East Meets West 2020 is formed of 14 emerging photographers wishing to broaden their perspectives and push the boundaries of their personal development. In this FORMAT21 fringe exhibition, practitioners show work explored and developed during the 2019-2020 masterclass programme.

East Meets West is a professional development programme open to practitioners based nationally. It is ran by QUAD, Derby, FORMAT International Photography Festival and GRAIN, and supported by Arts Council England, Birmingham City University and the University of Derby. During the masterclass sessions, industry and art form leaders shared their knowledge and practical advice on developing a successful career.

In 2020, the masterclass programme included group portfolio review sessions where reviewers Abbas Zahedi, Colin Pantall, Clare Strand, Louise Fedotov-Clements, Max Barnett, Mahtab Hussain, Monica Allende, Natasha Caruana, Peta Murphy, and Tom Seymour, provided feedback regarding work and current projects. Building upon this feedback, the group used the assigned budget to create a self directed outcome. Sadly, plans for the exhibition during the FORMAT off-year were cancelled due to Covid-19 and instead an online platform was built showcasing individual works and the East Meets West 2020 publication. A year on, the collective have now taken their exhibition online as part of FORMAT21 with the support of QUAD and FORMAT.

With many thanks to GRAIN, QUAD, Derby and FORMAT International Photography Festival for this incredible opportunity. Thank you to all of the masterclass speakers and artists who took time to inspire and support us in our work.

Co-curated by Mark Hobbs, Andy Pilsbury, Sammie Masters-Hopkins and Emily Jones