Announcing the Winners
LensCulture Critics’ Choice 2022

We’re delighted to announce the 40 winners of this year’s Critics’ Choice Awards. These remarkable photographers hail from five continents and utilize quite diverse artistic approaches while presenting a wide range of thought-provoking topics.

The Critics’ Choice Awards are like no other. We ask experts to dig into hundreds of entries from across the globe to select their top three personal favorites. There’s no jurying as a panel; just essential picks brought to you straight from the museum and gallery curators, photo editors, publishers, and art directors making their way through many phenomenal submissions.

We hope you discover several new personal favorites, too. Enjoy!

Discover the work of all 40 photographers selected by these industry insiders, and find out directly from each critic why their image or series stood out from the rest.
Selected by
Emma Lewis
Tate Modern
Namibia
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Caged
Namibia
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Caged
Margaret Courtney-Clarke’s exquisite eye for composition immediately drew me in. Her decision to portray the effects of a seven-year drought in the Namib desert by focusing on one subject – caged animals and flora – struck me as an original way of telling a story about a landscape in crisis, and the tight edit of the series — each image as arresting as the one before it — is commendable.
United States
Anna Grevenitis
Regard
United States
Anna Grevenitis
Regard
With her series Regard, Anna Grevinitis’s intention is to invite the audience to rethink their assumptions about people living with disabilities. Her play on the camera-subject-viewer gaze is a smart way of achieving this. In each carefully choreographed shot, her eyes meet the lens, not only conveying maternal protectiveness, but also catching us in the act of looking, asking us to check our own position.
Brazil
Cicero Bezerra
Indigenous Spring
Brazil
Cicero Bezerra
Indigenous Spring
This image leaves no ambiguity as to who this uprising is for: future generations. The infant’s stare is arresting; it’s difficult to look away. Alongside this reference to the future is a sign – a facemask — that locates the image in time. Altogether, the depth of narrative communicated within the single frame is what makes this a stand-out image for me.
Selected by
Rhea Combs
National Portrait Gallery
Namibia
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Caged
Namibia
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Caged
The effects of climate change are impacting us in tremendous ways. This series of beautiful and simple shots offers an arresting look at the harsh impact of the changing landscapes with such careful consideration—a consideration we all must begin to take before it is too late.
United States
Marna Clarke
Time As We Know it
United States
Marna Clarke
Time As We Know it
The self portrait of Clarke and her 92 year old partner showcase a vulnerability that is not often seen. There is an honesty in these works that feel refreshing and reflective. There is a universality and humility in seeing these images which remind us of the power of love and the fragility of life.
United Kingdom
Therese Brown
Damel, Bayan Olgii, Mongolia
United Kingdom
Therese Brown
Damel, Bayan Olgii, Mongolia
The direct gaze of this 12-year-old girl, adorned with fur that keeps her warm but is also a part of her family's cultural background offers a sense of promise and tradition that feels regal and affirming in equal parts while also offering a fine balance between past traditions and the hope of the future.
Selected by
Marta Weiss
Victoria and Albert Museum
Brazil
Gleeson Paulino
Batismo
Brazil
Gleeson Paulino
Batismo
Each dreamlike work in this series is composed with formal precision and a keen appreciation for color. Seemingly unrelated, these bold images are linked by recurring motifs of water, skin, hair and drapery, and are all connected to the photographer’s reacquaintance with the landscape and people of his native Brazil.
United States
Marna Clarke
Time As We Know it
United States
Marna Clarke
Time As We Know it
This frank and sensitive series addresses the universal matter of aging through specific and intimate depictions of one couple. The photographs convey a moving mixture of strength and fragility.
Norway
Klara Austvoll
Vegetables in a Bowl
Norway
Klara Austvoll
Vegetables in a Bowl
This still-life is delightfully full of contrasts. The multicolored vegetables are transformed into a range of greys, accentuating their varied textures. Under the glare of studio lights, the tomatoes and peppers take on an artificial sheen, while the carrots and asparagus show all the imperfections of nature. The abundance of a garden seems to burst beyond the confines a minimalist glass bowl.
Selected by
Jasper Bode
Ravestijn Gallery
United States
Michael Young
Hidden Glances
United States
Michael Young
Hidden Glances
This series emulates energy! It’s fun and effective. No need for a lot of text or explanation.
Trinidad and Tobago
Kelly-Ann Bobb
Musings of Boscoe
Trinidad and Tobago
Kelly-Ann Bobb
Musings of Boscoe
A mesmerizing portrait. So incredibly effective. The black and white quality of the print, the left and right. This face stares right back at you.
United States
Sarah Grew
Ghost Forest
