Rebirth and renewal: Celebrating the outstanding winners of Female in Focus 2024

Female in Focus 2024 winners

Image credits: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Florence Bass, Camilla Greenwell, Victoria Ruiz, Alice Poyzer, Margarita Galandina, Rebecca Dorothy, Asma Elbadawi, Eloise Genoud and Dale Rio

Editor's note: Image #5 (6th in the gallery) features nudity and may be considered NSFW, so proceed with caution accordingly.

The winners of the Female in Focus 2024 contest have been announced. It was hosted in partnership with Nikon, which allowed photographers to enter one portrait for free. This year's judges included photographer and Nikon Ambassador Heather Agyepong; curator, critic and journalist Charlotte Jansen; co-founder and director at DECK Photography Art Centre Gwen Lee and more.

Now in its fifth edition, the contest aims to "discover, promote and reward the remarkable work of women photographers." In August 2024, the British Journal of Photography surveyed 1,000 respondents from its audience to examine gender inequality in the photography industry. This survey revealed that "women in photography earn 30% less than their male counterparts, and, 55% of the women had experienced gender discrimination in the workplace." It also found that only 34% of major photography award winners over the past five years have been women.

Entries to Female in Focus are centered on a specific theme each year. This year, the theme was Renewal. The contest website explains it is about "delving into the transformative process of rejuvenation and rebirth. This theme captures the essence of starting anew, whether through personal growth, environmental restoration, or societal change. Through evocative imagery, it explores the beauty and strength found in moments of revival and regeneration, highlighting the hope and possibility inherent in beginning again."

Twenty individual images and two winning series were chosen as winners. These works will be exhibited in the UK. You can see all of the images included in the series and additional winners on the Female in Focus website.

Series winner: Margarita Galandina - Ovoo

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Margarita Galandina

Series title: Ovoo

Image: Coffin Bearers, 2022

Grounded in Mongolian shamanistic tradition, the title refers to the ritual Ovoo (or Obo in
Buryat) – a sacred totem pole marking spiritually significant land. These structures, serving as conduits to the spiritual realm, embody the Buryat people’s post-nomadic worldview in Siberia. Through this project, I seek to explore how the presence of Ovoos in today’s landscape marks Indigenous presence, especially within a post-colonial context. The project combines photography, archival research and personal history to challenge conventional historical narratives and reassert Indigenous identity.

The project began as a personal investigation into my maternal Buryat heritage, where I
sought to integrate familial and state archives with photographic reenactment and self-portraiture. By mimicking ethnographic research, I aim to recontextualise Indigenous Siberians’ complex and often hidden history. Focusing on the early 1930s – a period during Soviet collectivisation that devastated Indigenous identities in North and Central Asia – the work examines how historical narratives are shaped, contested and often erased within the post-colonial framework.

My research began with the discovery of a demolished Buddhist monastery, where one of my ancestors – a Buddhist lama – served before being repressed and sent to a Soviet work camp. His survival and eventual return to Buryatia sparked an effort to salvage the region’s Buddhist cultural heritage. This personal discovery in the local archive in Buryatia in 2023 made me question the fragile positioning of Indigenous history, prompting me to use photography to intervene in such a process. To engage with this erasure, I began creating self-portraits that mimic ethnographic photos from family records and institutional archives, such as those in the Kunstkamera Museum. By juxtaposing these images with historical photographs, I aim to open a conversation about the contested nature of history and reverse the alienating gaze of otherness.

You can see the full series on the Female in Focus website.

Series winner: Alice Poyzer - Other Joys

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Alice Poyzer

Series title: Other Joys

Image title: Kernow Cat Club

Image caption: This photograph depicts one of the winning cats at a local
Championship Cat Show in 2024.

Other Joys is a body of work that explores the intensity of my special interests as an autistic woman, through a careful balance of self-portraits, documentary shots and constructed imagery. The feeling that surrounds special interest is almost indescribable. This heavy sensation of warmth, euphoria and excitement is something many in the autistic community can relate to. Consequently, I wanted to make this body of work as a way to communicate that feeling.

