Student Residency Winner Spotlight

 

How would you describe your business/creative practice?

 

 

I’m a multimedia artist working across photography, installation, and sculpture to explore the relationship between belief and reality. My practice is driven by a curiosity about how we interpret images, construct meaning, and navigate truth in contemporary culture. Through material experimentation and conceptual play. 

Can you tell us the story behind why you started your business/practice and your journey so far. 

I first started making work around the news because I was struck by how much photographs control the way stories are told. Watching how certain images were repeated online, pulled out of context, or even manipulated, I realised that photography wasn’t just documenting events — it was shaping what people believed about them. That’s what pushed me to start creating my own projects around news imagery. At first it was just collecting, reworking, and analysing photographs I saw circulating in American media. Over time, it turned into a deeper practice: questioning where these images come from, how they’re framed, and what impact they have once they enter the cycle of social media and public debate. For me, making this work isn’t about presenting a “finished truth,” but about slowing down how we look at news photography — showing how it influences our sense of reality, and how belief can be built or broken through a single image. 

 

What course did you study whilst at The University of Derby?

I studied and graduated from the BA Hons Photography course this summer.

 

As a Graduate, how has the University of Derby supported you in your business/ creative practice so far? 

I’ve been able to receive support both through being granted roles in FORMAT as-well as making support available through banks mill where I was fortunate to succeed in getting a studio free for a year. 

What do you hope that being part of the Banks Mill community will do for your creative business/practi ce? Is there one thing in particular that you’re looking forward to? 

 I hope to learn as much as I can about other artists and their practices aswell as promote each other as a collective so that all can grow – a rising tide as they say I’m looking forward heavily to open studios. 

 

Do you have any other work experience/support/or training that’s relevant to what you’re doing now? 

I have worked as gallery coordinator for FORMAT Festival at Markeaton street. 

 

What are you working on at the moment? 

Currently working on creating a “news room” as a structural installation to highlight the malicious use of divisive language and imagery in the news 

Tell us about your work/techniques/how long a piece takes to complete etc 

I work a lot with print and photography sourcing most images online and recreating news pieces myself before installing them onto backdrops I estimate this will take at least 2 months to finish.  

 

What are your plans for your business/practice for the next 12 months? 

I plan to post 3-5 days per week and stay consistent on social media as well as host workshops and events with other creatives 

 

 

Noah Mcclelland