Philippa James has recently been awarded DYCP funding from the Arts Council of England to further develop her practice in 2025.
Her ongoing project, Once a Slag (formally No Big Deal), was exhibited as a work-in-progress solo show and received critical acclaim from Dazed Magazine, who highlighted it as a must-see-show in January 2023. Three images from the series were selected for the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2023 and exhibited in The National Portrait Gallery, with one of the images gracing the catalogue cover. This work has also been shortlisted for PhMuseum Women in Photography 2023, exhibited in Photo Vogue Festival, and won Portrait of Humanity.
Philippa's practice began in 2020, with her first personal project, 100 Women of Oxford. The project gained recognition when exhibited at The North Wall Gallery during Photo Oxford, leading to the gallery publishing the work as a photobook. Following this, Philippa was commissioned to collaborate with a local refugee women’s group, resulting in a solo exhibition at The Old Fire Station Art Gallery. One of the portraits from this project featured in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2022. More recently, she was commissioned by Oxford University to create portraits for their permanent collection, commemorating 50 years of women studying at Jesus College.
In addition to her photographic practice, Philippa runs Women and the Photobook, a travelling reading room and research project, and is an Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University.
The North Wall Trust