United States
Sarah Grew
Ghost Forest
Climate change as a topic that exists all around us. This particular project struck me in its effective simplicity. Every layer of the project is clear and literally transparent. I would love to see it in real life.
Selected by
Cortney Norman
Yancey Richardson Gallery
China
Jia Lin Yan
Undercurrent
China
Jia Lin Yan
Undercurrent
Jia Lin Yan's work explores the process of grieving with images depicting artifacts of what is left behind. The images feel vulnerable, poetic, and evocative. Fragile Junction is my favorite image from the series, depicting three cups delicately stacked in a soft light.
China
Jiayue Yu
In Retrospect
China
Jiayue Yu
In Retrospect
Jiayue Yu’s work engages the viewer through the incorporation of other images within the image. She deliberately includes the camera and other photographic equipment within the viewfinder, granting us behind-the-scenes access to image making. The subjects interact with images within the image, creating an interesting landscape.
United Kingdom
Minxu Li
Dreamscape
United Kingdom
Minxu Li
Dreamscape
Minxu Li’s Dreamscape feels playful and humorous, while evoking a sense of confidence from the photographer in the medium. The water in the foreground abstracts the subjects, creating an ambiguous narrative for the viewer to interpret. The image has a musical quality and movement.
Selected by
Clare Grafik
The Photographers’ Gallery
Namibia
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Caged
Namibia
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Caged
Margaret Courtney-Clarke series Caged is a striking study of life in the Namib Desert where a traditionally nomadic land has become fenced in and depleted. The consequent caging of domestic animals and even plants to protect them from predators provides an apt metaphor for the people who still live there.
France
Natalya Saprunova
Saamis, we used to live in the Tundra
France
Natalya Saprunova
Saamis, we used to live in the Tundra
Natalya Saprunova’s series focuses on Uliana, a 11-year-old girl from the Saami people living in the Kola Peninsula in Russia. As we see her playing, fishing, eating and interacting with family members we are presented with an eloquent and intimate study of a culture balancing between tradition and contemporary life.
United States
Séan Alonzo Harris
The Space Between
United States
Séan Alonzo Harris
The Space Between
Séan Alonzo Harris’s black and white photograph Young Man With Glasses is an exceptional portrait. Harris sees his work as ‘an invitation to see differently and transform our….perceptions of others’, his use of a below eye level camera angle and the sitter’s slightly sideways glance creates a sense of both intimacy and agency.
Selected by
Gwen Lee
Singapore International Photography Festival
Singapore
Alvin Ng
Samsara
Singapore
Alvin Ng
Samsara
It is a pleasant surprise for me to encounter works of Alvin who showed me that a familiar landscape, such as my home of Singapore, can be reimagined through photography and remain close to heart. The tranquility and the mystique are cleverly executed.
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
The use of family portraits effectively represents the issue of gender within domestic space. The selection of tactile materials that are attached to these photographs presents a vivid cultural background, and also raises the prevailing relation of labor to gender—the menial meticulous work of sewing to woman.
Japan
Yoshikatsu Fujii
Hiroshima Graph - Everlasting Flow
Japan
Yoshikatsu Fujii
Hiroshima Graph - Everlasting Flow
The deployment of archival materials with the poignant and sensitive portrayal of Fujii’s grandmother has provided a space for readers to pause and reflect on the past and present. The selection of submitted images is tight, and it shows that the photographer has exercised restraint that leads to good editing that narrates the story without becoming overly melodramatic.
Selected by
Rebecca Morse
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
United States
Eric Kunsman
Felicific Calculus: Technology as a Social Marker of Race, Class, & Economics
United States
Eric Kunsman
Felicific Calculus: Technology as a Social Marker of Race, Class, & Economics
What was once a symbol of advanced communication, the public telephone has become a rare bird in the landscape and has taken on a new set of connotations. Kunsman’s rich and detailed images, which range from the shadow of where the phone once existed to downtrodden spaces of boarded up shops and desolate parking lots, tell a story of struggling communities.
Germany
Guido Klumpe
People in Urban Landscapes
Germany
Guido Klumpe
People in Urban Landscapes
These two arms, intertwined through winter coats, evoke intimacy and love between two people. Suggesting an older couple, the one hand reaches out to grab hold of the other’s coat in a way that is familiar. Not the usual caress that we come to associate with longtime attachment, this image is spectacularly evocative.
United States
Lynn Adler
In the NICU
United States
Lynn Adler
In the NICU
The dichotomies set up by this image are extremely powerful and moving. With a tiny baby nestled against his chest, the man looks out with his face half clad in a surgical mask. Emotions related to the pandemic are encapsulated here, with all of the difficulties of the past two and a half years summed up by this loving caress. There is hope, too, with an understanding that the next generation will be brought into this world with care and love.
