While I Was Sleeping

May 18, 2023

While I Was Sleeping is the third part of a trilogy of projects that came out of that shift (the other two being After the Fact and Endless Plain). These projects, by and large, use documentary techniques and the resulting images look like documentary photographs, but they are not intended to document an event.

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Coastal Mammoth
The 2011 tsunami caused an unprecedented amount of damage, chaos and grief. Everyone in Japan was affected in one way or another. The Japanese government soon began to erect a gigantic wall at the cost of billions in the northeast region of the country after the earthquake that caused the tsunami.
Pengkuei Ben Huang
Azerbajiani Stories
In Azerbaijani Stories the photographer Onur Tatar had created what he calls composite portraits. These are the stories of ten people from Azerbaijan combined with their portraits and images of places of significance. As Tatar says, topography, or the arrangement of both natural and artificial physical features of an area,
Onur Tatar
Ebbing Away of Identity with the Tides
Sushavan Nandy, based in Kolkata, focuses on the climate catastrophe, society, culture and the crises experienced by humankind collectively. He enjoys working on long-term photographic projects as it allows him to delve deep and explore issues in depth rather than simply scratch the surface; he has been published by the Guardian, CNN, New York Magazine, Vogue India, British Journal of Photography, and many others. As a young child Nandy experienced the effects of climate change. He lived in Jal
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How western part of Ukraine helps refugees from the attacked areas
Serhiy Gudak from the city of Uzhorod, Ukraine. The western region of Ukraine is well known for its hospitality. Nice food and people. Today, millions of people are moving to the west from the areas which are bombarded by Russian troops. The road can take 20-40 hours. Most people travel light - only documents, cell phones, and their loved ones. A list of answers to the questions "What can I do to help?" [https://www.mnngful.com/stand-with-ukraine] Reached Ukrainian friends, checked the sour
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Mark
I worked with Mark for two years documenting his experience of homelessness, heroin addiction and recovery in south London
James Hopkirk
Birdman
The project attempts to record the slow death of a culture — Pigeon racing as a typically British sport — that has changed beyond recognition since its inception. The photographs are extraordinarily rich and full of detail — the birds bind them together, they are the common denominator, but there is so much more in the images than just the pigeons. I
Zak Waters
Hope, Despair and Miracles
Roxana Allison is a Mexican-British photographer whose work has a predominantly socially-driven focus and explores the themes of belonging, identity and place. She has extensive experience working with young people and underrepresented communities spanning over 15 years and strives to achieve social justice through her photography. Longsight is an inner-city
Roxana Alison
I want it all to go back to the way it was before
Pippa Healy is a photographer, artist and printmaker based in London. Her raw, diaristic practice responds to events that have occurred in her life, therefore it has a unique sense of authenticity. Healy’s work references loss, grief, longing and violence and it’s rather difficult to pigeonhole as every
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One Hundred Yards From Home
A photographic exploration of family relationships and an inquiry into connection, history and the fragility of the tie between mother and daughter.
Cheryl Newman
Butterflies and Caterpillars
The body of work takes a closely intimate look at the contemporary drag scene in the United States. It’s a photographic examination that looks at the notions of identity and how we construct the self in a space different from society’s pre-established gender-specific roles and expectations.
Ardelle Schneider

mnngful Originals

mnngful Members

Nathalie Bertrams
GR
,
Athens

I am a freelance photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer reporting on environmental conflicts, human rights and social justice. My work is published in The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Al Jazeera, BBC, De Groene Amsterdammer and NRC. I also make TV documentaries for Arte.

Rik Moran
US
,

Milda Vysniauskaite
LT
,

Designer and photographer, after her studies at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, she continues her professional career back in Lithuania. She works with themes of gender, LGBTQ+ and masculinity. The main subject of her photographs is the male gender and social constructs around it.

Edward Thompson
UK
,

Documentary photographer focused on various subjects over the years covering environmental issues, socio-political movements, subcultures, everyday life and the consequences of war. He had a life-changing experience with an early apprenticeship with the Russian photographer Sergey Chilikov, whom he met at the Arles Photography Festival in 2001. That summer Ed stayed with Sergey in Paris and learnt the value of shooting everyday life, eating fried fat and drinking red wine. Sergeys friend Gueorgui Pinkhassov told him how photographing the everyday can allow you to touch at something great. And it did.

Vera Hadzhiyska
UK
,
Portsmouth

Multi-disciplinary artist and curator based in Portsmouth, England. Her practice is informed by the study of migration, cultural and national identity, history and collective memory. Her work begins autobiographically, tracing family narratives and shared traumas. Through the use of photography, archival documents, audio and video installations Hadzhiyska examines historical and political events in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe, their impact on people’s lives and identity.

