In Spring 2020, Creative Manchester and the Manchester China Institute launched their second International Photography Competition. Open to anyone resident in the UK or China, the competition asked entrants to encapsulate what ‘family’ means to them within a smartphone photo, for the chance to win £1000/8,888 RMB.

The original intention was to exhibit the top 30 photographs in the Samuel Alexander building on the University campus. Spring’s snowballing COVID-19 situation halted these plans, but opened up an unforeseen opportunity for international collaboration with a well-respected Chinese art gallery.

By early summer, social distancing measures had been lifted in China, leading the University to reach out to the IPF gallery in Chengdu, which kindly agreed to host both the exhibition and an awards ceremony. A new video, produced by Creative Manchester, documents the latter stages of the competition while celebrating this exciting – and unexpected – international collaboration.

The video also highlights a key lesson learned from this year’s competition, whose theme of ‘family’ took on touching new significance during the COVID-19 crisis. The opening text highlights the ‘common humanity’ present across the top 30 photographs. ‘No matter where we live’, it resolves, ‘our similarities will always outweigh our differences’.

In addition to the video, a new webpage has been created on the Manchester China Institute’s website, showcasing the three winning photographs. As the standard was so high this year, a further webpage has been created to showcase the work of all 30 finalists, many of whom only narrowly missed out on the top three spots.