Sebastian Vaida

Based in Chisinau, Moldova, Natalia Ciobanu is an internationally recognized photographer specializing in portraits and travel photography. With over 18 years of experience, she masterfully blends color and emotion, crafting images that tell profound human stories. Her work has been exhibited across Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine and has earned prestigious awards, including Gold Winner at the London Photography Awards, Finalist in the Smithsonian Contest, and distinctions from Nikon Photo Contest and Trierenberg Super Circuit. For Natalia, photography is more than just capturing moments; it’s about telling stories, connecting with people, and celebrating the beauty of the world in all its diversity. Each photograph she creates is an exploration of humanity and a tribute to the colors that define our lives.

Clare Lyons (b.1993) is an artist and photographer working between Belfast and Dublin. Considering the photograph as an object is integral to Clare’s practice. Her work often employs methods borrowed from sculpture and printmaking to draw attention to this, blurring the lines of what photography is or can be. Clare’s practice has been largely autobiographical, focusing on deeply personal themes and stories of healing and catharsis in the face of trauma and mental illness. Recent works represent a transitory phase for Clare as her practice shifts and changes, no longer confined to being the subject of her own work. Clare was one of five Irish Talents selected by PhotoIreland for the FUTURES European Photography Platform in 2021, and in 2022 represented Ireland at 'Visage(s) d'Europe' curated by Collectif Fetart in Paris. Clare presented her debut solo exhibition 'To Jack' at The Limerick Museum in October 2024.

Tony Dočekal (1992, Amsterdam) is a photographer and visual artist whose work focuses on identity, belonging, and the shared human condition. Her practice is shaped by encounters with individuals and communities on the road, with a particular interest in the resilience and adaptability of people living on society’s margins. Her first monograph, The Color of Money and Trees, explores the tension between material success and deeper fulfillment, asking if true prosperity lies in community and self-awareness rather than wealth and possessions. The series includes Chad on Skid Row, which won the Zilveren Camera Portrait Award in 2021, and Lyric at El Pais, a portrait of a young girl living off the grid in Arizona. The work navigates the balance between societal expectations and individual freedom. Tony’s debut short film, Pearls on Credit, reflects on how personal identity is shaped by broader economic systems and societal expectations. Shown alongside an installation of The Color of Money and Trees at Biennale Images Vevey, it deepens Tony’s exploration of the pressures individuals face in navigating these structures. Tony holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from ArtEZ University of the Arts and has received recognition, including the Olympus Young Talent Award and De Burgemeester de Bruinprijs.

Maria Høy Hansen, b. 1995, is a Danish photojournalist with a BA from the Danish School of Media & Journalism. Through in-depth photography, her self-chosen work mainly focuses on systemic stories about human rights issues and ideology. Working with sensitive topics Maria’s work always starts with considerations of the lives of people in front of her and her role in portraying them.

Andreas Hopfgarten (b. 1987) is a German visual artist and photographer based in Reykjavik, Iceland. His research-based practice explores the intersection of personal and collective histories. Through intuitive storytelling, his work incorporates film, sculpture, and installation techniques, creating multi-layered narratives. Hopfgarten’s projects often reflect on memory, identity, and the cultural forces that shape them. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK Hamburg; Prof. Simon Denny) in 2023 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the same institution in 2020 (Prof. Simon Denny). His academic background also includes a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design from the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) and a diploma in photography from the Photo+Media Forum Kiel. His work has been exhibited internationally in notable venues and festivals, including the Haus der Photographie, Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, NRW Forum in Düsseldorf, Goethe-Institut Nicosia in Cyprus, the Voies OFF Festival in Arles, and the Einar Jónsson Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland. Hopfgarten has been recognized with several awards, such as the Claussen-Simon Foundation Fellowship (2019/2020) and the gute aussichten – junge deutsche fotografie (2016/2017).

Visvaldas Morkevicius (b. 1990) is a Lithuanian artist s a Lithuanian artist working in the expanded field of the image, who explores photography and its boundaries through personal experiences and reflections on society. His work navigates themes of identity, technology, and power, blending minimalism with layered narratives to examine modern life’s emotional and psychological dimensions. At this moment, he is pursuing his MA diploma in Photography at EACL, Switzerland (2025). Visvaldas works reflect a deep engagement with contemporary life's emotional and psychological dimensions, examining how hyperconnectivity, media saturation, and systemic forces shape human perception, memory, and agency. The artist's approach is both critical and reflective. He uses photography and interdisciplinary media to explore themes of loss, disconnection, and resilience, juxtaposing personal experience with broader societal dynamics. His art often reveals the tension between intimacy and detachment, questioning how technology mediates relationships, reframes violence, and commodifies identity. Visvaldas draws from psychoanalysis and critical theory to investigate the cycles of desire, control, and addiction embedded in modern systems. He is particularly interested in how these systems exploit human vulnerability, trapping individuals in loops of consumption and obedience. Through his practice, he challenges viewers to confront the fragile balance between autonomy and control, reality and hyperreality.His work combines stark minimalism with layered narratives, creating immersive experiences that invite reflection on contemporary life's emotional and ethical implications. Visvaldas seeks to uncover hidden connections, offering a lens through which to question the forces that shape our lives while exploring the human desire for meaning, connection, and self-expression. Represented by Galerie Elisabeth & Reinhard Hauff

Ana-Cristina IRIAN is a visual arts researcher, curator, and research-based artist who works with collections, photo archives, and multimedia materials. She studied sociology (Trento&Regensburg) and visual anthropology (Bucharest&Perugia). She holds a PhD in visual arts at UNARTE. Her artistic practice is developed under the motto No one left behind. It consists of the production of photo-objects and working with marginal/hidden objects and photographs, together with research materials transformed into photo-video installations reflecting the life of unknown people. Cristina participated in over 35 exhibitions in Romania and abroad, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Portugal, and Hungary. Cristina's recent projects focus on interpreting memory objects and integrating photographic material into contemporary spaces through visual installations. Notable displays include her contribution to Fragmentum at Palatele Brâncovenești and Here they lived at Carol 53 and the International Visual Art Biennale Brașov (2021, 2023). Cristina has published studies in Anthropology of East Europe Review, Indiana University; History of Communism in Europe, IICCMER; Studies and History Articles, Romanian Society of Historical Sciences; Romanian Contemporary Photography Influx; Revelar, Universidade do Porto. She is also the author of "Photographic collections and archives today, in the digital world," published by Tritonic.

Florian Gatzweiler (*1998) is a German artist whose work deals with identity, violence and images of masculinity. His projects are characterized by an empathetic examination of personal and social issues, which he often explores in a photographic context. He combines documentary approaches with staged elements to create multi-layered and complex narratives in which he attempts to do justice to the themes and problems of his work. During his studies at the Ostkreuzschule für Fotografie, which he completed in 2024 under the direction of Irina Ruppert, he exhibited several times, including at EMOP Berlin and Paris Photo. His awards include a scholarship from the Socio-Culture Fund and the Paris Photo Young Talent Award.