Selected by
Giuseppe Oliverio
PHmuseum & PHmuseum Lab
Brazil
Gleeson Paulino
Batismo
Brazil
Gleeson Paulino
Batismo
Years after having left home as a teenager to break free from the strictness of his Evangelical Brazilian family, Gleeson Paulino goes back to the place of his youth to reconnect with his heritage. Religion, nature, pop-cultures and many other elements revolve around a non-linear narrative referring to the idea of baptism, the sacrament marked by ritual use of water to admit a person in the Christian community. Memories, fantasy and reality merge in Gleeson's poetic images, recalling to us the importance of (re)connecting with our own roots.
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
Learning the story of women not allowed to visit a center in India where self-help groups learn to embroider, visual artist Spandita Malik started a relevant body of work that denounces their right for independence, security and gendered violence. The idea to engage them in intervening the touching portraits she makes is powerful in its simplicity since it gives the subject the freedom to express their feelings and control their privacy. Even more, it creates a delicate and aesthetically beautiful collective narrative where women of all ages gather together to denounce violence.
United States / Taiwan
Yi Hsuan Lai
Ongoing Narratives
United States / Taiwan
Yi Hsuan Lai
Ongoing Narratives
Yi Hsuan Lai images are the fruit of a research where light, color and shapes interact to give life to new, often sculptoric, microcosms. The images though are more than that and hide a range of emotions where the psychological and metaphorical sides are as important as a genuine research for the aesthetics. Each one of us is welcome to connect to the found objects portrayed and the metaphysical sets openly, something that gives strength to her approach and the themes she invites you to explore, including self-identity, femininity, and the Otherness. Her practice as a very good potential and deserves to be explored further.
How are the Top Ten chosen? Photographers who were selected by more than one critic or had the highest cumulative ratings of all submissions became our Top Ten. They will each receive a $1000 grant in recognition of their work.
Selected by
Elizabeth Renstrom
The New Yorker
South Korea
Hyunmin Ryu
Kim Sae-Hyun
South Korea
Hyunmin Ryu
Kim Sae-Hyun
I'm no less than obsessed with Hyunmin Ryu's work. This collaboration with their nephew both touched me and made me laugh. I love their conceptual and imaginative approach to capturing this relationship. I feel like I'm living in a surreal childhood memory, and I can't wait to see their work on commission.
United States
Leslie Fratkin
Prize Winning Cat with Owner
United States
Leslie Fratkin
Prize Winning Cat with Owner
It is such a joy to be introduced to Leslie's work through this competition. Oftentimes, I feel like photographers are sitting on such incredible archives, and Leslie's sense of humor and captivating eye immediately came through for me in this single image. I feel like I've found another street photographer who is going to have a renaissance.
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
I love Spandita Malik's tactile and collaborative approach with her subjects. The images are literally woven with meaning, and are absolutely stunning.
Selected by
Alexa Becker
Kehrer Verlag Publishers
Namibia
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Caged
Namibia
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Caged
Margaret Courtney-Clarke’s work shows what happens to water-deprived areas with brutal clarity, in this specific case in Namibia. Her visual language is unpretentious yet has a poetic touch.
United States
Fazilat Soukhakian
Queer In Utah
United States
Fazilat Soukhakian
Queer In Utah
Fazilat Soukhakian’s grew up in Iran where living your LGTBQ+ identity is punished with the death penalty to this day. Moving to Utah (USA), the photographer found queer people also struggling with the judgments of society. Portraying couples that fight to express their identity while negotiating it with their religious beliefs is a powerful statement, captured in these sensitive portraits.
United States
Kathleen Clark
The White House China
United States
Kathleen Clark
The White House China
Kathleen Clark's series touches on the many wounds of American history. Showing social injustices and wars fictionally on the president's official china has originality and ingenuity.
Selected by
Dilys Ng
TIME
United States
Leslie Fratkin
Prize Winning Cat with Owner
United States
Leslie Fratkin
Prize Winning Cat with Owner
Fratkin’s Prize Winning Cat is so wonderfully bizarre. From the stiffness to the blank stares (in all directions but towards the camera) to the plethora of winning ribbons, this picture is both alluring and full of questions.
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
Nā́rī is a profound collaboration between artist and subject that taps into themes of power, autonomy and memory. Through the meaningful participation in photography and embroidery, Malik has managed to create a stunning series that tackles sacrifice and newfound freedom.
