* subject to final UWE Bristol approval
This course is open for applications.
Page last updated 7 October 2024
UWE Bristol’s MA Fine Art: Photography builds on our celebrated reputation for postgraduate study in photography. Designed to develop your creative promise, this course is ideal if you want to push the potential of your own fine art photography practice.
You will study our innovative curriculum alongside a purposefully small group of peers, uniquely designed to offer critical, collaborative and personal approaches to photography in contemporary cultural contexts. A combined focus on personal work, professional practice, and critical research will maximise your creative outputs, and contextualise photography as an artistic discipline.
You will gain knowledge and insights into contemporary arts practice and debates, taught by a diverse team of award-winning photographers and leading academics in the field. This, and the extensive range of creative resources available across our City Campus, will equip you to work at a professional level, plugging into the contemporary discourse of regional, national, and international communities.
Whether you’re a recently qualified arts or humanities graduate, or a well-established professional looking to develop yourself academically, this course offers all you need to push your practice to the next level.
You’ll be perfectly placed studying in Bristol, a socially and politically progressive city, widely recognised as one of the most creatively influential settings in the UK. Here you’ll discover a range of galleries, photography studios and organisations, plus art projects involving students and graduates.
MA Fine Art: Photography is based on Bristol's historic harbourside at Arnolfini. Situated above this internationally renowned centre for contemporary art you will be at the heart of Bristol's creative and cultural community, with access to UWE Bristol's City Campus and all it has to offer. Here, you’ll develop your skills and knowledge alongside like-minded creative talent.
Our students meet, share work with, and initiate long-lasting professional relationships with our influential partners in the creative industries.
You will graduate with a globally recognised qualification and have a broad range of options available to you regionally, as well as nationally and internationally. The course offers you the opportunity to develop your photography practice, and many of our graduates have continued into award-winning careers in the field. Others pursue a career in galleries and museums, in film, education, or the wider creative industries. You may also wish to consider a PhD pathway within one of our excellent research centres.
The structure and content of this new course is currently under review and subject to final UWE Bristol approval. It will be published here as soon as possible.
Our family of MA Fine Art courses work together in an interdisciplinary learning environment. This approach nurtures collaboration and knowledge exchange across different fields of study, allowing students to deepen their expertise within their chosen discipline whilst engaging with broader artistic creative and critical perspectives.
Taught by a team with expertise across a breadth of creative practice, you’ll learn to understand and push the boundaries of discipline through technical and theoretical input. You will study through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials, and studio practice, and you’ll also benefit from events with industry experts.
As you realise a substantial body of work, you will be encouraged to pursue ambitious new directions. Through ongoing portfolio reviews with professional practitioners and industry leaders, including curators, editors, publishers, producers, art buyers, agents and gallerists, our MA Fine Art: Photography students benefit from extensive real-world feedback on their developing practice. Our considerable alumni network of postgraduate photographers provides a collegiate launchpad for those graduating from the course.
See our glossary of teaching and learning terms.
This is a full-time course, which starts in September and runs for three terms over 12 months. Learning and teaching sessions typically take place over three days per week. Outside of your contact hours, you’ll have the opportunity to access the available resources.
You will be assessed through a range of methods throughout the year including presentations, portfolio, and practical and written work. You’ll spend your last term working towards your final outcomes for the year, which includes an opportunity to exhibit publicly.
Learn more about our assessments.
You'll meet regularly at our City Campus. You'll also have access to extensive and industry-standard departmental facilities and resources including a fabrication centre, comprehensive printmaking resource, and a well-resourced library.
MA Fine Art students benefit from dedicated postgraduate studio space at Arnolfini. You'll have access to resources at all City Campus sites including Spike Island and Watershed too. Bower Ashton houses the main library supporting the creative and cultural industries, student support services, plus the technical resource areas.
Learn more about UWE Bristol's facilities and resources.
Take a personalised virtual tour of the Art facilities and experience what a typical day could look like here for you.
Our support includes access to fantastic facilities, study tools and career consultants, plus practical help to access everything from funding to childcare.
A stunning city for student living with all the qualities to make you want to stay.
There is more to your experience here than study. Choose to make the most of it and try new things.
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Discover our campuses and the wealth of facilities provided for our students.
Our students are taught by practicing photographers, artists and researchers, bringing skills and expertise exclusively to those at the postgraduate level.
Many of our graduates enter or continue employment in the creative industries, as self-employed photographers or artists, in professional studios, as art collectives, or running their own businesses. Others continue into teaching roles in both formal, gallery, and community education programmes. Some students progress to PhD study at UWE Bristol, or elsewhere.
Our award-winning Careers Service helps you develop your employment potential through career coaching, a vacancy service for internships, placements, jobs, global opportunities, volunteering and community activity plus support for entrepreneurial activity, and access to employer events.
Learn more about our graduate destinations.
We're seeking highly motivated students from any background, committed to creative growth in our supportive School of Arts community. Most applicants would have an honours degree in the arts, but those with qualifications in other disciplines or prior professional experience are also encouraged to apply.
While some students enter the course after years of independent work, we also welcome entries from ambitious applicants directly from undergraduate courses.
For country specific entry requirements please find your country on our country information pages.
Applicants will be asked to provide a portfolio of practical or project-based work and a personal statement for review.
In your portfolio you may want to include your most recent or ambitious works alongside developmental or process-based details. The work you include can be in media from outside or beyond your chosen discipline, and may include personal or professional outcomes. We are looking for applicants with the potential to connect creatively with contemporary practice; the motivation to excel; and the capacity to contribute to our dynamic campus.
Your personal statement should communicate confidently and coherently your rationale for application: what you hope Master’s study will help you achieve in your future. You may want to include detail of the influences that have led you to application, and the attributes you think will be important for success as a postgraduate. We would like to know more about you, and your understanding of what we do.
Most personal statements we receive are around 500 words in length.
Applicants may be invited for an online interview, if we have any further questions about your portfolio.
International and EU applicants are required to have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.5 with 5.5 in each component (or approved equivalent*).
*The University accepts a large number of UK and international qualifications in place of IELTS. To find details of acceptable tests and the required grades, please visit English Language requirements.
If you meet the academic requirements but require additional support to take your language skills to the required level, you may be able to attend one of our pre-sessional English courses. Students who successfully complete the pre-sessional course can progress onto their chosen degree course without retaking an IELTS or equivalent.
Read more about our pre-sessional English programme.
We accept applications throughout the year but if you're working to a funding deadline, you should build this into your application process.
Read more about postgraduate applications.
Read more about international applications and key international deadline dates.