In episode 217 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on the definition of contemporary photography, avoiding labels and he announces a new addition to the A Photographic Life broadcasts.

Plus this week photographer Jillian Edelstein takes on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which she answer’s the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?’

London based Jillian Edelstein began working as a press photographer in Johannesburg, South Africa. and studied photojournalism at London College of Communications after graduating from The University of Cape Town, B.Soc.Sc in Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology Social Work. Between 1996 and 2002 she returned to South Africa frequently to document the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Her award winning book of the work Truth and Lies was published in 2002. Edelstein's portraits have appeared internationally in publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The FT Weekend Magazine, Vanity Fair, Interview, Vogue, The Guardian Weekend, The Sunday Times Magazine, Time, Fortune, Forbes, GQ and Esquire. Her work has also been exhibited internationally including at the National Portrait Gallery, The Photographers' Gallery, The Royal Academy, Sothebys, Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in France, Bensusan Museum, Robben Island Museum in South Africa and Dali International Photography Festival, Yunnan Province, China. She has received several awards including the Kodak UK Young Photographer of the Year, Photographers' Gallery Portrait Photographer of the Year Award, the Visa d’Or at the International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan in 1997, the European Final Art Polaroid Award in 1999, the John Kobal Book Award 2003 and included in The Taylor Wessing Portrait Award on two occasions and the AI-AP Archive in 2008 and 2015. Edelstein was the winner in Latin American Fotografia 4 2015, has been included in World Press Awards on two occasions. Jillian was voted on the ‘Hundred Heroines’ list of women from across the world who are transforming photography today in 2018. She lives in London and is currently working on several photographic projects including a film documentary about the screenwriter Norman Wexler. www.jillianedelstein.com

Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019).

©Grant Scott 2022