United States
Rebecca Moseman
Portraits
United States
Rebecca Moseman
Portraits
Moseman’s captivating portrait of Alisha picks up on details that are so reminiscent of adolescent rebellion and innocence; her four braided tails, hand gesture and gaze. With its raw and earnest qualities, Moseman’s work feels like a timeless capsule of childhood.
Selected by
Catherine Hug
Catherine and André Hug Gallery
Germany
Andreas Bauer
Flying Boys
Germany
Andreas Bauer
Flying Boys
I am very sensitive to the picture frame, light and treatment of this everyday life scene shot in the street of Havana in Cuba.
United Kingdom
Agnes Eperjesy
Adjusted Trajectories
United Kingdom
Agnes Eperjesy
Adjusted Trajectories
I find this project Adjusted Trajectories very poetic. Eperjesy recontextualizes a character who has suffered injustice by inviting him to her garden through a double exposure, giving him back a voice in society.
United States
Jerry Takigawa
Balancing Cultures
United States
Jerry Takigawa
Balancing Cultures
Jerry Takigawa treats a painful moment in the winding history of the United States with extreme poetry. Balancing Culture is a work about memory and history that touches me deeply.
Selected by
Raquel Villar-Pérez
PhotoWorks
United States
Michael Young
Hidden Glances
United States
Michael Young
Hidden Glances
The colorful photo collages in Young’s series Hidden Glances, swerve away from representing the trauma of neglecting one’s true self. Instead, the artist finds comfort in the margins of ‘glancing’ to address the notions of queer intimate desire and family and social constraints in a refreshing and witty way.
United States
Mony Nation
Discovering Deloach
United States
Mony Nation
Discovering Deloach
Nation’s Discovering Deloach is a project of care; care for one’s family history but also for the history of those who have been rendered invisible. The powerful black angular lines that intervene into the archival images indicate at the same time the ebbs and flows of the research process, and the pain the artist put herself through during the process of retrieving her genealogy.
Latvia
Zane Priede
Continuous Gardens
Latvia
Zane Priede
Continuous Gardens
Priede’s bright still lifes of futurable plants in her series Continuous Garden, are a reminder of the planet’s capacity for self-healing and reinvention, despite human intervention. Through color and boundless imagination, it sheds a stimulating light of optimism to the grim reality of climate change.
Selected by
Dimitri Beck
Polka Magazine
United States
Marna Clarke
Time As We Know it
United States
Marna Clarke
Time As We Know it
A wonderful pure act of love and at the same time an intimate journey in elders’ life. What courage and strength to have been able to produce such a series. It is a rare look into old age, showing and telling what it means to age in a smart and delicate way. No voyeurism, just humanity.
United States
Annette LeMay Burke
Fauxliage
United States
Annette LeMay Burke
Fauxliage
What is important in documentary photography is the point of view. This series is puts focus on our fascinating but scary modernity. A science fiction effect is created by the way it is made and presented. This forest’s call might make us more and more dizzy.
United States
Maxine Helfman
Recast(e)ing the Future
United States
Maxine Helfman
Recast(e)ing the Future
For this body of work, Maxine Helfman has found a good balance in substance and form. Powerful in terms of the topics and what the photographs depict. It is very contemporary and current. Also, in terms of technique, the photographs are made smartly and carefully. I am impressed with the final result, especially as it’s made by a self-taught photographer.
Selected by
Jim Casper
LensCulture
Brazil
Gleeson Paulino
Batismo
Brazil
Gleeson Paulino
Batismo
Gleeson Paulino has created some dream-like images in his project Batismo. Connected by light, color, artistic sensibility, and a theme of water — each could be the subject of a short story, conjuring up ideas of sacredness, the flow of life, and diversity of creatures that interact with (and are dependent upon) the life-sustaining powers of a river.
United States
Paul Rider
Forever
United States
Paul Rider
Forever
These images by Paul Rider are mesmerizing to me — artful, abstract, mysterious, and a bit like tiny signs of life as seen under a microscope. Yet, when you come to realize that they are photograms made from discarded plastic that will never break down naturally, a sense of horror emerges. It’s a very effective form of art as a wake-up call to stop polluting our planet.
United States
Rebecca Horne
Vessel Collection
United States
Rebecca Horne
Vessel Collection
The images in Rebecca Horne’s series “Vessel Collection” are brilliant illusions that play with the ideas of volume, depth and containment, while challenging the two-dimensional flatness of a photograph. They look deceptively simple, and the execution of their ideas seems flawless. Each image in the series presents a different take, providing a pleasing rhythm and adding to the sense of wonder. They make me smile.
Selected by
Claartje Van Dijk
FOAM
South Korea
Hyunmin Ryu
Kim Sae-Hyun
South Korea
Hyunmin Ryu
Kim Sae-Hyun