Valeria Mongelli
IT
,

Documentary photographer and journalist based between Belgium and Italy. In her documentary research, Valeria focuses on social and environmental issues, the outskirts, and the underground. Valeria's work has been published internationally at Le Monde, El Pais, Le Vif / L'Express, Il Sole 24 Ore, The Diplomat, Asia Times and other outlets. Her work is distributed by Studio Hans Lucas, a French agency partner of AFP, Reuters, Redux, Contrasto, and others, and Zuma Press.

Isaac Kirby
UK
,
London

London based-photographer and copywriter originally from the Australian town of Snake Valley.

Neal Haddaway
UK
,
London

I am a documentary photographer/photojournalist and researcher working on topics related to environmental and social justice. My work focuses on human's connections with nature, and society's efforts to protect our planet.

Tommy Lee Grimmer
UK
,
Norfolk

Photographer based in Norfolk, East of England. Predominantly working on short and long-term personal projects as well as accepting regular commissions of all sizes and budgets. His work specialises in representative documentary, personal identities and the relationships we form with different aspects of our lives.

Joanne Coats
UK
,
Dales

Documentary photographer based in the North of England. She is interested in modes of production, rurality, and class inequality. Her practice is as much about process, participation and working with communities as photography. Coates’ key themes are Northern culture in rural places and working-class life. In 2020 she was commissioned as Artist in Residence at Berwick Visual Arts. In 2021 she was commissioned as an artist working on the Tees-Swale project looking at social justice and the rural, she was also a winner of the Jerwood /Photoworks award. Joanne’s work has been exhibited both in the UK and internationally in venues including The Royal Albert Hall, Reveal-T Photography Festival, Cork Photo Festival and Somerset House. In 2012 during her Foundation year she was awarded a Metro Imaging Portfolio Prize, a Magnum Portfolio Review and The Ideastap innovators award. Upon graduation, she was awarded Magenta Flash Forward Top 30 emerging talent in the UK, 2016. Joanne was one of the artists working in Hull, for the UK City of Culture in 2017. She was one of the 209 female photographers to photograph MPs for the centenary of the vote. She is a member of Women Photograph. A co-founder of Form Collective.

Lewis Bush
UK
,

Photographer, educator and curator working across media and platforms to visualise the activities of powerful organisations, practices, and technologies. Since 2012 his practice has explored issues ranging from the aggressive redevelopment of London, to the systemic inequalities of the art world. Recent works include Shadows of the State, which examines the democratic deficit of intelligence gathering, and Wv.B which examines the dark histories of space exploration. He is currently working on a long-term project about computer vision which runs in parallel with an ESRC funded PhD at the London School of Economics. He is also course leader of the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography (online) course at London College of Communication.

Chloe Juno
UK
,

Curator, creative consultant, visual artist, documentary Researcher, and Co-Lead Documenting Britain, project manager, producer, photographer, and photo editor with a real love of photography and life stories. Primary focus documentary photography with 15 years experience as a photo editor and project manager editing award-winning photography. Current long-term photo project ‘Someones Rubbish’ 5 years of daily photos looking at life now via the objects people discard.

Laura Pannack
UK
,
London

London-based photographic artist. Renowned for her portraiture and social documentary work, she seeks to explore the complex relationship between subject and photographer. Her work has been extensively exhibited and published worldwide, including at The National Portrait Gallery, The Houses of Parliament, Somerset House and the Royal Festival Hall in London.

David Lintern
UK
,
Kingussie

Photojournalist and writer working across the outdoor and environmental sectors, with over a decade of experience creating stories for organisations and magazines including National Trust for Scotland, Visit Cairngorms, John Muir Trust, BBC, the Guardian, Slow Ways as well as most of the UK outdoor press. I’m particularly interested in the links between place and people, and between natural and cultural history. David also works privately as a photo tutor and guide across the Highlands, and the author of The Big Rounds.

Zak Dimirtov
UK
,
London

Photographic artist, writer and educator Having successfully completed an MA in Photography Arts at the University of Westminster and a BA (Hons) Photography at the Arts University Bournemouth, he is now pursuing a PGCE in Art and Design at UCL Institute of Education. Zak’s practice is concerned with memory, mortality, loss, and time. He has worked at various art schools, universities, galleries and photo labs as well as contributed to written publications (ASX, Der Greif, Paper Journal, and others).

Stories worth seeing

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Thanks to passionate storytellers, we learn about matters that otherwise stay neglected. Stories that matter, but have not been covered enough are captured and told by passion-driven photographers and journalists.

They create because they care about the world they live in and tell us about matters beyond our eyesight.Their work is often driven by pure enthusiasm, fuelled by own beliefs and dreams for a better world. That's why such independent work is worth special attention.

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