Portrait nominee

An unexpected, ongoing collaboration born in the ranks of North London's wild swimming community — a multifaceted group to which both Laura and I belong — this project evolved in equally unexpected, beautiful ways. We discuss the shoots beforehand.

Laura prefers not to disclose her surname, her process of transition; that is the significance of this project. It is dealt with in a subtle and sensitive manner in order to honour the way 'she/ her' has decided to pursue her identity.

London based Jillian Edelstein began working as a press photographer in Johannesburg, South Africa. She attended the LCC photojournalism course after graduating The University of Cape Town, B.Soc.Sc (Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology Social Work). Her portraits have appeared internationally in publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The FT Weekend Magazine, Vanity Fair, Interview, Vogue, Port, The Guardian Weekend, The Sunday Times Magazine, Time, Fortune, Forbes, GQ and Esquire. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally including the National Portrait Gallery, The Photographers' Gallery, The Royal Academy, OXO Gallery in London, Sothebys, Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in France, Bensusan Museum, Robben Island Museum in South Africa and Dali International Photography Festival, Yunnan Province, China. She has received several awards including the Kodak UK Young Photographer of the Year, Photographers' Gallery Portrait Photographer of the Year Award, the Visa d’Or at the International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan in 1997, the European Final Art Polaroid Award in 1999, the John Kobal Book Award 2003 included in The Taylor Wessing Portrait Award twice, the AI-AP Archive in 2008 and 2015. Read more at https://www.jillianedelstein.com/