While Other Joys was made to shed light on the concept of special interests, the making of it additionally acts as a way for me to understand my autism better. Throughout, the project comments on my own autistic traits, such as my need for rigid routine and my innate ability to constantly mask my autism. Simultaneously, the work nods to the idea that there is still a desperate need for further autistic representation, especially in relation to autistic women.

The process of making these photographs provides me with a safe space to be my true self, allowing me to unmask and experience my autistic joy to the fullest. What was once a fear of being deemed different and unusual has now become a celebration of self-acceptance and understanding.

You can see the full series on the Female in Focus website.

Single image winner: Asma Elbadawi

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Asma Elbadawi

Image title: Renewed Vows

A woman stands in a vintage white wedding dress, ironing bright green tracksuit bottoms. This striking contrast symbolises the blending of marital expectations with contemporary life, representing a woman who honours the significance of marriage while embracing her
modern identity.

The image reflects the evolving roles of married women, where traditional marriage ideals coexist with new forms of self-expression. The wedding dress signifies grace and heritage, while the tracksuit represents renewal and personal ambition. Together, they illustrate a
complex identity where marital tradition and individual progress intertwine. This quiet domestic scene captures the nuanced journey of redefining women’s roles within marriage, emphasising that tradition and modernity can coexist harmoniously.

Through this quiet domestic scene, the image captures the journey of redefining one’s place in the world. A blend of strength and softness, reverence and reinvention, capturing the power in balancing marital roles with a sense of self that transcends eras. It is a reminder that marriage and modernity can coexist beautifully, adding depth and richness to the tapestry of identity.

Single image winner: Camilla Greenwell

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Camilla Greenwell

Image title: Gertraud Platschek

This summer, I travelled to Germany to create a series of images and a short film with Gertraud Platschek, an artist whose work I’ve admired for years. She transforms everyday materials, such as cardboard, into sculptures and wearable art, often drawing inspiration
from her surroundings in the Bavarian Forest. Her pieces often become part of performances that blend humour with the absurd, and I was particularly interested in creating something with her which felt part documentary but also part performative in itself.

In many ways, her approach embodies the essence of renewal. The materials she uses – seemingly discarded or undervalued – are given new life and purpose in her hands. This process of transformation mirrors the renewal of the self that Gertraud has experienced
throughout her life. She shared stories of how her journey as an artist has evolved, shaped by motherhood, artistic influences and the passage of time. In a world often obsessed with youth and the rapid rise to artistic fame, meeting someone like Gertraud – who’s followed her own path and continuously evolved – was inspiring.

Her work also speaks to the renewal of the land itself. The Bavarian Forest, which serves as both her muse and backdrop, is a place of constant change – where nature’s cycles of growth, decay and rebirth are ever-present. There is a deep respect for the land within her work, alongside a knowledge of what it means to reuse and repurpose materials in a sustainable way. Through her eyes, I saw how art and life intertwine in an ongoing process of renewal, on a personal and creative level.

Single image winner: Hanna Wolf

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Hanna Wolf

Image title: Fiona

I met Fiona as part of an ongoing series exploring the stories of mothers who were unable to hold their children at birth. After the unexpectedly traumatic birth of her twins, Fiona faced the devastating diagnosis of breast cancer. The lost moments of holding her newborns on her chest echoed in ways she could never have imagined as she underwent a double mastectomy. When we met, six months after her surgery, Fiona shared that she was ready to be photographed with her scars. What began as the absence of touch transformed into a profound journey of grief, resilience and triumph – reclaiming her body not just as a place of healing but as a space where motherhood and selfhood can be reimagined.

Single image winner: Alessia Rollo

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Alessia Rollo

Image title: Water Cures

This is a portrait of a possessed woman, at least how I imagined a ‘tarantolata’ could be before photography and before north Italian culture colonised south Italian culture, where I am from.

It represents the ritual of ‘cure’ that women affected by nostalgia or melancholy (often confused with possession and hysteria) were practising to take care of their bodies and minds.

