JESSICA BISHOPP

Jessica Bishopp was born in South East England. She experiments with a wide range of media, including film, installation, photography and design. She graduates this year from BA Design for Interaction and Moving Image, at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Jessica’s work has universal themes embedded in daily lives and thoughts, studying basic human interactions and habits, exposing the magic in the mundane. Her short film ‘Speed’ was shown at the BFI, and her work has been exhibited in London at L.C.C., the Bussey Building and the Science Museum. She has lived and worked in New York and The Netherlands and currently resides in London,
United Kingdom.

Photograph by Anna Njie

Photograph by Anna Njie

Photograph by Kaddy Bah

Photograph by Kaddy Bah

See What I See

See What I See is a collection of personal photographic insights into African life through the eyes of 18 Gambian students. The photographs are a result of several photography workshops that took place in The Gambia, which I organised and taught. In the first workshop, over 60 large images by iconic photographers aided discussion of the techniques employed by photographers to capture the attention and the imagination of the audience including visual techniques such as colour and composition. However, it was the aspect of how to tell a story and show expression through a photograph that was the main focus. After the workshops, all the students were given an open brief and a disposable film camera to use over 4 days and See What I See is the result!

These photographs show an insight into the Gambian students’ lives that an outsider could never capture. The photographs are intimate and candid, and each comes with a personal explanation of why they took the image and why it is important to them, bringing a new perspective to images of Africa from the inside and not the usual outside looking in.

The photographs were exhibited in London in September 2013, the exhibition was funded by O2 Telefonica and the London College of Communication. The photographs are also published in a photobook entitled See What I See.

Photograph by Lamin Manga

Photograph by Lamin Manga

Photograph by Sohna Jatta

Photograph by Sohna Jatta

Photograph by Fatou Joof

Photograph by Fatou Joof

Photograph by Amie Touray

Photograph by Amie Touray

Photograph by Yassin Suso

Photograph by Yassin Suso

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Jessica_Bishopp_09_o

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To view more of Jessica’s work please visit her website and purchase the book See What I See.