AISHA NAZAR is a Malaysian photographer based in London and currently works as an Associate Picture Editor at National Geographic Traveller (UK). Prior to this role, she was a UK-based stringer for Getty Images. Her work explores the cultural and social narratives that shape everyday life. She is a member of Diversify Photo and a contributor to Everyday Southeast Asia, part of The Everyday Projects. In 2019, Aisha was named AirAsia & Sony Joint Ambassador following a global campaign and was later appointed a Sony Alpha Guru in Malaysia. Her photography has been featured in international publications including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and USA Today, with commissions from Sony, AirAsia, AirAsia X, Augustman Magazine, and National Geographic Traveller (UK). Her work has also been exhibited across Japan, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Colombia. She is also the co-founder of Women Photographers Malaysia (WPM), established in early 2020, a platform dedicated to advancing gender balance in the photography industry through advocacy, community-building, and the creation of artistic opportunities.

MICHELLE SANK was born in South Africa and settled in the UK in 1987. She is a social documentary photographer whose crafted portraits meld place and person creating sociological, visual and psychological narratives. Her photographs have been exhibited and published extensively in the UK, Europe, Australia and Mexico, South Africa and the U.S.A. and her imagery is held in private and permanent collections worldwide. She has undertaken commissions and residencies for prominent organisation in Europe and the USA and her work has won awards in numerous prestigious competitions to include the Taylor Wessing Prize, British Journal of Photography, Head on Foundation, IPA awards, Lens Culture and The Juliet Margaret Cameron. She was recently a winner in The Portrait of Britain, the Open Portrait section in the Sony World Photography Awards and has been granted an Honorary Fellowship by The Royal Photographic Society. Sank has five published books to date.

IVAN GABRIEL is a curator and arts practitioner from Penang, whose practice is grounded in frameworks of critical and curatorial practice and inquiry into contemporary art discourse. His work focuses on identifying emerging artistic voices and situating them within complex cultural, historical, and institutional contexts. Through exhibitions, publications, and public programming, Ivan considers how art is made, presented, understood, and experienced, rethinking established visual and cultural conventions while shaping spaces that facilitate critical dialogue and reflective engagement. Guiding his methodology is a commitment to accessibility and inclusivity, realised through careful site selection, participatory approaches, and multi-sensory experiences. By drawing on educational principles alongside considered experiential design, his curatorial practice supports intellectual inquiry, public debate, and cross-generational exchange, framing exhibitions as environments for thinking, encounter, and shared cultural reflection.

NG HUI HSIEN is an artist, educator, and curator. She works primarily with photography, and through her artworks, she seeks to evoke stillness and wonder, especially towards our inner landscapes and the more-than-human world. Her practice is informed by phenomenology, one that sees our bodies as sites of knowledge and one curious about our relations with the living earth. Hui Hsien’s work has been exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions at Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film (Singapore), Grey Projects (Singapore), Comma Space (Singapore), and Reykjavík Museum of Photography (Iceland). As a curator, her projects include exhibitions at The Private Museum (Singapore) and Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film (Singapore), and a projection screening for Angkor Photo Festival (Cambodia). Hui Hsien holds an MA in Photography from the University of the West of England and a MSc in Social Sciences (Sociology) from National University of Singapore.

SHE ESCOBAR is a photographer from the Philippines whose work is rooted in a deeply humanist approach, focusing on stories shaped by culture, resilience and dignity. Her work has appeared on the front cover of Black+White Photography magazine and has received multiple Honorable Mentions from the International Photography Awards in portraiture, landscape, and photo essay categories. Escobar’s work has also been recognised by Leica Fotografie International. She has been nominated for Hundred Heroines, an initiative by The Royal Photographic Society recognising women making meaningful contributions to photography. She began her academic journey in Pharmacy and Nursing, earning licensure as a registered nurse, and briefly studied Chemical Engineering. She lived and studied in Singapore for part of her life, an experience that deepened her appreciation for cultural diversity and widened her visual perspective. Over the decades, she has pursued immersive long-term projects, living and working closely with the communities she documents.

LAU WEN HUAT is the founder and director of Zontiga, guiding its growth into a hub for photographers and storytellers. Combining strategic insight with creative vision, he has developed Zontiga into a thriving photography space, a respected photo lab, and a curated bookstore and publishing house dedicated to visual storytelling. Lau also leads the ideation and planning of visual art exhibitions, providing artists with a platform to showcase their work and connect with audiences. Additionally, he oversees the production of photography publications that highlight diverse voices and foster creative expression. His dedication to the visual arts and talent development has been key to Zontiga’s continued growth, fostering a strong sense of community and collaboration. Under his leadership, Zontiga remains a space where photography and storytelling come together, driven by a focus on creativity, innovation, and artistic growth.