In the Company of Strangers British Journal of Photography May 2019 Issue

May Issue: In the Company of Strangers

For our annual community issue, we return to the subject of photographing communities, focusing on the ideas and strategies behind four very different approaches employed by outsiders looking in.

Our cover photograph is from a collaborative project between photographer Nadine Stijns, curator Amal Alhaag and the people of Somaliland. Working closely with the community, The Anarchist Citizenship attempts to give Somalilanders agency over their own image.

Travelling around the US on special occasions such as the Mardi Gras in New Orleans or St Patrick’s Day in Des Moines, George Georgiou’s latest body of work, American Parades, comprises photographs of crowds celebrating their tribal identities.

Elsewhere, Jonathan Torgovnik returns to Rwanda to photograph mothers with their sons and daughters, conceived as a result of the systematic rape of Huti women during the genocide 25 years ago. We also feature Cansu Yildiran, a young Turkish photographer who discusses her own search for identity through the community her parents grew up in, and her adopted family among the subcultures of Istanbul.

Allie Haeusslein meets Alec Soth, whose latest work embraces the ambiguities of photographing strangers, and makes a virtue of them, while our chosen Projects look at groups with different approaches to communal living – in Canada, India, and a set of islands in the North Sea.

For Any Answers, we feature writer and curator David Campany, who argues that “All true learning is really self-taught.” Our Creative Brief is Veronica Ditting, who gives her take on commissioning work for The Gentlewoman. For Agenda, we preview this year’s World Press Photo Festival.

Elsewhere, we feature interviews with Ángel Luis González – founder of PhotoIreland Foundation in Dublin – and Iain McKell who discusses his latest book, New Girl Order. Plus we look at a handy new lighting panel from BrightCast, and bring you the latest tech announcements from CP+ in Yokohama, Japan.