Jerwood Photoworks Awards 5

5 Thursday 7 May 2026, 18:00 – Saturday 4 July 2026, 17:00 Ffotogallery, Fanny Street, Cardiff, CF24 4EH Public Preview: Thursday 7 May, 6–8pm. All welcome.

The fifth Jerwood/Photoworks Awards bring two ambitious new bodies of work to Ffotogallery, presented as parallel solo exhibitions by awardees Roman Manfredi and Sayuri Ichida. The UK‑wide touring exhibition showcases expanded photography through still and moving image, sound and installation.

Both artists root their projects in specific landscapes while reflecting on wider social shifts. Each seeks to reveal what is often unseen: Ichida traces how subtle changes in the environment reshape community life, while Roman examines how people remain bound to places suspended in memory.

Roman’s series, TRA, occupies a liminal space — a state of transition and fluid identity. Through still and moving images, portraits, film and fragments, Roman travels through Napoli, a city caught between eras. The work explores intuitive, embodied connections between people, identity and place, where “masculine and feminine converge and dissolve” and categories blur into something elemental.

Ichida’s project, 空席 (Kūseki) — meaning “empty seats” — responds to Japan’s accelerating population decline, particularly in rural regions. Between 2002 and 2020, nearly 9,000 schools closed, with around 450 more shutting each year. As towns shrink and birth rates fall, once‑central school buildings sit abandoned, fading quietly from the landscape. Ichida’s presentation spans photography, collage, sound and sculptural installation to reflect this ongoing disappearance.

Launched in 2015, the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards are a major biennial commissioning opportunity for UK‑based artists using photography within the first ten years of their career. The awards support artists to create significant new work at a pivotal moment in their development. Previous recipients include Joanne Coates, Heather Agyepong, Silvia Rosi, Theo Simpson, Alejandra Carles‑Tolra, Sam Laughlin, Lúa Ribeira, Matthew Finn, Joanna Piotrowska and Tereza Zelenková.