The Garden of Maggie Victoria

• Prize
  Silver in Fine Art/Collage
• Photographer
  Rachel Nixon, Canada
• Date of Photograph
  2022
• Socials
• Website
  https://www.rachelnixon.com/

This series explores memory and female representation through the story of my great-grandmother, forgotten within my family after her early death in 1943. It integrates photos by my great-grandfather, archival letters and my nature-oriented images to craft collages reviving her legacy. Maggie Victoria’s life as a mother, wife, and nurturer of people and plants was ordinary, and extraordinary. We may speculate why my relatives never mentioned her, erasing her story. Anchored in a personal meditation, the series invites us to ponder issues of heritage, grief and passing time that affect us all.

• Biography
  Rachel Nixon is a British-Canadian fine art photographer and former journalist based in Vancouver. Having lived and worked across continents and cultures, her practice explores themes such as memory, heritage, and womanhood. In 2024, she had a solo exhibition at the Head On Photo Festival in Australia, and in 2025 was a finalist for the Sony Alpha Female Award. Rachel continued to show her work in 2026 in a two-person exhibition focused on the family archive, in her hometown of Vancouver. She volunteers as Editor of the RPS’ WE ARE Magazine, which showcases the work of female photographers.
• Awards
  *Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions* 2026 Gallery 881, Vancouver, Canada: Between Memory and Light. Two-person exhibition. 2024 Head On Photo Festival, Sydney, Australia: The Garden of Maggie Victoria. Solo exhibition. *Selected Recent Group Exhibitions* 2026 PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT, USA: Cut. Paste. Transform. Artdoc Photography Magazine: Inner Landscapes. 2025 Griffin Museum of Photography: Gathering Place: Layered Histories. Sony World Photography Awards, Somerset House, London, UK: Alpha Female shortlist and Open shortlist displays. 2024 Royal Photographic Society, Bristol, UK: To Shine A Light / Who Dared To Dream, featuring six contemporary female artists. *Select Recent Awards* Dodho Magazine, 2024, 2025 and 2026: Among 100 top awarded fine art photographers. 2025 Prix de la Photographie (Px3): Two Honourable Mentions: Fine Art/Abstract and Fine Art/Still Life. Sony Alpha Female Award: Shortlisted photographer. Sony World Photography Awards Open Competition: Shortlisted photographer, Creative. 2024 AAP Magazine: Third place winner in the Women edition.