Contemporary Photographic Practice Alumni Heads West

Since graduating in 2008 Clarita has continued with the School, enhancing her professional Practice through our graduate fellowship scheme in 2009 before moving on to become an Artist Access to Colleges (AA2A) affiliate in 2010, a year in which Clarita also won the National Media Museum Photography Award. This has culminated with Clarita being awarded an Arts Council individual grant in 2011 before securing her place on the Fulbright exchange programme this year.

The Fulbright exchange programme between the UK and US was created in 1948 by the UK-US Educational (Fulbright) Commission and is designed to foster mutual cultural understanding through educational exchange between both nations. It is the only programme to offer scholarships for academic work in any subject with only 30 awarded each year to UK citizens and seeks to offer not only financial support but also a transformative cultural and academic experience.

This is a fantastic achievement by Clarita who gave us some more insight into her intended study, “Through my MFA project I would like to research Native American cultural and political history in order to create a body of work that engages with past and contemporary societies beliefs. I wish to experience first-hand the landscape of the ‘homelands’ and document my discovery through photography, performance and video.”

The Contemporary Photographic Practice programme has been designed to provide students with an understanding of the techniques, theories, research and contemporary usage of photography, within a wide social and cultural context. The subject itself is continually open to change and re-definition students have an important role in defining and exploring new directions in photographic practice. With this in mind, the Contemporary Photographic Practice degree helps students to develop the range of key skills necessary to be a photographer today and to be able to fully exploit the potential of lens-based practice.

Clarita has certainly benefitted from the course and is defining her practice while exploring new directions as she continues her development at Arizona State University which is itself a top 10 US postgraduate school for photography. Clarita went on to tell us, “I’m incredibly pleased to have the support of the Fulbright program to help me with my further study and grateful for the opportunity. My desire is to combine my interest in Native American philosophy with concepts of cultural ideals and the future of contemporary society. Through research and collaboration through my MFA I will represent the values of forgotten tribes and inspire viewers in an essential, delicate and yet powerful body of work. I’m excited about the possibilities of studying in the US and looking forward to exploring Native American Indian culture and representation.”

Clarita’s work can be viewed at www.claritalulic.com and for more information on BA (Hons) Contemporary Photographic Practice please visit: www.northumbria.ac.uk/courses