Portrait shortlisted for Portrait of Britain award

Olivia-Rose Kaur Labana’s Your Words (My) Hurt is an attempt to bridge the silence between pain and understanding through visual storytelling. It reflects on her own heartfelt experiences of losing loved ones and growing up in a dysfunctional family. It explores childhood moments that were left unresolved and words that were never spoken.

Olivia uses photography as a source of therapy, for emotions which are too difficult to articulate.

“Being shortlisted was a huge milestone for me,” said Olivia. “I am extremely excited and honoured to have my work featured by BJP. My project was inspired by my mum, who was a huge support to me.

“Part therapy and part narrative, the purpose of my project was to reach an audience with similar experiences, who have experienced grief and loss of a loved one and the impact this has on our psyche. Being shortlisted has made every second of the work worth it.”

Portrait of Britain is intended to reflect a country caught between change and continuity – exploring and celebrating the many identities that create this land, showing that it can be a place of harmony, humour, beauty and life.

Olivia’s photograph is one of 200 shortlisted portraits for the award, which will be published in the dedicated Portrait of Britain Volume 8, and can be viewed on the British Journal of Photography’s digital platform.

Rene Matić, Turner Prize nominee 2025 and Portrait of Britain Vol. 8 Judge, explained in this British Journal of Photography article: “For me, a photograph doesn’t have to define Britain – that would be impossible – but it should feel like it’s in conversation with it; questioning, complicating or expanding the idea of what Britishness looks like and who gets to be included in it.”

Olivia added: “I wanted to make my family proud and show that anything is possible if you put your mind to it, that hard work comes from determination and passion of something you love. You gain what you put into it, for every moment I spent researching, self-reflecting, and producing work led me to where I am.”

100 winning portraits will be announced in January 2026 and exhibited up and down the country – in high streets, shopping malls and transport hubs – in a month-long digital screen display in partnership with JCDecaux UK.

To learn more about studying photography at UCA, visit the course pages. 

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