from a degree to a graduate scholarship? Photography graduate, Joshua Turner, spoke to us about the different aspects of his new scholarship and how it has helped him so far with his practice. As a fellow photographer, I wanted to find out more about his newest project, Flags, and how the arts community can help him to publish his very own photo-book.

Hi Joshua! What course did you study at Salford?

I studied BA Photography and it was one of the most insightful and progressive periods of my life so far, the lecturers do a great job on the course!

You’ve recently become a graduate scholar. How did you come across this opportunity?

The Graduate Scholarship Programme was created by the University of Salford Art Collection, in conjunction with their professional partners, to support the continuation of your practice as a photographer or artist once you have graduated. It has limited places, and you have to work hard to achieve it, but it’s worth the time taken for the support you receive on the programme! In partnership with Castlefield Gallery, you have access to personal mentoring sessions and plenty of different art events ongoing throughout the year. My role as a graduate scholar is to continue the development of my photographic practice.

Photograph: Joshua Turner, Flags.

Could you tell us about your current projects?

I was keen to be proactive in the continuation of my practice after graduation and there are now various elements I am working on. First and foremost is my final degree project Flags. This project was presented as a dummy photo-book in our final year exhibition. Yet, this was in no way an end to the work, the next stage is to get it published and share it with the world.

Another aspect of my photographic practice is my writing as it supports my understanding of what I intend to create. I really started to explore this after “Meeting Point”, the photography conference hosted at the University of Salford in January. Since then I have been working with Redeye on photography related articles; my favourite piece I have written so far is about Yan Wang Preston and Mother River. I am also working on my own personal essays that reflect on the practice of photographers that I admire, and that examine their various artistic approaches.

Photograph: Joshua Turner Flags.

Could you tell us more about the work featured in your Flags project?

Flags explores our relationship with the landscape, using personal experience to translate a potentially vast subject into a deeply personal documentation. Responding to the latency of personal history stored within the landscape, after all physical traces have faded out of existence, memory prevails. Clarity can only be found once the keeper of those memories chooses to disclose them. I disclose my own relationship with the landscape through the combination of photographic documentary and graphic interpretation using colour coded points; reflecting my personal history and an adoption of the landscape.

Taking the form of a photo-book, Flags presents the narrative of my development during the 10-year period in my life when most of what I did revolved around motorcycle trials! The book is a deeply personal exploration of my own interaction with the landscape, yet I made it with a certain amount of ambiguity because I want the reader to project their own experience onto the same concept to create a reflection on how with interact with our surroundings.

Photograph: Joshua Turner, Flags.

What other opportunities has Salford provided you with as an artist?

The course itself taught me the importance of what to do with your work once you have made it, and that it doesn’t end when you receive your grade or after finishing a module. Photography is a collective experience and I embrace sharing it. So far, I have exhibited as part of a group show in Leeds called “Point of View” and I am featured in the Photograd Zine 2018.

 

Photograph: Joshua Turner, Flags.

Do you have any upcoming exhibitions, or recommendations?

Depending on how my Kickstarter campaign goes, I may have a book launch, but that is in no way set in stone yet. Manchester has lots of little galleries alongside the larger ones, so keep an eye on independent platforms such as Then There Was Us  to see what they have coming up. My personal favourite gallery in Manchester is The Whitworth.

How can people get involved in your Kickstarter campaign?

I’m campaigning to raise the funds to publish my degree work as a photo-book which will be a soft cover publication with approximately thirty pages. Inside is an enigmatic exploration of a subject through a sequence of seventeen large format black and white images, four of which are paired with patterns printed on translucent pages, adding context while visually obscuring the image.

There are various rewards on offer for those that support my campaign. There are postcards, double-sided posters, and two sizes of C-Type prints on offer alongside the photo-book itself! The more affordable rewards are playful with the visual tropes of the book, experimenting with perspective and the relationship between the imagery and the graphic interpretations. I am excited to see my book as a professionally bound publication, photo-books are by far my favourite medium!

 

I wish Joshua the best for his future in photography. It has been a pleasure to find out about what he has been up to after finishing his degree. The scholarship has provided him with the resources to develop and grow as an artist, and is a great way to get into the art world as soon as you graduate.

If you would like more information about Joshua’s work, you can visit his website or follow him on Instagram @joshuaturnerphoto.