The selected artists for 2021 are Heather Agyepong, Jessica Bernard, Ollie Gapper, Mariam Sholaja, RAKE Collective and Wing Ka Ho Jimmi. They were selected by the esteemed Brazilian artist Rosângela Rennó, along with TPG Senior Curator, Karen McQuaid.

The artists’ work can be seen here on this online exhibition platform, and a selection of works from each artist will form the first presentation in TPG’s new open-air public space: Soho Photography Quarter this Autumn. Each artist is paired with a creative mentor to support the development of their practice over the course of twelve months. This year the awardees also receive a £1,500 bursary.

TPG New Talent was launched in 2019 by The Photographers’ Gallery (TPG) to identify and champion under-recognised or emerging UK-based artists and photographers. The programme is part of an ongoing commitment to ensuring new photographic practices are given a public platform. Every effort has been made to remove barriers to entry – with no entrance fee, age limit or educational requirements within the criteria for entry for the open call. TPG define ‘emerging’ as not having had a significant solo exhibition or a book published by a third-party publisher.

Rosângela Rennó, whose own work reflects on shared and hidden histories as explored through archives and other photographic repositories, said in response to her experience reviewing and selecting the work:

‘The last two years seem to have been crucial in consolidating certain individual, collective and global convictions. With so much polarisation and contrast in various spheres and levels, and so many new channels of communication and dialogue, it does not surprise me that many voices and eyes are raised to point out what can no longer be silenced or stay hidden. This impulse was threaded throughout the submissions and especially evident in the work of the six artists’ we finally selected. Their work collectively and individually shares many points in common with what I have been following in Brazil: a desire to show societies and individuals, searching for a sense of justice and tolerance of differences while crossing the most diverse borders: political, geographical, ideological. The 21st century may have previously seemed not to have begun, but judging by the work of these talented individuals, in 2021 it certainly has.’