People nominee

On the northern border of Bangladesh the Goyain River flows through the town of Jaflong. For 4-5 months of the year the river bed is turned into a giant mining site as small and large-scale efforts to extract good quality stone washed in from India go underway.

The work is dangerous and physically arduous. The men, women and children that live here have little time to themselves, and quickly get into a cycle of work, eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat. However there are moments during the day, especially when the sun is at it's highest when they can steal time to themselves, sleeping or relaxing inside their temporary tented homes which are situated on the dried-up areas of the river bed.

This series examines these peaceful, intimate moments within the distinct, but often elegant architecture of the makeshift tents, usually covered with sewn-together cement bags.

I'm an artist and photographer based in London, UK.

Since 2009 I've worked for a variety of publications and NGOs*, as well as on long-term projects with, among others, leprosy, Syrian refugees, Armenian prisoners, stone-miners in Bangladesh, and LGBT rights (also in Bangladesh).

In 2015/2016 I furthered my photography studies at the renowned Pathshala South Asian Media Insitute in Dhaka, Bangladesh under such tutors as Munem Wasif, Sarker Protick and Tanzim Wahab.

I work with a variety of photographic media and handwriting to best explore and explain my experiences and interactions with people. I look for appropriate styles and techniques with each project to best explore the subject psychologically.

In 2016 I was nominated for the Ian Parry Scholarship and displayed in the exhibition. In 2016 I was also given a grant by Open Society Foundations to make a photographic project on prisoners in Armenia.

*Including: New York Times, The Guardian, American Leprosy Missions, Action on Armed Violence, World Wildlife Fund, The Leprosy Mission International, HEAL Africa, Mercy Ships, Student British Medical Journal, The Weather Magazine, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Nepal Leprosy Trust.