Focusing on what unites us by capturing the universal through an individual camera lens was the challenge set by 1854 Media’s photography competition, Portrait of Humanity.

The competition, from the publisher of British Journal of Photography, was open to photographers of any level, to capture the many faces of humanity, and to document the universal expressions of life: laughter, courage, moments of reflection, journeys to work, first hellos, last goodbyes, and everything in between.

Winner, Ying Wang from Shijiazhuang in Hebei, photographed Sanming Bai, who is both a farmer and a Mao Zedong impersonator, one of many in China. In the photograph, the make-up he wears on one side of his face points to Bai’s experiences as a performer in opera and we also see him in role as Chairman Mao.

Roland Schmid from Karvina in the Czech Republic also was among the winners, submitting a playful portrait he took in 1992 of Augustin Drezdowicz, then 84-years-old and the father of his best friend. “Augustin was a miner, and during World War II he was arrested by the Germans because he helped to source dynamite for partisan forces,” he says. “He was sent to Zwickau concentration camp and freed by American troops at the end of the war. Although he had a very difficult life he never lost his sense of humour and was the kind of person everybody loved”.

Karan Kumar Sachdev’s winning image Madgo and Lokkhmi depicts a universal bond of friendship.

Madgo and Lokkhmi are friends who live in the same village in the Niyamgiri Hills where they grew-up together as part of the Dongria Kondh tribe in India.

All 200 shortlisted entries are featured in the Portrait of Humanity book, published by Hoxton Mini Press, a collection of images celebrating the humanity that unites us all.

Out of those, 50 winning portraits have been chosen to be displayed in an exhibition, which will tour globally from September – December 2019, marking one of the greatest collaborative photography exhibitions in history.

Read about County Durham’s Centenary celebrations for mining artist Norman Cornish.

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Maggie shared her ideas with her husband, Charles Jencks and her former oncology nurse Laura Lee, who is now Chief Executive for the charity which grew from those early discussions, Maggie’s.

The first Maggie’s Centre opened in 1996 in Edinburgh. There are now 22 Maggie’s centres across the country, offering people the practical and emotional support needed to cope with the challenges that living with and beyond cancer brings, delivered by qualified professionals within a space that enables them to meet other people who understand what it means to be living with cancer too.

Photographer Zoë Law has been an avid supporter of Maggie’s for many years and with personal experiences of cancer within her own family it felt a natural fit for her to work with Maggie’s on a photographic project which placed people living with cancer at its heart.

Over the course of a year, Zoë invited people living with cancer to her London studio to take part in a photoshoot with their family and friends. All of those who took part have been supported by Maggie’s across the UK through their different cancer experiences.

 “This project was one if the hardest things I’ve undertaken because it was so important to me to show each person’s strength and move the focus away from their cancer. For the portraits to share how cancer does not define them, nor has it taken away their essence,” says Zoë. 

“The people who came to my studio taught me a great deal. Primarily that a cancer diagnosis isn’t the end but a way of looking at life differently. What the subjects of these portraits said is that cancer had given them time. Time to live in the moment, time to appreciate the everyday and time to tell friends and family how much they are loved”.

The photographs were originally taken to mark the 21st birthday of
Maggie’s in 2017, and were curated into an exhibition called, LIFE by Ab Rogers Design. LIFE was launched at Christie’s in London the same year and opens at The Lowry, Salford Quays in May.

Zoë adds: “I called the project LIFE because the sense that came from the photographs was that cancer does not make you look at death but at the life you are living.”

Life – A photographic exhibition by Zoë Law is at The Lowry in Salford from Saturday 11 May – Sunday 9 June 2019.

Limited edition LIFE books were produced to accompany the exhibition and are available to buy online, with all proceeds going to Maggie’s. For more details about the work of Maggie’s visit www.maggiescentres.org

Read about County Durham’s Centenary celebrations for mining artist Norman Cornish.

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This global initiative from 1854 Media, publisher of British Journal of Photography, with Magnum Photos aims to use the power of photography to capture and celebrate the humanity that unites us all.

The competition, which is open photographers of any level, is searching for images which portray the unity of human beings around the world, by expressing the universal through the individual.

The aim is to create one of the greatest collaborative photography exhibitions in history, capturing the many faces of humanity, and documenting the universal expressions of life; laughter, courage, moments of reflection, journeys to work, first hellos, last goodbyes, and everything that happens in between.

Entries are open to all interpretations of portraiture; self-portraits, group pictures, street photography and close on 8 January 2019. Photographers of the winning three images will share $10,000 in grant awards to create projects that explore their interpretations of humanity.

The 200 shortlisted photographs will be featured in the Portrait of Humanity book and 50 winning images will be exhibited at various locations around the world from September – December 2019.

For more details on how to enter visit portraitofhumanity.co

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The nationwide exhibition uses digital screens in everyday places such as rail stations, shopping malls, high streets and airports, to project images celebrating the unique diversity of modern Britain.

The 100 photos displayed were chosen from more than 13,000 submissions following an open call by British Journal of Photography earlier this year.

The exhibition features portraits of some public figures such as Will Young and Zandra Rhodes. However, most of the images are taken from everyday life, often arising out of a chance meeting on the street.

For example, Lee Brodhurst- Hooper met a young couple by chance and photographed them for his Sea Change series about the changing face of Folkestone. While others such as Maraya Gibbs portrait of her aunt, titled ‘What a Colourful Life,’ express a more personal connection.

“This wonderful lady is my aunt. An East End girl, she has lived a life as colourful as her hair,” says Maraya. “Although she has endured many hard times and lived through wartime Britain, I never hear her complain. She is full of smiles and humour and I wanted to capture this”.

The many faces range from Euan Myles’ portrait of Daniel, a Nigerian Marine Biologist now working in Sutherland in the far north of Scotland to Joe Lang’s Roxy Gore, who he spotted ‘dressed to kill’ at Dreamland amusement park during Margate Pride.

“Portrait of Britain is public art on a huge scale – a countrywide exhibition that puts the nation’s citizens centre stage in bustling public spaces,” says Simon Bainbridge, Editorial Director of the British Journal of Photography. “Taken from all walks of life, these subjects share the same space, looking back at the public from the screen. The effect is a lingering glance, and witnessed by millions of passersby.”

While the 100 winning images are displayed nationwide you can view them online at the Portrait of Britain Gallery website. And the 200 shortlisted images are printed in the first Portrait of Britain book, published by Hoxton Mini Press and released 6 September 2018.

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