I'm delighted to share that my cyanotype series And So I Watch You From Afar has received the 2026 Denis Roussel Award from Rfotofolio.
The award was founded in 2018 to honour the legacy of the photographer and educator Denis Roussel. It celebrates photographers working with historical and alternative photographic processes. This year's juror was Christopher James, author of The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes, whose writing has shaped so much of the field. His careful and generous engagement with my work means a great deal to me.
And So I Watch You From Afar explores the relationship between historical and alternative photographic processes and the climate emergency. The images are made without a camera: I use the iron-based cyanotype process together with polluted seawater, acid rain and sunlight. As the seawater evaporates, salt crystals form on the surface of the prints, so the pieces are alive, changing and probably impermanent. That impermanence is part of what the work is about.
Christopher's response to the series was incredibly moving to read. He described the work as "profoundly beautiful and a warning of tragic consequences," and said it was one of his favourites in this year's competition. He also offered thoughtful suggestions about scale, including showing a single image reproduced very large, which I'm excited to think about for future exhibitions.
My heartfelt thanks go to Connie and Jerry Rosenthal at Rfotofolio, to Christopher James, and to the Roussel family and Josephine Sacabo for their continued support of the award. Congratulations as well to this year's other recipients: Mitch Eckert, Işık Kaya & Thomas Georg Blank, Amy Lovera, Seth Adam Cook, Sarah Ketelaars, Sergiy Ledediev and Ludovica Limido. It's an honour to be recognised alongside such inspiring work.
You can read the full announcement, including Christopher's juror statement, on the Rfotofolio website.