Biography

Sarah Maple was born in 1985. She completed a BA in Fine Art from Kingston University in 2007, and now lives in her native Sussex. In the same year she also won the ‘4 New Sensations’ competition for emerging artists, run by Charles Saatchi. Since then Sarah’s artwork, films and performances have been exhibited in New York, Canada, Israel and throughout Europe. ‘Not for the coy or faint of heart, these unflinching, occasionally even controversial, investigations into what it is to be a woman and a Muslim in 21st century Britain are made joyful by her own very personal brand of boisterous, tongue-in-cheek humour. This is not sensationalism for sensationalism’s sake, but rather a heart felt urge by a twenty-seven-year old artist of great sincerity and talent, for the viewer to look again, and this time with a more questioning eye, at traditionally accepted notions of identity, gender, culture and religion.’ -Beverley Knowles 2011

Artist statement

In my work I aim to make people question beliefs or ingrained attitudes/learned behaviour, almost without them realizing it. For me art is about trying to create social change. As well as this I try to be an activist in my everyday life. I feel that small gestures I do everyday can have a knock on affect to the world around me. In this piece ‘Inaction’ I had used a lyric from a Faithless song ‘Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction’ because I believe we are all responsible for change in our own individual way. In the piece the words dominate and the viewer is forced to look themselves in the eye.

Biography

Luciana Franzolin is a London based photojournalist and lecturer. Born in Brazil, she started a career as a press photographer in 1998, completing a BA in Journalism in 2000 and Post-Graduation in Photographic Practice and Discourse in 2001.Living in London since 2003, she has worked in a wide range of environments and assignments and completed her MA in Photojournalism at the University of Westminster, London, in 2009.

Very passionate about life, people and communication, Luciana currently works as director of training at London School of Photography and divides her time between the school and personal projects, increasingly concerning human rights and freedom.

She is a resident artist at Multigraphias, a multimedia art project including different formats and languages – mainly literature and photography – translating the poetic of the cities since 2008. Her images have been published in newspapers, books and magazines, and have been exhibited in Brazil and the UK.

Artist statement

The photograph presented on Passion for Freedom festival, taken at Tottenham Court Road Station in London, depicts a caricature of the two major religious groups today: Christianity and Islam.

The “Way Out” sign represents the photographer’s utopic desire for a world without religions, or, in the impossibility of that, the assurance of individual freedom to hold or reject beliefs and the total separation between church and state in all nations.

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion are closely related human rights that protect the freedom of an individual or community. The concept also includes the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion (Article 18 – Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

Even in considered “free countries”, like England, secularism or laicism (laïcité) is not a reality yet; the simplest example is that the Queen, as well as being Head of State is also Head of the Church of England, and Bishops sit in the House of Lords (second chamber of Parliament).

There are also estimated to be around 85 Sharia courts in the country. They operate mainly from mosques, settling financial and family disputes according to religious principles.

In London, Sharia law has been used even to decide a case of serious criminal assault. The courts, which also claim to cover matters such as marriage, divorce, domestic violence and child custody, take place in private and do not publish their judgments.

www.lucianafranzolin.co.uk