BA (Hons) Photography
Alumni Profiles
British Asian photographer Suki Dhanda, whose portraits of subjects for The Observer and The Guardian include Blue Planet presenter Sir David Attenborough, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, singer and actress Rihanna, and artist Yoko Ono was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Arts University Plymouth (then Plymouth College of Art) in 2018. Suki is an alumna of Arts University Plymouth, and graduated with an HND in the late 1980s, coming to the college from Slough. During her Honorary Fellowship acceptance speech, she recalled her time studying at the university and how collaborating with other creatives from different backgrounds influenced her practice.
Suki Dhanda successfully combines a career as a newspaper photographer with gallery and installation commissions showing work alongside the likes of Rankin and Turner prize winner Gillian Wearing. After leaving Arts University Plymouth, she spent the next three years as an advertising photographer's assistant and in the process assembled a portfolio by doing free shoots, notably for the music magazine Straight No Chaser. Her big break came when The Observer commissioned her to take photographs of mothers and daughters. It brought her a freelance contract that has sustained her wider practice ever since, in which she has captured portraits of some of the world's most famous faces.
In 2018, Suki returned to Plymouth, where she began her photography journey, with a new exhibition commissioned by Arts University’s onsite art gallery MIRROR, titled ‘Race, Place & Diversity By The Seaside’. In shooting new portraits for this show, Dhanda spent six months visiting Plymouth, capturing local residents and visitors spending time relaxing with their friends and families by the coast, in a project that highlighted the possibilities of co-existing in a shared space. Provoked by Dhanda’s personal reaction to the 2016 Brexit vote, the work profiled a series of people who may have begun to question their sense of belonging and their place in the UK since the vote was cast.
Click here to watch our Gallery Short featuring an interview with Suki about the show, and read more on our blog.
Suki Dhanda was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from Arts University Plymouth in 2018 in recognition of her outstanding achievement in the arts.
www.sukidhanda.com
Josh first graduated from Arts University Plymouth in 2012 with a BA (Hons) in Photography, returning to complete an MA in 2017. Josh lives and works between Plymouth and London and his work spans portraiture, documentary, editorial, fashion and commercial projects, including his unique style of film photography GIFs.
Josh has worked with a number of prestigious clients including Adidas, Arsenal Football Club, Puma, Dr. Martens, Beats, Spotify and H&M.
Tom has worked as a freelance photographer for over two decades. Specialising in portraiture, Tom has photographed musicians, sports stars, politicians and celebrities across the nation and worldwide, as well as being a brand ambassador for Hasselblad. Some of his most famous subjects include Dave Grohl, Jose Mourinho, Usain Bolt, Nick Cave, Jeremy Corbyn MP and Noel Gallagher.
Other clients include BBC, Huawei, Paddy Power, Samsung, Vivo and Virgin.
Interview with Tom Oldham
Ray is a Central Stores Technician in the Equipment Resource Centre at Arts University Plymouth. He is a part of the MultiMedia Lab team, whose expertise features photography, moving image, sound and game design.
His speciality is analogue photographic equipment, film processing and scanning. Ray has worked with 35mm, medium format and large format film cameras, predominantly in black and white. Ray can also undertake minor repairs and general maintenance on analogue equipment such as light seal replacements and lens cleaning.
Ray studied at Exeter College, graduating with a merit in Access to HE Art & Design. He also studied at Arts University Plymouth at undergraduate level in Photography and completed his Masters degree in photography at Arts University Plymouth with a distinction.
His research was based around alienation within society, psychogeography, the non-place, capitalist realism and the prosaism of the everyday. This mixed photography with a walking practice, similar to the ‘flaneur’. Further into his postgraduate studies, Ray challenged the use of ‘New-Topographics’ in a modern setting - updating the movement to ‘Post-Topographics’ to reflect the half-century difference in time, yet juxtaposed by the stagnation of society.
His work has been published with Shutterhub Yearbook 2020, Photograd Graduate 2020 and Photograd Conjunction zines. He has also worked with the Smart Citizens Programme, Atlantic Youth Creative Hub, Arts University Plymouth Students’ Union, The MegaRide and Soperfect Images.
Dartmoor based photographer Nicholas White graduated from Arts University Plymouth in 2013, going on to take his love of the outdoors and the National Park’s unique landscape into his work. Nicholas has successfully exhibited his work in Romania, Italy and the UK and has won several awards for his landscape photography. Nicholas also won The Royal Photographic Society’s Environmental Bursary, allowing him to travel to Romania and photograph the Guardians of the Forest as they restore the mountains and forests back to their natural state.
His clients include National Geographic, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, Red Bull, Puma, Bloomberg Businessweek, Financial Times, The Guardian and The Telegraph Magazine.
Aaron Lovelock is a visual practitioner based in the South West of England. After graduating BA (Hons) Photography at Arts University Plymouth, he continued his studies in Fine Art at postgraduate level. Aaron tackles sensitive topics in his personal practice, working in both analogue and digital methods.
Aaron has worked with regional businesses such as the Custom House, Plymouth and Coyaba Rum based in Cornwall, and in 2018 was the official photographer for the ceremony of the Royal Television Society Student Awards for Devon and Cornwall.