The image is part of a more complex series about visual and cultural
colonisation in south Italy.

Single image winner: Victoria Ruiz

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Victoria Ruiz

Image title: El Bravo Pueblo (The Brave People)

‘El bravo pueblo’ holds deep significance in Venezuela as a symbol of the nation’s resilience, strength and spirit. The phrase translates to ‘the brave people’ and it is often used to honour the Venezuelan population’s unwavering courage and defiance in the face of hardship. Historically, it has been associated with Venezuela’s struggles for independence, beginning with the fight against Spanish colonialism and continuing through modern-day challenges, including political oppression, economic collapse and social instability.

‘El bravo pueblo’ represents more than just resistance; it embodies the pride and determination of Venezuelans to stand up for their rights, freedom and dignity, even in the most challenging circumstances. It is a rallying cry that reflects both the collective memory of the country’s past struggles and the ongoing battle for justice, democracy and survival in the present.

Single image winner: Fatimah Mujtaba

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Fatimah Mujtaba

Image title: The Lutadoras of London

As part of a series celebrating young women in martial arts, this image reflects on new beginnings through physical fitness. Not every activity is started in a joyous manner, and in this case the subject confided how boxing became a way to navigate anger and fears
through a difficult period of her life. The women-only boxing lessons at East London’s Fight for Peace offered a space for vulnerability and growth, allowing for personal development of character.

Weekly sessions are something to look forward to and with every session skills, speed and confidence continue to grow. The importance of buying the boxing kit contributed to this shoot, as we reflected on the excitement of finding wraps and shorts in matching colours to celebrate the beginning of this journey. While the male-dominated space of martial arts can often feel as if it pushes out expressions of femininity entirely, we found we were able to express it within the club and the photographic series was a way to commemorate this. In fact, this series manifested with my friend’s first boxing session, where I demonstrated how to wear the hand wraps and we noticed they matched the colour of her nails, after which we took some photos together to commemorate the moment.

Single image winner: Rebecca Dorothy

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Rebecca Dorothy

Image title: Manas

This series is called Manas (short for hermanas/sisters). It’s the beginning of an ongoing collection of pictures celebrating the importance of family. Sometimes, especially if we live abroad, we might forget how little expressions from our beloved ones can be so meaningful. In this case I wanted to capture some simple routine gestures between sisters, sharing their love and taking care of each other. Sisterhood is fundamental to make you learn how to share not only material things, or moments, but also the hardest and deepest feelings. Sisterhood means being partners for life.

Single image winner: Elizabeth Brown

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Elizabeth Brown

Image title: Baptism

Kataragama Temple complex, in Sri Lanka’s Southern Province, is apilgrimage destination for Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists from across Sri Lanka and India. Outside the temple complex lies the Menik Ganga, a river which becomes crowded with weary pilgrims and their families. The various temples are what draw people to Kataragama, but in the intensely hot and humid climate it is the water that allows for the rebirth and renewing of spirits.

Single image winner: Basia Woźniczka

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Basia Woźniczka

Image title: princess and the pea

Bleeding away into the world. The beginnings of entering adulthoodwere nothing like I had imagined. From a rebellious teenager, I imperceptibly became a naive and confused young adult, torn between expectations and reality. This common story of coming of age, closing and reopening chapters, became the axis of the project, trying to visualise an awkward and difficult stage in life, filled with confrontation with dreams that do not always come true and imaginations that are created in our heads. The atmosphere of fairy tale, irony and grotesque adds to this slightly strange, slightly sad world, of which we all inevitably become a part.

Single image winner: Fikayo Adebajo

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Fikayo Adebajo

Image title: The Interlude

From A Brief History of Love in VII Acts; a defiant song of still beating hearts, an archive of love and rage, of sorrow and solidarity. A Brief History of Love in VII Acts is an exercise in ‘critical fabulation’ that queers the archive by using love as a vehicle to explore alternative histories. Through fabricated historical images, this project between photographer and curator Fikayo Adebajo, and costume designer and painter Poppy Whitehorn, reclaims the narrative imprinted on historical imagery. When the colonial gaze has been returned, we look inwards to form new points of convergence through which we imagine our new realities.

