In the lead up to our 2025 Graduate Shows, we’re celebrating the creativity and talent of our graduating students by sharing their stories and showcasing their incredible work. We spoke with Photography BA(Hons) student Charlotte Bull about the course, their influences and advice to their younger self.

Please tell us a bit about your work and your influences 

‘Do You Speak Hungarian?’ is a photographic body of work for my final project of my degree, exhibited at the University of Brighton Graduate Show. The photographs centre around exploring my connection to Hungary, where my mother is from. I have grown up visiting yet have never learnt the language. The photographs aim to visualise how I am able to connect with a different culture despite not speaking the language.

The body of work consists of images of family archival imagery and objects as well as portraiture and self portraiture of my mother and myself, considering heritage, belonging and identity. My work illustrates how one can connect to a different place while also demonstrating the frustration of the inability to communicate and fully belong to a culture, but still celebrates my connection to Hungary. I am aiming to present a unique perspective to a wider audience along with sharing images of a place extremely different to the UK.

What made you choose your course? 

I chose BA (Hons) Photography to study as I thoroughly enjoy the subject, and can see a future in which photography is my career. In addition, I wanted to learn more about the subject and use the three years as an opportunity to grow my skills in the medium.  

Can you tell us about your favourite part of your studies and how it helped the development of you and your practice. 

My favourite part of my studies is simply having the opportunity to expand my skill set in something I love. Having access to a wide range of photographic equipment, most of which I probably never would’ve had the chance to use, meant I was able to try out and develop many different skills sets, refining who I am as a photographer, and gaining skills that are useful in commercial work.  

Can you tell us about any staff who particularly inspired you? 

Both Martin Seeds and Holly Birtles have been inspiring tutors. They both pushed me to create amazing work and would go out of their way to advise me, and other students. They both made sure that there were interesting workshops arranged outside of timetabled classes, as well as many trips to galleries and exhibitions. Being able to connect with my tutors is something I have highly valued while studying in here.  

Finally if you could give your 17 year old self any advice about going to university what would it be? 

Advice I would give my 17 year old self is to take every opportunity the course offers; go on all the trips, participate in all the workshops and learn as much as possible. Make lots of work that I want to make, not what I think others expect me to make. And enjoy yourself!  

If you’d like to see more of Charlotte’s work, you can via Instagram @cjbullphoto

Find out more about our 2025 Summer Shows where large parts of the university turn into a huge free exhibition space.