From caravan to shed to house: student photographer Griffin Mitchell-Jenkins hopeful for Annie Leibowitz mentorship

A world-renowned photographer, Annie Leibovitz has captured countless celebrities, most recently Lionel Messi, Ed Sheeran and Volodymyr Zelensky.

Leibovitz partnered with IKEA in 2023 as their first artist in residence. In this role, she's been photographing home life around the world, and will be a mentor to five lucky winners.

She will mentor the winners, aged 18 to 25, in online classes; they will eventually create artistic photographs for IKEA's annual Life at Home report.

Not surprisingly, Mitchell-Jenkins is just one of thousands of hopeful entrants to the mentorship.

But he's sure his story and ambition will set him apart from the rest.

All he needed for his submission was a photo that reflected on his relationship with the concept of home.

And he had plenty to draw on.

Once the judges have read his application, he's confident they will see the value in his photography and his story.

When Mitchell-Jenkins was 10 years old, his family moved from a caravan to a shed on the same property outside Murrumbateman.

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He had called the caravan home since he was four, when his parents sold their house and moved the family onto a farm.

This past year, the now-18-year-old, with his siblings and parents, moved into their first house in 14 years. It's these early experiences of unpredictable living situations that have inspired his passion for architectural photography.

The irony - of his family not having a house for so long - is not lost on him.

"I think it comes from jealousy in a way," he said.

"People get to live in these amazing houses and take it for granted."

He used to look forward to going to his grandparent's house and "getting to have consistently hot water and to use their real bathroom", as opposed to the compost toilet he was accustomed to.

Since he has been at university, he's been branching into other styles of photography, and wants to explore cultural and personal narratives through his photos.

At high school, he once had to analyse photos and other images and build a story around them. He remembers thinking at the time, "I'm really, really good at this".

For his mentorship submission, he created a self-portrait in which he's lying on a pile of architecture and design magazines. These represent the feeling of wanting what he doesn't have.

Although he's not nostalgic for that time period, and would never replace his current home with a caravan or a shed, he says he recognises the value of experiencing that lifestyle.

"I wouldn't change [the way I grew up] because it definitely makes me appreciate things in my life," he says.

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