Unsplash+ Emerging Talent Award 2024

For the second year, we collaborated with the London College of Communication (LCC) post-graduation show to honor three outstanding students with the Unsplash+ Emerging Talent Award. This award celebrates rising photographers by spotlighting exceptional student talent.

Meet the finalists

Here are this year's three Unplash+ Emerging Talent Award winners from the MA Commercial Photography program.

“Artists and their Tools” by Sarah Larby

"These objects, worn by use, tell a story of the physical and emotional investment embedded in each artist’s work. Larby captures their evolving nature, as these tools change and develop alongside the artist’s practice. Though they are physical objects, their appearance is transitory, shaped by years of use. In this way, the series serves as an ethnographic record, freezing a specific moment in each artist’s career.

Alongside the typological series, artist portraits provide context to the tools displayed. Accompanying the project are two books: Artists and Their Tools, which explores the beauty of these everyday objects, and The Index, a companion volume containing artist portraits and linking these portraits back to the objects featured in the first book. Reuniting the objects with their owner, you can start to see how unique and important each artist's tools are to their own practice."
— Sarah Larby

Contact: salarby@gmail.com
Socials & Portfolio

“The Spaces In Between” by Line-Teta Blémont

"This project explores themes of memory, nostalgia, and dreams. It speaks to the mundane and banal moments of daily life that we often overlook, but are full of meaning. Line-Teta Blémont addresses the complexity of her memories, and the inextricable links between memories to dreams. The photographer seeks to express something intangible by staging scenes in which participants become actors. She aims to convey the emotional connection she has with the idea behind each photograph."
— Line-Teta Blémont

Contact: ltblemont@gmail.com
Socials & Portfolio

“Heavy is the Crown” by Shayma Salah

"Shayma Salah’s Heavy Is The Crown offers a conceptual examination of hair’s commodification, exploring its physical and psychological facets while critiquing how culture objectifies and idealizes hair as a ‘product’ symbolizing beauty and worth. Through self-reflection on her experience of coming into womanhood with alopecia, Salah confronts her deep-seated desire for ‘perfect’ hair growing up and examines the broader societal obsession with hair as a marker of femininity. She peels back the emotional and psychological weight that she and countless women bear due to these pressures, illuminating the powerful impact hair holds on our identity and sense of self-worth."
— Shayma Salah

Contact: hello@shaymasalah.com
Socials 

Interested in partnering with Unsplash for Education? Reach out, we’d love to make magic happen — partnerships@unsplash.com