EMILE HOLBA
Journal

Here you will find behind the scenes snippets, vigenttes and occasional deep dive into my projects and commissions.


Hasselblad Award 2024 awarded to Ingrid Pollard

Within the rich, illustrative chronicles of the United Kingdom’s photographic evolution, Ingrid Pollard’s contribution stands proud.

From her seminal work, Pastoral Interlude (first published in 1988) that challenged the way English culture places black people in cities, to her major retrospective Carbon Slowly Turning (debuting in 2022) Ingrid’s work as a photographer, media artist and researcher is finally being embraced on an international stage.

This year the Hasselblad Foundation announced that Ingrid Pollard is their 2024 Hasselblad Award laureate. To my surprise and delight, I learnt that Ingrid requested that my portrait to used accompany the esteemed award’s press release and media pack. Read the Foundation announcement hasselbladfoundation.org/en/hasselblad-award-winner-2024

Huge congratulations Ingrid, and thank you again for trusting my eye. 



The portrait came from a series I made with Ingrid at her house in London. We had a lovely few hours together chosing outfits and poses, with a couple of daring ones thrown in the mix (yes, there is a drop of around 12 ft behind her on the wall - see the pictures at the end of this post). The inital series from an upstairs bedroom with window light and a single reflector really resonated though.

If you would like to read about my time with Ingrid in and around her studio in the wilds of deep, dark Northumberland on the Scottish border, then see my Jounral post RA Magazine Ingrid Pollard.


Below features a few more pictures from our day at Ingrid’s London home.



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