The biannual Tierney Fellowship workshops took place at the Michaelis School of Fine Art on the 5 and 6 of February. This initiative takes the form of partnerships between three art schools in South Africa. Created by Matthew Tierney in 2003 “The primary goal of the Fellowship is to find tomorrow’s distinguished artists and leaders in the world of photography and assist them in overcoming the challenges that a photographer faces at the beginning of his or her career.” (http://www.tierneyfellowship.org)

Tierney fellows work with a mentor to develop a body of work towards a professional exhibition. Art schools include Market Photo Workshops (MPW), WITS and the Michaelis School of Fine Art.

Fellows for 2014/15 included Matt Kay (MPW), Melissa Bennett (WITS) and Thandiwe Msebenzi (Michaelis) who is mentored by Jean Brundrit and Svea Josephy. The fellows presented their work to artists and academics such as David Goldblatt, Jo Ractliffe, John Fleetwood, Nomusa Makhubu, Chad Rossouw, Ernestine White, Vulindela Nyoni, Marilyn Martin and Maurice Mbikayi.

Past Tierney fellows from Michaelis include Ashley Walters who is currently having an exhibition at the Michaelis Gallery and Nobukho Nqaba who has been selected to take part in the prestigious Regeneration 3 in Switzerland which aims to identify the next generation of image makers and photography’s potential stars.

The next Tierney fellowship workshops will be held in Johannesburg at WITS in September 2015.