Single image winner: Eloise Genoud

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Eloise Genoud

Image title: River

My photographic work explores water as a vessel for memory and the sensation of touch. I see water as a fluid mirror of memory, holding traces of the past and impressions of contact. For me, it captures the intimate resonance of touch – moments that linger beyond the physical.

Through my image, I seek to make these fleeting impressions visible, to capture the dialogue between water and skin, body and the intangible. Water becomes a poetic medium, revealing the fragility and persistence of touch, like a veil that leaves unseen yet felt traces. My aim is to immerse the viewer in this sensory experience, inviting them into the floating memories and infinite sensations that water evokes.

Single image winner: Deirdre Brennan

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Deirdre Brennan

Image title: The Suitcase

This is from a series of portraits of men awaiting decisions regarding their applications for asylum in Ireland. The men told me about their hopes and dreams of starting a new life in Ireland, why they came to the country, and what they wish to contribute to Irish society.

The asylum seekers had been living in a makeshift campsite outside the International Protection Office for several months. The Irish State stopped offering accommodation to all male asylum seekers – in contravention of international commitments.

Having no toilet or showering facilities, the build-up of rubbish, exposure to the cold and lack of laundry facilities were contributing to the spread of infections, including respiratory illness and scabies.

I always like to include a physical symbol of the story in my images. For this I chose a vintage suitcase to signify the journey the men have been on. I titled this series The Suitcase.

“I am fleeing persecution. My uncle killed my father because of a land inheritance dispute. I came to Ireland because it is a safe place. I read a lot about Ireland, its people, its culture and government. I am a computer scientist. It is not easy living in a tent. But where there is life there is hope. I am happy to be here. The Irish people are very accommodating. In some countries they would see you as their ”enemy.

Single image winner: Florence Bass

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Florence Bass

Image title: The Rock Ceremony

This image is part of a series documenting the Lesbian community in Skala Eresou, Lesbos. It was taken during a ceremony on Sappho’s rock to celebrate Lesbian New Year. During the ceremony the women swim out to the rock with a bag of ashes containing the remains of love letters to old flames that they, for one reason or another, want to leave in the past. Each woman then takes a turn pouring the ashes into the sea with the idea that when they return to the mainland they have left their past behind them and are free to move forward in life and love.

Single image winner: Dale Rio

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Dale Rio

Image title: Madge, Western Massachusetts

From the series Look At Me, in which I collaborate with sexual assault survivors to create environmental portraits that depict them from a place of strength as self-defined.

Single image winner: Wendy Catling

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Wendy Catling

Image title: The handover

From the Nightshade series, which is a photo media project that delves into themes of family violence and intergenerational trauma by exploring my mother’s experiences during her relationship with my father. Over 20 tumultuous years, she endured profound hardship, frequently moving home to escape my father’s stalking, violence and coercive control. The pattern of domestic violence – marked by my father’s charming public facade and private cruelty – is symbolised by the black nightshade, an attractive but toxic plant. The project parallels my mother’s battle against weeds with her resistance to
domestic abuse and coercive control. In creating this work, I mimicked my father’s obsessive stalking by tracking environmental weeds in our area and scrutinising neglected family photographs. My conflicted role as a traumatised witness and confidante to both parents is conveyed through the resonances between contemporary and archival images
and documents. Through these images and texts, I aim to reveal complexity and ambiguity, and to repair a traumatic history.

Despite the relentless pressure of family care and domestic instability, my mother found sanctuary and personal power in her passion for gardening and environmental regeneration. Since their separation in the 1980s, and my father’s death in a car accident, she has dedicated herself to volunteering in suburban natural bush reserves, tirelessly
removing environmental weeds to promote native plant growth. Now in her nineties, she maintains a beautiful, meticulously weed-free garden.

Single image winner: Constanze Han

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Constanze Han

Image title: Titti

Titti in her bedroom in Napoli in front of a photograph of her younger
self.

