prism 2012 retrospection

Welcome to the New Year! We at Prism thought it would be nice to start the year by reflecting on some of the great photographers we have featured during the year.

So here it is - prism's best picks from 2012, the ones that had the biggest impact on us!

1) Amy Elkins

from Wallflower series © Amy Elkins (prism #03)

Elkins is a photographer and curator based in the US. Her work Wallflower was featured in the 3rd issue of Prism. We loved her portraits examining masculine identities, expectations and stereotypes.

2) Mike Disfarmer

© Mike Disfarmer (prism #03)

In issue 3 we featured a piece about American portrait photographer Mike Disfarmer. The Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin ran an exhibition of his work from November to January 2012. Disfarmer’s personal journey and his enchanting portraits of small town America captured our hearts and minds. In this issue we speak with Michael Hill of the Douglas Hyde Gallery about Disfarmer.


3) Levi Mandel

from 1:11 series © Levi Mandel (prism #04)

A personal favourite of mine, Levi Mandel featured in our 4th issue. Mandel’s project 1:11 captures the mundane in everyday life, what concerns Mandel is not the climax but “what happened before and after”. Mandel’s project 1:11 was published by Fourteen-Nineteen last year too.

4) Hin Chua 

from After The Fall series © Hin Chua (prism #04)

Hin Chua also featured in our 4th issue. What struck us about Chua’s work was the rich tonality and colour in each image and an intriguing interview he gave with Joanna Kinowska. His views on juggling his photography and ability to earn a living were thought provoking, as it is something we all think about as photographers or participators in visual arts.

5) Rachel Bee Porter

from The Joy of Cooking series © Rachel Bee Porter (prism #05)

Of course Ms.Bee Porter would feature in our year review with her wonderfully wild images from the project Joy Of Cooking featured in issue 5. Her destructive pictures of delicious delicacies have our mouths watering and our eyes beaming.

6) Rafal Milach

from 7 Rooms series © Rafal Milach (prism #05)

Rafal Milach’s moving project 7 Rooms follows the stories of 6 people from the Russia. Each story is about a hero, memory and contemporary history being constructed by the young people of Russia. The aim of Milach’s project was to provide the viewer with a better understand of Russian people, which proved to him to be harder than it seemed.

7) Paula Muhr

from Double Flowers series © Paula Muhr (prism #06)

Paula Muhr’s work Double Flowers was featured in issue 6 of Prism. Her work is an interpretation of 19th and 20th Century medical photography, which depicts women as being hysterical and having skin diseases. In her images, Muhr tries to shift the medical gaze by placing objects over the images, which are related to the classical Dutch still-life paintings and their coded symbolism.

8) georgia Krawiec

from EXodus series © georgia Krawiec (prism #06)

Krawiec’s inspiration for her project Exodus, which featured in issue 6, was a book of nonsense she says she was given and was absorbed in it. She uses a unique technique to produce her images and the result is quite striking and in some cases discomforting, leaving the viewer feeling bemused.

9) David Favrod

from Gaijin series © David Favrod (prism #07)

Favrod’s project Gaijin featured in Prism #7 depicts a personal journey of self-discovery. Favrod was raised in Switzerland with Japanese culture and customs, however he is not recognized as Japanese. This leaves him feeling rejected by his Japanese heritage and in this project he is trying to find a way to connect with his identity. Since his publication in Prism Favrod has been successful in securing exhibitions for his work.

10) Zhe Chen

from Bees series © Zhe Chen (prism #07)

Chen’s project Bees is an inquiry into the prejudices and preconceptions of society into a particular community in China. Chen feels responsible for the dialogue held between the viewer and these images and extends a hand to guide the viewer down the path.

11) Yannik Willing

from Before Tomorrow series © Yannik Willing (prism #08)

Willing’s project Before Tomorrow is one of my favourite publication that I received this year. The images show a touristic view of the Sri Lanka. These very striking images show the radical changes the tourism industry in undergoing on the island after is received a record-breaking number of visitors.

12) Philipp Spalek

from Forgotten Tears series © Philipp Spalek (prism #08)

Forgotten Tears tells the story of displacement and oblivion in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Spalek’s images are cold and devoid of much colour, which gives the viewer a sense of the hardships encountered by the people of this time. Forgotten Tears was featured in issue 8.

Text by Ciara O'Halloran