West Sussex, United Kingdom July, 31st 2015
The Joan Wakelin Bursary was set up in 2005 to remember the respected documentary photographer and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, Joan Wakelin, who died in 2003. The Bursary is administered by the Society in partnership with The Guardian, and offers an award of £2000 to support the production of a photographic essay on an overseas social documentary issue.
John is thrilled with the opportunity to produce an outstanding essay for the RPS and the Guardian on a critical subject for his home country, Portugal: "after a very careful choice of subject and demanding scrutiny I was persuaded that I had a good opportunity here. Roger Tooth (Guardian's Head of Photography) confirmed that I was the winner of this year's edition of the bursary".
In 2014 John published one of his iconic essays, West London Tales. It took him several weeks to depict the fragile relationship of the unprivileged that try to make a living in West London's streets, the most expensive part of the world since 2013.
John's latest essays are Pilgrim´s "“ Chapter One: Walking to Fatima and Falling from the Summit, both produced in Portugal during 2015.
John's work depicts the challenges of living in the Western World where "decades of poor leadership, failed capitalism and imposed austerity have been eroding the soul and well being of the majority of the population".
With projects running in both countries, John divides his time between Portugal and the United Kingdom.
Chappa
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