The photographs and words of Hyunmin Ryu express a strong tenderness and care about his nephew. Yet the atmosphere in the photographic frame instills the feeling of alienation and distance. The artist's observations are a moving reflection of family life and the struggles of growing up.
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
United States
Spandita Malik
Nā́rī (2019-Ongoing)
Spandita Malik creates unique and stunning photographic objects that are heavy with meaning. In her collaboration with women from self-help groups, she provides them with an essential opportunity to maintain their own authority. By asking the women to insert their personal embroidery into the portraits the artist takes, they take ownership of telling their own story. These intimate narratives placed onto the artist's photographic creation are thus weaved together into a new history. The photographs become tactile stories of love, grief and perseverance.
United States
Julia SH and Justin Lutsky
Body Of Work
United States
Julia SH and Justin Lutsky
Body Of Work
With Diving Belle, Julia SH and Justin Lutsky capture the grace and tenderness of a beautiful being on her way to a mysterious destination. The use of light and color abstracts the photographic composition and creates the feeling of an unknown world. In a pink starry night the artists form a universe of love and serenity.
Selected by
Catherine Edelman
Catherine Edelman Gallery
Spain
Harry Fisch
The Art of Disappearing
Spain
Harry Fisch
The Art of Disappearing
The disappearance of small tribes is a global problem and often photographed by those from the outside. This series allows the tribes people to speak for themselves, revealing a complicated history of memory and loss. I am completely taken by these images and hope to see them in person one day. Amazing series!
United Kingdom
Kim Aldis
Beach Huts of Paignton
United Kingdom
Kim Aldis
Beach Huts of Paignton
Humor is a hard subject to photograph, and photographers often rely on cynicism or judgement instead. Aldis’ work avoids these traps, showing us how people customize small beach huts, making them each unique. When I saw this work I couldn’t stop smiling, looking at how each person presented themselves and making me wonder how I would paint my cabin to express my personality. A poignant project about individuality in the face of homogeneity.
United Kingdom
Rebecca Redmond
Giant Puppets
United Kingdom
Rebecca Redmond
Giant Puppets
I’ve seen a lot of images of the puppets that are touring around the world, but this image made me stop in my tracks. The industrial background and smoke rising from the street creates an atmosphere of tension that acknowledges the migrants plight. Fantastic photograph.
Selected by
Louise Fedotov-Clements
FORMAT Festival
Singapore
Alvin Ng
Samsara
Singapore
Alvin Ng
Samsara
Overwhelmed by the uncertainty and chaos of the recent pandemic the artist began to look inwards, beyond the uncertainty and loss, to tune into the more ethereal strata of life. Based in Singapore, and guided by Buddhist teachings, he immersed himself in his surroundings, observing and living as an element in sync with all things almost on a molecular level. Through the work, he represents a subtle yet dynamic place in which particles are in a constant motion of flux and equilibrium. Via the images we are transported to join the artist in a journey that exposes the currents of their flow, following its uncharted course, listening to the messages as they whisper and being open to deciphering their meanings.
United States
Marna Clarke
Time As We Know it
United States
Marna Clarke
Time As We Know it
Time As We Know it is a unique project authentically shot by, and featuring Marna, who is 81 years old, as a longform autobiographical series, together with her partner aged 92, chronicling the intimacy and experiences of growing older. By witnessing details and experiences, created and represented from the photographer’s point of view, we can appreciate the varied realities of living with an aging body and the consequences of slowly diminishing capacities, something that we can all relate to. The work is a brave reflection on the inevitability of change, in which the act of image making can offer a degree of control.
United States / Taiwan
Yi Hsuan Lai
Ongoing Narratives
United States / Taiwan
Yi Hsuan Lai
Ongoing Narratives
This is a set of images that reinterprets and reinvents objects to instill a visceral and anthropomorphic quality. Through construction and deconstruction, found objects are reconfigured by the artist with a feeling of proliferation, rooted in the experience of emigration and the fluid uncertainty of status and identity. The artist, originally from Taiwan, currently works in New York, her graphic design and live theatre documentation background led her to develop an artistic process that combines staged self-portraiture, still-life sculpture, and installation in an otherworldly, playful, exploration of representation, transience, and material.
“The LensCulture submissions were extremely varied, from deeply personal and conceptual series to arresting reportage images. Uniting the extremely varied subject matters, styles and approaches was a clear passion for photography and, in the best examples, a considered approach to what it means to make – and look at – photographs”
Emma Lewis
Meet our International Jury
Each critic selected three personal favorites.
Emma Lewis
Assistant Curator
Tate Modern
United Kingdom

