Issue #7873: Shifting Territory

In June, we brought you the latest edition of Ones To Watch, our annual talent issue, spotlighting emerging photographers from around the globe. By way of follow-up, our July edition features the work of three former Ones To Watch who have come good on their promise. No path has been the same.

Ricardo Cases, who was included in our first talent issue in 2011, quickly came to international acclaim with his book, Paloma al aire, and its follow-up, El porqué de las naranjas, published by Mack. Yet he chose to move away from the Spanish capital and quietly focus on his work, settling in a rural enclave on the outskirts of Valencia, recording his offbeat take on Spain’s east coast region. The results can be seen in a retrospective of his projects over the last eight years, An Elemental study of the Levante, showing at Madrid’s spectacular Sala Canal Isabel II (a water tower converted into a gallery space) during Photo España.

Max Pinckers, who appeared in Ones To Watch in 2013, one year after his graduation, has featured in more than 50 exhibitions since debuting with his first book, The Fourth Wall, continuing to explore the grey line between fact and fiction in his documentary practice. Having joined, and now left, Magnum Photos since he featured in BJP with his last book (Lotus, a collaboration with Quinten de Bruyn), he’s back with his latest, Margins of Excess, exploring his chosen theme through the lens of post-truth America.

When we first featured Sim Chi Yin in Ones To Watch in 2014, she seemed to have the world at her feet. Having spent nine years as a journalist before switching to visual reportage, the Beijing-based photographer was already a member of VII photo agency, picking up assignments from some of the world’s elite newspapers and magazines, and a citation from Sarah Leen, director of photography at National Geographic: “Her work has the potential to bring insights from within a culture that is often difficult to penetrate emotionally. She is not an outsider trying to get in. She is already inside. She can turn the lights on.” Yet, a year later, she was unable to photograph anything at all, having sustained a serious injury after being attacked on assignment on the border between China and North Korea.

Needing two years to fully recover, she had plenty of time to reflect on her direction. When she returned, she was more determined than ever, with a newfound determination, creating works with an emphasis on “impact over reach”. A prolific photographer with impeccable communication skills, she’s back, working on several long-term projects, and an exhibition at the Nobel Peace Centre.

Elsewhere in this month’s issue, we pay tribute to Abbas, one of the finest photojournalists of his generation, touching on his extended reportage of world-changing events, such as the Islamic Revolution in his Iranian birthplace, to his long-term study of world religion.

This month’s Any Answers features American artist Collier Schorr, and our Creative Brief poses questions for Sarah Barnett, art director for in-flight magazine, N by Norwegian. And in our Projects section we bring you new works from Birthe Piontek, Karolina Gembara and Kovi Konowiecki, all relating to place, belonging and identity.

In Agenda, we preview two summer photofestivals; Rencontres d’Arles and Cortona On The Move. And Damien Demolder tests out a standout – if somewhat irregular – lens from Leica: the APO-Summicron-SL 75mm f/2 ASPH.

Subscribe today!