BIO

Photo by Jean du Preez
I'm a visual artist, photographer, filmmaker, writer and lecturer, currently based in South Africa. I'm motivated to produce work that blends storytelling elements from my documentary photojournalist background with an abstract artistic nature that seeks to explore the unconscious.
I have worked as freelance photojournalist in Tbilisi, Georgia where I covered stories in the greater Caucuses region and in several post-Soviet states, including Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
I was awarded a Chevening Scholarship and hold a MA in Photography: The Image & The Electronic Arts with distinction from Goldsmiths, University of London. Here I learned to extend my photography practice into the spheres of filmmaking, animation, analogue photography, portraiture and mixed media art.
My photographs have been published in BBC News, VICE, GQ, Men’s Health, OZY and Huck Magazine, as well as in media outlets in Italy, the Netherlands, China, Portugal and Russia.
My photographic projects have been exhibited at the Somerset House Gallery in London and Casa Saraceni Gallery in Bologna, Italy as part of the Syngenta Photography Award. My work has also been shown in galleries in Rome, Dubai, Oxford, Cape Town, Kathmandu, Odessa, Suwon and Tbilisi.
I have worked for the United Nations Development Programme Ukraine – covering conflict-affected communities in the eastern Ukraine – and for a variety of NGOs in South Africa, Madagascar, Swaziland, India, Georgia and Ukraine, including UNDP Georgia, Operation Smile and Save the Children.
I've produced several acclaimed short films, music videos, a television commercial and a photobook..
My personal work is largely driven by analogue techniques of image-making, including 19th century printing methods, hand-drawn animation and film photography.
I'm especially interested in the analogue photographic process and alternative printing methods as a means of disrupting the passive manner of consuming digital imagery.
If you'd like to get in touch for commissions, assignments or collaborations, you're in luck because I have been saving all my best photographs for you.
Email me at ianmcnaughtd@gmail.com and let's work together.
Exhibitions
AFTERTHOUGHT
Barrydale Analogue Photo Festival
Barrydale, South Africa
Exhibition and book launch
2021
VICE UK Graduate exhibition Photo Book Cafe
London
Group exhibition
2021
Dreams in Blue
William Goodenough House, London
Solo exhibition
2020
Pixelscape
Goldsmiths College, University of London
Group exhibition
2020
Between The Soil And The Sky
William Goodenough House, London
Solo exhibition
2019
The Battlegrounds of Ukraine Suwon Photo Festival, Suwon,
South Korea
Group exhibition
2018
One Shot
Kolga Photo Week, Tbilisi, Georgia
Group exhibition
2018
The Street Experience
Gallery Millepiani, Rome
Group exhibition
2017
Grand Opening
Fotografia Gallery, Tbilisi, Georgia
Group exhibition
2017
RE/MEMORY
Oxford University
Oxford, UK
Group exhibition
2021
KATABASIS
Bloomsbury Festival
London, UK
Short film premiere
2021
Stampin' In The Graveyard Knaive Theatre: Digital Lyceum, London
Group exhibition
2020
Music x Art: Goodensemble
Bloomsbury Festival
London
Group exhibition
2020
Romantic Remnants
Bloomsbury Festival
London
Group exhibition
2019
Full English Breakfast
Short film screened at
Goldsmiths Film Festival
London
Group exhibition
2018
Men Between Mountains Suwon Photo Festival, Suwon,
South Korea
Group exhibition
2018
I.N.C.L.U.S.I.ON
Tbilisi Photo Festival, Tbilisi, Georgia
Group exhibition
2018
Grow/Conserve
Somerset House, London
Group exhibition
2017
Moving Asia
Photo Kathmandu photography festival, Kathmandu, Nepal
Group exhibition
2016
Grow/Conserve
Casa Saraceni Gallery
Bologna, Italy
Group exhibition
2017
Manhood For Amateurs
Grey Area Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Solo exhibition
2016
Editorial publications
VICE
BBC News
OZY
GQ
HUCK Magazine
Men’s Health
The New Humanitarian
Chai Khana
Elsevier Juist (Netherlands)
P3 (Portugal)
Lenta (Russia)
Getaway Magazine
Go! Magazine
Life Force Magazine
Internazionale (Italy)
Sunday Independent
Between 10 and 5
TheDifferent.tv
Edge Of Humanity Magazine
The Superbalist
Daily Nation
NGO Clients
UNDP (Ukraine)
Operation Smile (Madagascar, South Africa, Swaziland)
Save The Children (Georgia)
The Gu Chu Sum Institute (India)
Ubuntu Africa: (South Africa)
Elva (The Netherlands)
Ikamva Labantu (South Africa)
CENN (Georgia)
Reach For A Dream Foundation (South Africa)