Emma Lewis is a curator specialising in photography. Recent and upcoming projects include the book “Photography – A Feminist History” (Ilex/Tate 2021) and the exhibition Sue Williamson and Lebohang Kganye (The Barnes, 2023). As Assistant Curator, International Art at Tate Modern (2013–ongoing) she has organised or co-organised numerous exhibitions and displays, including Dora Maar (2019), Portraits and Community (2019), and Wolfgang Tillmans (2017). She is responsible for researching photography acquisitions for the permanent collection, with a specialist focus on women’s histories and feminist practices.

Rhea Combs
Director of Curatorial Affairs
National Portrait Gallery
United States

Rhea L. Combs, PhD is the Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and works with her curatorial team along with the History, Conservation and Audience Engagement departments to grow the Portrait Gallery’s collection, develop impactful exhibitions, and draw connections between portraiture, biography and identity. Prior to this, Combs was at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture where she served as supervisory curator of photography and film and head of the museum’s Earl W. and Amanda Stafford Center for African American Media Arts. She has curated numerous exhibitions related to film and photography both nationally and internationally, including: “Everyday Beauty: Photographs and Films from the Permanent Collection” (2016), “Represent: Hip-Hop Photography” (2018), and “Now Showing: African American Movie Posters” (2019). She is a co-curator of the forthcoming exhibition “Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971,” which will be presented at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. She received a BA from Howard University and an MA from Cornell University before earning a PhD from Emory University.

