Varvara Uhlik – Sunshine, How Are You?

In this intimate and visually poetic series, Varvara Uhlik explores childhood memories and the lasting impact of Soviet heritage on identity. Growing up in eastern Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Uhlik reflects on the contradictions between joyful childhood moments and the persistent weight of inherited values and traumas. Through photography, she pieces together fragments of memory to reconstruct a sense of self, femininity, and cultural belonging. The work speaks to a generation navigating post-Soviet disorientation while reclaiming Ukrainian identity in the shadow of ongoing war and colonial legacy.

Alba Ruiz Lafuente – For the leisure of working insects

With sharp irony and visual inventiveness, Alba Ruiz Lafuente imagines leisure spaces not for humans, but for insects—tireless workers and silent witnesses to our hyper-capitalist landscapes. Her project critiques the artificial promises of happiness offered by exaggerated urban architecture and consumer culture. By creating surreal, insect-sized leisure worlds, she exposes the absurdity of a society where even rest is commodified. Through this playful yet poignant inversion, Ruiz Lafuente holds up a mirror to our relationship with work, pleasure, and the spectacle of excess.

Rodrigo Koraicho – Beach Epiphany

Set against the vibrant and paradoxical backdrop of Miami Beach, Rodrigo Koraicho’s long-term project delves into the intersection of identity, capitalism, and the environment. Beach Epiphany captures the beauty and contradictions of a shoreline where climate crisis, real estate ambition and social tension converge. Through candid observational photography, Koraicho reflects on the beach as both a democratic space and a site of disparity, where the sun shines equally on all yet cultural and economic divides remain stark. His work invites viewers to look beyond the surface of leisure and discover subtle truths in everyday life.

Karla Hiraldo Voleau – you can have it all (in return for everything)

Blending photography, performance, and personal ritual, Karla Hiraldo Voleau’s project explores themes of intimacy, self-image, and healing. You Can Have It All began as a confrontation with body dysmorphia through playful self-portraiture and continued years later as a revisitation shaped by heartbreak and transformation. Drawing from feminist legacies, the work reclaims the body as a space of resistance and reinvention. Through repetition, nature-based rituals, and radical self-acceptance, Hiraldo Voleau turns vulnerability into agency — and joy into a political, empowering force.

This project was awarded the Jury Award, supported by the Artphilein Foundation. It includes prize money of CHF 1,500, an exhibition at Artphilein Focus in Lugano and a publication in the Cahier series.

Amelie Schüle

Director of Photoforum Pasquart in Biel/Bienne

Amelie Schüle has been the Director of Photoforum Pasquart in Biel/Bienne since 2023. In this role, she oversees a dynamic program dedicated to supporting emerging and mid-career photographers while promoting contemporary photography. Her work focuses on the intersection of artistic production, culture, and society, with an emphasis on empowering people to actively engage with social structures, politics, and their surroundings. Before joining Photoforum Pasquart, Amelie worked at Foam Photography Museum and Unseen in Amsterdam, where she curated exhibitions, developed public programming, and supported emerging talents. She also has experience in the gallery sector in Switzerland. Amelie holds a master’s degree in Curatorial Studies from the Zurich University of the Arts. Beyond her institutional roles, she is actively involved in the photography community, participating in portfolio reviews, mentoring artists, and guest lecturing.

Anna Konstantinova

Curator and Gallery Manager at Lullin + Ferrari Gallery

Anna Konstantinova (*1990, RU) is a Zurich-based curator specializing in contemporary photography, post-photography, and curating in digital spaces. She is the Curator and Gallery Manager at Lullin + Ferrari Gallery and is responsible for art and architecture projects at the Canton of Zurich. Anna is also part of the team at Screen Walks, a collaborative project by Fotomuseum Winterthur and The Photographers’ Gallery that investigates the evolving role of photographic images in networked and digital spaces. Additionally, she is a member of the pool collective, a self-organized group of artists and creatives in Zurich working in photography, and serves on the committee of near.association, which promotes contemporary Swiss photography and fosters critical discourse in the field.

Arianna Rinaldo

Independent curator, photo consultant and freelance photo editor 

Arianna Rinaldo is a freelance professional working with photography at a wide range. From 2012 to 2021, she was the artistic director of Cortona On The Move, international festival of visual narrative. She is the co-founder and curator of photography at PhEST, a festival on contemporary photography and arts in Puglia since 2016. Arianna’s relationship with photography started in 1998 as Archive Director at Magnum Photos, NY; and then, back in Italy, as photo editor for Colors magazine. From 2004 to 2011, in Milan, she worked as an editorial consultant and curator for exhibitions and special projects. For 4 years she was a photo consultant at D, the weekend supplement of La Repubblica. For almost 10 years she was the director of Ojode Pez, a bilingual documentary photo quarterly published by La Fabrica in Madrid. Based in Barcelona since 2012, Arianna is active as a curator, teacher, editor and consultant. She participates in photo events and festivals around the world as guest curator, speaker, educator and portfolio reviewer; and is regularly invited on jury panels and selection committees for international institutions and organizations. Arianna is intrigued by the amazing stories told through images. She is interested in contemporary documentary and original storytelling: visions on the current world and stories of humankind living on this planet, and beyond.

Caterina De Pietri

Director of the De Pietri Artphilein Foundation 

Caterina De Pietri is the director of the De Pietri Artphilein Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to contemporary art and philosophy, with a particular interest in photography. In 2013 she founded the publishing house Artphilein Editions, focused on photobooks and artists’ books. In 2019 she opened the public library, Artphilein Library, in Lugano. In 2021-22 she inauguretes the exhibition spaces Focus and La Piscina. She graduated in law from the University of Zurich; from 1986 until 2005 she was a lawyer and public notary in Lugano. Today she is still active as an international legal consultant.

Margherita Guerra

Founder and director of Fotofestival Lenzburg

After earning a M.A. degree in Theology in Milan, she specialized in Publishing and Photography. She worked as a copyright manager and picture editor for several publishing houses and spent nearly a decade at the Alinari Archive in Florence, the world’s oldest still active photo archive. After relocating to Switzerland in 2013, she founded Yourpictureditor, an agency specializing in picture research and copyright clearances, supporting various publishing houses in Switzerland and Italy. In 2017, she launched the Fotofestival Lenzburg in her hometown, which has since grown into a recognized event in the photography community, fostering international artistic collaborations and partnerships. She curates exhibitions and regularly serves on international juries for photography awards. 

Tim Clark

Editor in Chief of 1000 Words

Alongside the magazine, Tim is also Artistic Director for Fotografia Europea in Reggio Emilia, Italy, together with Walter Guadagnini, Director of CAMERA, Torino and Luce Lebart, curator, historian and researcher at The Archive of Modern Conflict (named as ‘Photo Festival of the Year‘ at the Lucie Awards 2022). He has previously been involved in a wide range of projects including curatorial advisor for the Discovery section of Photo London 2022 and 2023 and adjunct curator on Masculinities: Liberation through Photography (2020-22) at the Barbican Centre London, an exhibition which travelled to Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Les Rencontres d’Arles and FOMU Antwerp.