Single image winner: Kasia Ślesińska

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Kasia Ślesińska

Image title: Basia

Carers, who are often elderly themselves, often suffer from arthritis or diabetes. The reasons why women in Poland choose to work abroad as caretakers are varied. While some seek to improve their appearance through cosmetic treatments such as Botox, or purchase luxury items like new televisions, most migrate because they are unable to achieve a dignified standard of living or receive adequate pay or pensions in their home country. This issue of economic migration is prevalent in Poland, where young people migrate to countries such as England and Germany to earn higher salaries for manual labour than they would upon graduating from Poland.

In my hometown, it is common for a family member to migrate to Germany and work as a construction worker or caretaker. I have had the opportunity to meet many retired women who belong to the caretaker group and travel across the western border, primarily to Germany, to provide care for elderly people in their eighties and nineties.

These caretakers are required to be available 24/7 and remain vigilant to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their clients. They are responsible for a wide range of duties, including washing and changing the clothes of their clients, cooking, administering medication, and even providing IV therapy when necessary. Although these women may not have formal training in nursing or caretaking, they are seeking a better quality of life for themselves and their families back home. The challenges and experiences of these caretakers are worth exploring to understand the broader social and economic issues surrounding migration in Poland.

In this image, Basia takes a bath in the tub for the first time in a month. While caring for the elderly person in Germany, Basia had no time for herself; she had to constantly watch over her, never able to take her eyes off her.

Single image winner: Najla Said

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Najla Said

Image title: Never Too Many

Never Too Many represents a common visual in my hometown, Cairo, of a family, or multiple people, riding on one motorcycle. It summarises the Egyptian mentality of ‘we’ll work it out, everything is possible’. However, what I never saw on the street, is a row of women, or even a woman driving the motorcycle. This image ignites that conversation by reappropriating this element of Egyptian street culture, and recontextualising it in a way empowering womanhood. It attempts to give hope for a new beginning for women to provide themselves the representation they deserve, and the agency to question the norms that limit us.

Single image winner: Bea Dero

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Bea Dero

Image title: Azadi – Freedom

This self-portrait was taken in Iran in the aftermath of the murder of Mahsa Amini by Iranian morality police in September 2022. This image is in solidarity with the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. While mourning the death of innocent Iranian activists, this portrait shows an Iranian woman centre frame, in the spotlight, on a white horse at sunset serving as a symbol of hope. Hope for revolution and hope for a future where women are free to stand in their power publicly, with dignity and choice.

Single image winner: Matilde Piazzi and Nadia Del Frate

Credit: Female in Focus x Nikon vol. 5 / Matilde Piazzi and Nadia Del Frate

Image title: Portrait of Pierangela Cernera, known as Piera

Taken from the series Sorelle d’Italia: The Luxury of Resistance, which tells the story of the female workers of La Perla, a luxury lingerie brand founded in Bologna in 1954 by a pioneer of female entrepreneurship, which was declared insolvent in January 2023. After several acquisitions, the last by Tennor Holding in 2018, the company went into judicial administration, leaving 218 employees on furlough. Among these workers, a group launched a feminist and artistic protest in September 2023 to defend their jobs and autonomy. Photographers Matilde Piazzi and Nadia Del Frate collaborated with 19 of them to create Sorelle d’Italia, transforming their struggle into art to keep media attention alive. Sorelle d’Italia reflects the transformative power these women discovered in each other during a moment of crisis. Faced with hardship, they united and found strength together, realising the profound solidarity and resilience that arose from their shared struggle. The aesthetic of the images is designed to highlight the beauty of this collective renewal, moving away from
traditional photo reportage.

The project includes a photo series inspired by Guido Reni’s Aurora, a portrait series reinterpreting archetypes such as Venus and female saints, and a video portrait. Sorelle d’Italia is a monument to contemporary heroic resistance: a triumph of women “in spite of everything”.

Pierangela Cernera is one of the workers leading the fight. She has been working at La Perla for 24 years in the cutting department. She is still waiting to discover what future lies ahead.