Tudor Rhys Etchells

Kicking off the 2026 FUTURES Residency in Riga, we welcome @tudir at @issp_latvia , where he will be developing his project “Pacta Sunt Servanda” Tudor Rhys Etchells is a visual artist who uses the photograph to challenge fictions created by legal systems. Working within such bureaucracy in his previous role as a human rights lawyer inspires his closeness to the brutally mundane. Documentary photography is a medium that often fails, so parodying it as a system of constructing truth, he questions the norm of the imagined nation-state. If you are in Riga, stop by @issp_latvia on 27 May for an Open Studio with Tudor. Link in bio for more info.

@tudir @ft_weekend “Immigration law decides who can settle in the UK and call it home. It is one of the most complicated areas of legal practice. I worked in the system for eight years as a lawyer for asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants. For the final three, I attempted to document a bureaucracy that remains hidden to most. In my role, I had to mediate my client’s reality by questioning their traumatic experiences in order to construct a narrative to present to the Home Office. I became concerned with my own position as a legal representative, which led me also to question who can be photographed by whom and the power dynamics of those interactions. To me, the photograph and the law are both frameworks for negotiating evidence, belief and knowledge. I was, and remain, frustrated by the sensationalist imagery used to represent those fleeing persecution both in news stories and by documentary and fine art photographers. By turning the camera to the brutal mundanity of the legal structures that determine their lives, I encourage the viewer to question the law itself.“ @bjp1854 @lisacbarnard

British Journal of Photography 'Ones to Watch' Shoutout to Issac (@isaac.blease ) for the encouragement and nomination, Diane (@dismy ) for the selection and Albie (@albie.fay ) for the thoughtful words: "Etchells describes having to "mediate the reality" of clients in his legal position, constructing narratives of migration by questioning their harrowing experiences. "In my work now, it's about asking the right questions with the camera," he says, "being aware of the space you hold and how people are going to react to you." This shift in perspective led him to critically examine the ethics of photography and representation - what it means to photograph and to be photographed, and the power dynamics that shape these interactions."

How to photograph a wind farm. @futuresphotography @issp_latvia #FuturesPhotography #Photography #ContemporaryPhotography #FUTURESResidency

A belated post of the print edition of The Financial Times Weekend Magazine, Home, A Photography Special @ft_weekend Looking back over the photos for the edit made me reflect on the actual work of legal representation. I sometimes miss it; the guiding individuals through the system, challenging unlawful decisions, using the law to protect. Now, I have more faith in the photograph. s/o Emma (@emma_bowkett ) for having belief in the work since the beginning days. ps i didn't steal it, i was just going for a cycle

Last Year I curated my first exhibition, ExtraLegal: 
A group exhibition that questions the ethics of modern day legal systems and challenges the photograph’s use as evidence. By critically engaging with the participants, events and history of lens-based mediums, the artists explore alternative realities of conflicts, transitions and institutions. Property, equality, welfare, international, humanitarian and refugee law pose the jurisdictional limits.  The camera lens is used as an aid in enforcement through the surveillance and subjugation of people and land, holding power in the portrayal of truth. This history has allowed images to be used as documentary evidence in legal proceedings. The law and the photograph become ways of knowing. Through this, we come to understand the truth of the law to be one with the truth of the photograph. By paying attention to the limits of them both, the structures of the world are revealed. Thanks to the artists for putting their trust in me and the gallery: 1) Pia-Paulina Guilmoth - @p_guilmoth and @serchiagallery for lending us landscapes that go past gender norms + the transatlantic artist talk! 
 2) Felipe Romero Beltrán - @feliperomerobeltran for his tender video Instruction that re-enacts physical testimony of crossing a border. 
 3) Ilê Sartuzi - @ilesartuzi and the heavily redacted comedic documentation of his trick at the British Museum.
 4) RAKE Collective - @rake.collective whose installation of tributaries repurposes technology to reveal how bureaucracy enacts war. 
 5+6) Jack Moyse - @notabrothel whose take away letter tricked us into thinking the DWP hacked his CCTV + his arduous in gallery performance. 7) And ofc deepest thanks to the ultimate team at BayArt @bayartcardiff who are the REAL DEAL: 
Liam - @liammarc Charlotte - @cgraylandart Anna - @anna.am.orffoes 
Tommy - @tommybarrattsimons 
Lloyd - @lloyd_vaterlaws Meg - @megmoths

Image 1__Offshoring as Reality (2022)__ The screenshot in this montage was given to me by a previous client who had fled the regime in Iran. War causes people to flee to safety. Will the structures in place allow us to create such necessary refuges? Image 2__ How is our service? Please check the link below (2026) __ Text message from real estate agent who is attempting to sell me a Golden Passport.

Mali, Churchill Way, 2023

Sam - Newport Wetlands, 2025

Whilst performing as part of ‘Available Potential Guaranteed’, I met an owner of an Estate Agency who invited me back to finally buy a property. He had citizenship from St Kitts and Nevis, the first country to start the scheme. Post-independence, it was a way to earn revenue for the nation. Citizenship itself acts only as a means of access to a third country, otherwise not granted by the original passport. This disconnect from the nation by the roles played emulates the arbitrariness of citizenship when it is tied to material form as capital. As this is posted, I have returned and am attempting to close the deal on citizenship. When borders perform their apparent factualness, a response that doubts their legitimacy is required. Where best to interrogate the ethics of performance than in the act of the photograph? Photographs: from the durational performance of ‘Available Potential Guaranteed’. [This post is part of a series of FUTURES PhotoIreland Talents 2025 takeovers. This is the last post in the series by artist Tudor Rhys Etchells]

greenman buggy cam 2025 - I do the drive, u do the photo. s/o participants: the buggy boys, ivy, (not my) uncle tim, rosie ft PVA, martin parr, emiliana torrini's mate who told me she was famous and the others whose name i forget/can't google.

I did some copy and pasting of the law for The Paper @thepaperwales . I wondered whether the immigration and asylum system is a choose your own adventure. To get lost in the mess pick up your copy of The Paper at all good non-regional retailers and links in biographies. Also – performing a new rendition of Client Advice at Canton Libs on Sat 28th July. Sorry Roath.