Marta Weiss
Senior Curator, Photography
Victoria and Albert Museum
United Kingdom

Dr. Marta Weiss is Senior Curator of Photography at the V&A and Lead Curator of the second phase of the V&A Photography Centre, opening in 2023. She joined the museum in 2007 after two years in the Department of Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She studied history of art, specialising in photography, at Harvard (BA) and Princeton (MA, PhD). Her V&A exhibitions include Julia Margaret Cameron (2015); The Camera Exposed (2016); Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience 1950s-1990s (2015); Making It Up: Photographic Fictions (2013); and Light from the Middle East: New Photography (2012). She is author of four books and numerous essays, on topics ranging from Victorian photocollage to Diane Arbus. Her most recent book is Autofocus: The Car in Photography (Thames & Hudson/V&A 2019).

Jasper Bode
Founder
Ravestijn Gallery
Netherlands

Jasper Bode founded together with Narda van ’t Veer The Ravestijn Gallery in 2012 in Amsterdam. The gallery focuses on inquisitive and provocative approaches to contemporary photography.

Bode and Van ‘t Veer respectively bring together several decades of experience curating photography exhibitions and representing a diverse group of photographic talents in the Netherlands and abroad. The gallery showcases several exhibitions a year aimed at exploring new perspectives for photography in all its forms and showing ambitious international works.

In addition to its exhibition program and participation in international photography fairs, the gallery holds an expansive collection of photography on site and gathers pictures from the twentieth century and other contemporary photographs.

Cortney Norman
Associate Director
Yancey Richardson Gallery
United States

Cortney Norman is the Associate Director at Yancey Richardson Gallery. Founded in 1995, the gallery specializes in contemporary photography and represents a number of influential and critically recognized photographers and artists including Mitch Epstein, Anthony Hernandez, Zanele Muholi, and Mickalene Thomas. Prior to joining Yancey Richardson, Cortney was the Assistant Director at Howard Greenberg Gallery, who’s collection of over 40,000 prints acts as a living history of photography. She graduated from New York University with a degree in Art History and focus on photography.

