Maddie is a photographer whose recent series centres around 'culture diversity' where she has produced beautiful portraits of students with ethnic backgrounds.

Keep reading to find out more about her project and see her favourite photographs she took from the series!

Hello, I am Maddie Wilkins, a 3rd year BA Photography student at Falmouth university. My final degree project centres around photographing ethnic students in their beautiful cultural/religious traditional clothing to encourage more appreciation and acceptance amongst the Cornish locals as it is a very white-dominated county. There are many technical decisions I made to achieve my intention but the overarching technique was to make the images look aesthetically pleasing to the eye so the viewer would be more likely to approach this sometimes controversial topic of religion and culture with an open mind.

All of the photo shoots were taken outside in public gardens around Falmouth on bright sunny days to create a celebratory and joyous atmosphere. Many religions such as Islam are blurred with media fuelled stereotypes so being able to photograph the younger generation in their unique traditional attire in beautiful locations aided towards representing the cultures/religion in a better light. Additionally, I chose to use film to capture the images as this gives a soft tone to the images without harsh contrasts. This makes it easier for the viewer’s eyes to observe the image. Lastly, to provide a truthful representation of the photographed cultures/religions I asked the models to record themselves discussing their individual relationships with their culture/religion. This is a great educational tool to use for my second module where I have to create a mock-up exhibit. Next to each portrait, the visitor will be able to hear to model discussing their likes and dislikes about their culture/religion. I wanted to use the powerful lens of photography to shine a well-deserved spotlight on the ethnic minorities within our student community and give them the opportunity to educate others about their religion/culture as unfortunately they are often clouded by hurtful stereotypes by the western media.