A portfolio review is the best way to get a professional opinion on your work, especially for emerging artists. It is crucial to have a strong portfolio as it is usually the first thing a client looks at when choosing whether or not to hire one. Guidance and advice are beneficial when you're an emerging artist. The portfolio submitted should be a direct representation of the artist's voice and consist of a powerful edited body of work. Before attending the review, it is equally important to research your reviewer and create an edited body of work to match your reviewer's expertise.
My portfolio review session was with Julia Bunnemann, a curator based in Brighton, now working with Photoworks. Photoworks is an International online platform publically funded by Arts and Council England's national portfolio. Ere starting working as a curator, Bunnemann worked in Cultural politics in various galleries. She was part of the curatorial team for the 7th Triennial of Photography Hamburg. As preparation for the review session, I created a portfolio consisting of ten images along with a short bio. When critically analysing my portfolio, I felt the selected images, and the layout didn't do justice to my artistic voice. As it was my first time creating the portfolio, I wasn't sure what to include and exclude.
The portfolio review took place over a Zoom meeting. I had the projects that I wanted to talk about ready to share on my screen. Weak internet connectivity was a major problem as my call got disrupted a few times. Julia was amiable and started the review by talking about my ongoing project. Julia already was aware of the caste system and the brutalities related to it in India, which made the conversation more straightforward. I was pleased when she recognised my work from the Photoworks competition. Julia had the same opinion about my portfolio. She said it didn't completely do justice to my body of works and was very surprised to get a great impression from my Instagram profile but not the portfolio. She gave me useful advice about setting up a portfolio. This inspired me to create a portfolio mini-book.
I talked through a couple of my projects from the second year and the current one. Julia said it is a very intriguing and unique visual style. She appreciated me for taking such unprecedented and much-needed topics to work with. We had a great conversation about how cultural diversity can be a factor in creating unique projects. The only suggestion Julia had was to overlay the quotes next to the images to see the variety of patterns created. She was pleased with everything else used for the project. The conversation was only 35 minutes long as the internet connectivity from my side was weak, and it was not easy to continue the conversation without sharing my screen because the audio was breaking up when the screen was shared. Julia was kind enough to offer to give further advice on my project and new portfolio once it's completed.
I needed to create a new portfolio that was professional, well laid out and most importantly reflected my artistic voice. For this process, I carefully created a detailed mood board and preferred colour palettes. It was essential that I include images from a number of projects. Identifying the goal clearly and precisely before making the portfolio is critical. My goal was to create the same impression on seeing my portfolio when one views my Instagram profile. I had researched into designing and building a social media audience for the past two years, which is so far successful. To create an eye-catching portfolio, it is very crucial to maintain a contrasting colour palette. I used a website called Coolors to generate colour palettes that are contrasting to each other.
I arranged images according to the projects they belong to by keeping them adjacent. This made sure the images were connected and together created a narrative. I made sure I was npt going overboard with the number of images as this is a mini-portfolio book. Along with the works shot on a digital camera, I included medium format and 35mm images. I also added photoshop manipulations from my previous project.
When creating a portfolio, it is essential to make it easily accessible for your potential client to contact you. For that, I added two QR codes that lead to my website and Instagram account. QR codes are the most effortless way to direct the viewer to a website or a video. As google lens are widely available on the majority of phones, QR codes are preferred by professionals.
By following the instructions from Julia, I successfully created a portfolio, that is a true reflection of my artistic practice. During the portfolio review, we talked about my future projects and also the development of the project that I am working on. We had a conversation about the role of gender in the caste system and how it is helping the system to grow. I mentioned about my professional plans and how the change of location is helping me to collaborate and work on projects that are alien to me. By developing the current project, my ultimate aim is to make the women speak up against this inequality by making them aware of how caste system marginalises them, breaching human rights such as social, cultural and economic boundaries.
Julia also gave me several curatorial ideas when I mentioned how much I enjoy creating installations along with the photographs. To bring together the ideas to build an exhibition that is a replica of your imagination is not an easy job to do. I shared my experience of curating my exhibition at Plymouth College of Art. Julia was happy to see the videos and images from the show. She commented on how the design and the curatorial aspects brought together the reflection of the theme. I consider the experience of talking to a professional like Julia as one of the significant milestones in my career.