Photo Fringe 2024

Repair is Essential. Repair for Everyone.

We used to value our ‘things’. But a combination of consumerism and mass production has led to ‘things’ of shorter life, that are much harder to repair. To compound matters, our ability to repair these things has also faltered.

Confronting these challenges, my ‘unbroken.solutions’ project takes a solutions approach; to shed a light on the sharers, repairers and activists. The overall aim is to point to ways we can all make better use of what we have, to adopt or adapt, and to build a more sustainable future.

Mark Phillips is a Buckinghamshire based photographer working on stories about the environment and sustainability, and those working to find solutions to our challenges. Recent projects explore the importance of sharing, repair and reuse, as a response to waste and to creating a more sustainable future.

Mark Phillips originally studied engineering at Loughborough and more recently completed a PhD at Cambridge researching complex ecosystems. These insights inform his photography which is based on a multi-perspective approach to documentary and visual storytelling. His current work focuses on sustainability and on people finding potential solutions to current issues.

Mark’s work has been published online and in print in various major newspapers and magazines (including BBC News, the 'I", Observer, Zeke, La Repubblica) and at festivals and exhibitions in UK, Italy, Netherlands and USA (including PhotoVille).

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Photo Fringe invited artists to propose a single image to engage audiences and help us imagine a greener, fairer world. Artists were asked to respond to the question “How can photography make a difference to the climate crisis?"

The resulting outdoor exhibition of selected images by nineteen artists can be found on Brighton seafront next to the Upside Down House until 17 November 2024.

See all of the images together here

Created with funding from Arts Council England National Lottery Project Fund and the UK government and Brighton & Hove City Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. With print sponsorship from SAS Graphics.

Thanks to our judges Siân Berry, MP and Laura Summerton, Photography Manager, Wateraid.