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BIO

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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, Stellenbosch 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.

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

Exhibitions

In Borrowed Carbon           
Glen Carlou Gallery

Stellenbosch, South Africa
Solo exhibition  


 2023

Cyanima              
Glen Carlou Gallery

Stellenbosch, South Africa
Group exhibition  


 2022

Dreams In Blue                
Dubai World Expo 2020

Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Group exhibition

 
2021

KATABASIS               
Bloomsbury Festival

London, UK
Short film premiere  


 2021

Stampin' In The Graveyard                      Knaive Theatre: Digital Lyceum, London
Group exhibition  


 2020

Pixelscape                       
Goldsmiths College, University of London

Group exhibition  

 

2020

Music x Art: Goodensemble                  Bloomsbury Festival
London

Group exhibition  

2020

Between The Soil And The Sky           William Goodenough House

London

Solo exhibition  


 2019

One Shot

Kolga Photo Week,

Tbilisi, Georgia

Group exhibition  


 2018

I.N.C.L.U.S.I.ON                   
Tbilisi Photo Festival

Tbilisi, Georgia

Group exhibition  


 2018

Grand Opening                      
Fotografia Gallery

Tbilisi, Georgia 

Group exhibition  


 2017

Grow/Conserve                     
Casa Saraceni Gallery 
Bologna,
Italy

Group exhibition  


 2017

Manhood For Amateurs                   
Grey Area Gallery

Cape Town, South Africa 

Solo exhibition  


 2016

THROUGH THE SURFACE                
Barrydale Analogue Photo Festival
Barrydale, South Africa
Solo exhibition   


 2022

Spring Exhibition                
Glen Carlou Gallery

Stellenbosch, South Africa
Group exhibition  


 2022

VICE UK Graduate exhibition               Photo Book Cafe 
London

Group exhibition  


 2021

AFTERTHOUGHT                
Barrydale Analogue Photo Festival
Barrydale, South Africa
Solo exhibition and book launch  


 2021

RE/MEMORY                 
Oxford University

Oxford, UK
Group exhibition  


 2021

Dreams in Blue                      
William Goodenough House 

London

Solo exhibition  


 2020

Romantic Remnants          
Bloomsbury Festival
London

Group exhibition  


 2019

Full English Breakfast             
Goldsmiths Film Festival
London

Short film premiere


2018

The Battlegrounds of Ukraine              Suwon Photo Festival, Suwon,
South Korea

Group exhibition  


 2018

Men Between Mountains                 Suwon Photo Festival, Suwon,
South Korea

Group exhibition  


2018

The Street Experience                     
Gallery Millepiani 

Rome

Group exhibition  


 2017

Grow/Conserve                     
Somerset House

London

Group exhibition  


 2017

Moving Asia                    
Photo Kathmandu Photography Festiva, Kathmandu, Nepal 

Group exhibition  


 2016

NGO Clients

  • UNDP Ukraine
    Photographed and interviewed women living in the conflict zone of Eastern Ukraine.
     

  • UNDP Georgia
    Selected as a photographer for UNDP Georgia's roster of content producers.
     

  • Save The Children
    Worked on a long-term photographic project about people living with disabilities in Georgia.
     

  • Operation Smile

    Documented the many stages of children undergoing cleft palate surgery on medical missions in Madagascar, South Africa and eSwatini.

     

  • Reach For A Dream Foundation

    Photographed outings for South Africa's premier charity for children with life threatening illnesses.

     

  • Saraswathi Education Centre

    Took portraits of school children receiving free education and food in Varanasi, India.

     

  • Gu Chu Sum Institute

    Interviewed and photographed former political prisoners fleeing Tibet and finding refuge in Dharamsala, India.

     

  • Elva

    Collaborated with Elva, a data-driven humanitarian consultancy, while working on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

     

  • The Learning Initiative

    Produced images for press and annual reports for a NPO centred on childhood development in South Africa.

     

  • WeCode24

    Photographed workshops for a coding initiative for underserved South African learners.

     

  • CENN

    Provided photographs of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) campaigns across Georgia.

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