Photography and Creative Writing Masterclass

Hrair Sarkissian is a photographer. Born in Damascus, he earned his foundational training at his father’s photographic studio, where he spent all his childhood vacations and where he worked full-time for twelve years after high school. In 2010 he completed a BFA in Photography at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. He lives and works in London since 2011.

He has exhibited widely, internationally in both group and solo shows at Tate Modern (London); New Museum (New York); Darat Al Funun (Amman); Mori Art Museum (Tokyo); SALT Beyoglu (Istanbul); Thessaloniki Biennale; Sharjah Biennial; Istanbul Biennial; Asia Pacific Triennial (Brisbane) among many others. In 2013 he won the Abraaj Group Art Prize. Hrair Sarkissian is represented by Kalfayan Galleries, Greece.

Rachel Long is a poet, curator and facilitator. She was awarded a Jerwood/Arvon Mentorship in 2015. Her poems have featured in Magma, The London Magazine and The Honest Ulsterman. She is Assistant Tutor on the Barbican Young Poets programme, and is the leader of Octavia – poetry collective for women of colour at Southbank Centre, London. Octavia have featured on BBC World Service, performed at Women of the World and The London Literature Festival, and have run poetry workshops at Oxford University and for The Serpentine Galleries. Inspired by Octavia, Rachel has curated ‘Telling Her Story’, an open workshop series for women of colour, hosted and in partnership with Southbank Centre.