Six up–and–coming, young photographers from around the world have been selected for a unique mentorship programme with the renowned photographer, Annie Leibovitz, and IKEA.
“At IKEA we care about people and their life at home. We are always looking for new perspectives, and new voices to lift to the fore. The six final mentees that we chose showed passion and potential in their creative vision and their unique takes on what life at home means to them. In fact, we had originally planned to only select five mentees but the breadth of the talent and the opportunity to see life through even more lenses made it impossible to choose just five.”
– Marcus Engman, Creative Director at Ingka Group
After a competitive global open call in June, Annie Leibovitz and Marcus Engman, Creative Director at Ingka Group (IKEA Retail) made the final selection together. The final six mentees submitted work that showed their creativity and unique perspective on life at home, as well as their aspirations to pursue careers as photographers.
The six mentees are:
Ka’Vozia Glynn, 22, United States
Zélie Hallosserie, 19, France
Praise Hassan, 23, Nigeria
Toma Hurduc, 21, Romania
Elena Kalinichenko, 25, Ukraine
Trâm Nguyen Quang, 23, Netherlands
The six mentees will be mentored by Annie Leibovitz and the Annie Leibovitz Studio team, together with Marcus Engman and other IKEA representatives. Their assignment will be to take portraits, interpreting insights from the annual IKEA Life at Home Report through their camera lens, the same assignment which Leibovitz has worked on for IKEA. The six mentees’ work will be shown alongside Leibovitz’s at the culmination of the collaboration in early 2024.
Speaking about the programme Leibovitz said: “When I was at art school, our work would be critiqued by the teachers. But I found that the discussions and learnings among the students were just as beneficial to us. I think the mentees in this programme will learn greatly from each other.”
Marcus said: “At IKEA we care about people and their life at home. We are always looking for new perspectives, and new voices to lift to the fore. The six final mentees that we chose showed passion and potential in their creative vision and their unique takes on what life at home means to them. In fact, we had originally planned to only select five mentees but the breadth of the talent and the opportunity to see life through even more lenses made it impossible to choose just five.”
About IKEA Artist in Residence: Annie Leibovitz
IKEA has always kept up to date with the way people around the world live today, and its annual Life at Home Report offers unique insights into this reality. A critical recent finding indicates that up to 48% of people globally do not feel their life at home is regularly represented in the media. This challenge has inspired a collaboration with world-renowned American photographer, Annie Leibovitz. Annie Leibovitz is the first IKEA Artist in Residence, and over the course of 2023, she will travel to Italy, India, the United States, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Japan to document the real lives of people in their homes.
About Ingka Group
With IKEA retail operations in 31 markets, Ingka Group is the largest IKEA retailer and represents about 90% of IKEA retail sales. It is a strategic partner to develop and innovate the IKEA business and help define common IKEA strategies. Ingka Group owns and operates IKEA sales channels under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. It has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres. Read more on ingka.com.
About Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz began her career as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone in 1970, while she was still a student at the San Francisco Art Institute. Her first major assignment was for a cover story on John Lennon. She became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer in 1973 and by the time she left the magazine, ten years later, her work was widely known. She had shot scores of cover portraits and photo essays. In 1983, when she joined the staff of the revived Vanity Fair, she was established as an astute documentarian of the social landscape. She began collaborating regularly for Vogue in the late 1980s. Leibovitz is known today primarily as a portraitist, but she has a significant portfolio of fashion photographs, landscapes, and personal reportage.
In 2023 Leibovitz became IKEA Artist in Residence, teaming up with the brand to document life at home around the world.
Media enquiries
For further information, journalists and media professionals can contact us at press.office@ingka.com or by calling +46 70 993 6376.
