Katy is Director of Photo Oxford, a biennial photography festival that takes place across the city of Oxford, UK. The next edition will take place in October 2025. She is a photography curator and has recently established an arts agency, working with a number of photographers and estates. Katy is Chair of the Board of Trustees of Photofusion in Brixton and a member of the Maud Sulter Advisory Board. She has been focussed on photography for the past 20 years, working with museums, festivals, galleries, collectors and artists in a variety of capacities such as curating exhibitions both in the UK and abroad, advising museums and collectors on acquisitions, running artists’ residencies and prizes and mentoring photography groups as well as writing exhibition catalogues and attending portfolio reviews in the UK and abroad.
Rica Cerbarano is a curator, writer, editor and project coordinator specialising in photography. She writes regularly for Vogue Italia and Il Giornale dell’Arte, where she is the Co-Editor of the Photography section. She has also contributed to Camera Austria, Over Journal, Hapax Magazine and Sali & Tabacchi, amongst others. In 2017, Cerbarano co-founded Kublaiklan, a collective that has curated exhibitions at Images Vevey (Switzerland), Gibellina PhotoRoad (Sicily, Italy), Cortona On The Move (Italy) and Photoszene Festival (Cologne, Germany), amongst others. In 2022, she was a member of the Artistic Direction Committee at Photolux Festival (Lucca, Italy), where she curated "Seiichi Furuya: Face to Face, 1978 – 1985" and "Robin Schwartz: Amelia & the Animals".
Maria Lax is a Finnish photographer and director based in London. Her practice famously employs vivid colour and experimental camera techniques. Resulting work presents a world that treads a path between fact and fiction, and explores the themes of identity, belief and modern folklore. Her photography and installations have been widely exhibited internationally. She was selected as one of the ‘Best New Talent of Photo London 2020’ by the Guardian and is the recipient of the Finnish Art Promotion Centre’s Artist Grant for 2021. Maria’s first monograph, Some Kind of Heavenly Fire was published in 2020 by Setanta Books, and her second book ‘Taken by the Tide’ was published by Nazraeli Press in 2023. A unique voice within the industry, Maria Lax continues to lead and influence a generation of her contemporaries with her meticulous and innovative approach to storytelling.
Professor Steven Macleod is an award winning Creative Director and artist and has been at the forefront of photographic imaging for thirty years, collaborating with a vast network of clients he has also developed several innovative photographic printing practices. He is a Director at Metro Imaging. The company is one of Europe’s leading imaging companies with a global reach offering a comprehensive solution for exhibition and collecting markets. He is a practicing artist, represented by Black Box Projects. He regularly exhibits and his works are held in both private and public institutions. He is also a commissioned artist for the Hospital Rooms Arts mental health charity. Steve is a Visiting Professor at the University of Suffolk; Trustee and Deputy Chair of QEST and E E at RGU Aberdeen. He runs an established mentorship programme and is a regular judge on international panels.
Karen McQuaid is Senior Curator at The Photographers’ Gallery and Associate Lecturer at London College of Communication. She regularly contributes to international workshops, writes for photography publications and edits artists books. At The Photographers’ Gallery she has curated exhibitions including Jim Goldberg, Open See (2009); Fiona Tan, Vox Populi, London (2012); Andy Warhol, Photographs: 1976 – 1987 (2014); Lorenzo Vitturi, Dalston Anatomy (2014); Rosângela Rennó, Río-Montevideo (2016); and Gideon Mendel, Fire / Flood (2023). She has co-curated Geraldo De Barros, What Remains (2013) with Isobel Whitelegg; Made You Look, Dandyism and Black Masculinity (2016) with Ekow Eshun; and Shot in Soho (2019) with Julian Rodriguez. McQuaid has curated external exhibitions at The Moscow House of Photography and The National Gallery of Kosovo, and facilitates TPG New Talent, a programme for UK based emerging practitioners.‘
MÖREL [founded in 2008/2009 by Aron Mörel] specialises in publishing works by both established and emerging artists. Titles include books by artists as diverse as Boris Mikhailov, Patti Smith, Corinne Day, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Ryan Gander, Thomas Ruff, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ryan McGinley, Nick Waplington. MÖREL works closely with writers and curators on their projects including Simon Baker, Nina Power, David Campany, Irvine Welsh, & Omar Kholief. Approaching each project as a collaboration, MÖREL actively engages with artists throughout the conception, editing, and design phases. The goal is to craft an artist's book that embraces idiosyncrasies, deliberately steering away from the conventions of traditional publisher-produced books. At times the design phase also includes works by other artists including covers by Painter George Condo, Poet/Artist Rene Ricard, Designer Pablo Ferro. MÖREL views the book as an important aspect of an artist’s practice and as a powerful cultural conduit.
Olivia Seigneurgens and Valmont Achalme are the dynamic duo behind the InCadaqués Photo Festival, where they've been leading the way as directors for the past eight years. Their passion and innovative ideas have not only transformed the festival into a must-visit event for photography enthusiasts but also led them to launch the InPhoto Festival App in Arles this summer 2024. This new platform, dedicated to fine art photography, highlights their dedication to making photography more accessible and creating a useful tool for the photography community.
Tom Page is an experienced gallerist and the founder of Open Doors Gallery, specialising in contemporary photographic art. After some years working at commercial galleries here in London where he worked across a broad range of roles [Sales specialist, Designer, Digital manager] Tom realised not enough was being done to help the next generation of photographic artists coming through. Starting as an instagram account which shone a light on some of these talents, Open Doors soon became a respected platform for discoveries worldwide. Hosting regular takeovers and even popping-up across London from time to time. Today the gallery regularly attends art fairs at home and abroad and represents a growing roster of award winning artists. Tom is determined to continue to disrupt the industry and to place photography firmly at the center of the conversation around art. As a failed artist, Tom knows the importance of being ‘seen’ by the right people and managing the ebbs and flows of success. He takes pride in working closely with artists, curators and publishers from all over the world to realise their projects and exhibitions. This annual open call has become a vital portal from which to continue the gallery's mission.