George Selley

Concept

On Tuesday the 7th of March 2017, wikileaks released “Vault 7”, the largest ever publication of confidential documents on the CIA. My photographs specifically follow a “familiarization” document, that directs covert agents arriving in Frankfurt. I decided to travel to Frankfurt and follow the guidelines, as if I was a covert agent myself. The concept of exploring a city photographically through a top secret CIA document was an interesting process in itself.

Through my photographs, I aim not only to present and play on this banal absurdity, but also to challenge our conceptions of how such an organisation is run, and to question it’s integrity. The project is especially interesting to me, as it has been produced for a module on my MA course – which is focused on documentary photography, however, with this project I have attempted to blur the boundaries between fiction and reality – pushing the genre of documentary photography, the term “conceptual documentary” could be applied.

Vita

George Selley is a London based photographer and filmmaker.

George currently teaches photography at Fine Arts College, in Camden, while studying for his MA in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication.

Having begun his further education in Anthropology, George's work continues to focus on the relationship between large power structures and society.

Much of his photography and film making also highlights issues around surveillance and public health.

He was nominated for the Celeste Visible White Photo Prize 2017 in Florence, shortlisted for the PhotoX, Art Gemini Prize 2017, and has had a documentary selected and screened at the 2015 American Public Health Association Film Festival, in Chicago.