Clare Grafik
Head of Exhibitions
The Photographers’ Gallery
United Kingdom

Clare Grafik is Head of Exhibitions at The Photographers’ Gallery in London. She earned a BA Joint Honors in Philosophy/Art History at Leeds University, and MA in Image and Communications (Photography) at Goldsmiths College. She has worked in a number of public institutions in London including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Hayward Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. She has been at The Photographers’ Gallery since 2003 working in public programming and curating exhibitions. She has worked on exhibitions and projects with artists and photographers including Lise Sarfati, Isa Genzken, Larry Sultan, Mike Mandel, Taryn Simon, Katy Grannan, Antoine D’Agata, Cuny Janssen, Zineb Sedira and Keith Arnatt. Group exhibitions include The Photographic Object (2009) and Photography & Collage (2012). She has been a Sessional Lecturer at Birkbeck College, London, has lectured at institutions including University of the Arts, University of South Wales, Sothebys Institute of Art, and written for magazines including IANN and Art Monthly. Forthcoming projects include solo exhibitions with Viviane Sassen and Charlotte Dumas and a group exhibition ‘Double Take: Drawing & Photography’ with the Drawing Room, London.

Jim Casper
Editor-in-Chief
LensCulture
The Netherlands

Jim Casper is the editor-in-chief of LensCulture, one of the leading online destinations to discover new contemporary photography from around the world. As an active member in the contemporary photography world, Casper loves to meet with photographers and review their portfolios. He curates art exhibitions, publishes books, conducts workshops, serves as an international juror and nominator for key awards, and is an advisor to arts and education organizations.

Gwen Lee
Director
Singapore International Photography Festival
Singapore

After 6 years of experience in the museum industry, Gwen Lee co-founded Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF), a biennale international photography platform in 2008. Since then, she has curated & organised numerous photography exhibitions both in Singapore and overseas. In 2014, she curated Flux: Contemporary Photography from China at Art Science Museum. In 2016, she curated a special photobook exhibition with Steidl publishing at DECK, and a solo exhibition of Daido Moriyama at DECK. On a regular basis, she gives talks on professional development for photographers, and participates as a juror and portfolio reviewer in Asia and Europe.

Rebecca Morse
Curator, Wallis Annenberg Photography Department
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
United States

Rebecca Morse is Curator in the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Recent projects include “Thomas Joshua Cooper: The World’s Edge”, “Sarah Charlesworth: Doubleworld”, and “Larry Sultan: Here and Home”. She was previously Associate Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) where she organized “Amanda Ross Ho: Teeny Tiny Woman”, “Cai Guo-Qiang: Ladder to the Sky”, “Rodarte: States of Matter”, “The Artist’s Museum”, and “Florian Maier-Aichen”. Upcoming projects include a mid-career survey of the work of Barbara Kruger titled “Thinking of You I Mean Me I Mean You” and “Objects of Desire: Photography and the Language of Advertising” that examines the ways artists have appropriated the language of commercial photography.

Giuseppe Oliverio
Founder and Director
PHmuseum & PHmuseum Lab
Italy

Giuseppe Oliverio is an Italian entrepreneur and curator. In 2012, he launched PHmuseum, a platform for contemporary photography widely known for its grants program. Past grant recipients include artists Laura El-Tantawy, Max Pinckers, Diana Markosian, Jacob Aue Sobol, Sanne De Wilde, and Alejandro Cartagena. PHmuseum is based in Bologna, Italy, where Oliverio founded the PHmuseum Lab, a multifunctional space for workshops, talks, and exhibitions, and PHmuseum Days, the platform’s first international photography festival.

Oliverio has served on the juries for the Lucie Photo Book Prize, Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward, UPI’s The Fence, and Happiness OnTheMove, and regularly works as a portfolio reviewer at festivals such as Unseen, Photo Vogue Festival, and Visa Pour L’Image. He has also written for TIME magazine and L’Uomo Vogue. Oliverio holds a degree in economics from Bocconi University (Milan) and a Master’s in Quantitative Finance from Cass Business School (London).

Elizabeth Renstrom
Senior Photo Editor
The New Yorker
United States

Elizabeth Renstrom is a Brooklyn-based photographer, editor, and curator. As a photographer, she uses humor as a tool to investigate themes of feminism, the way we use images, and how we craft our identities in relation to pop culture. Her style is defined by its saturation and prop-driven arrangements in both editorial commissions and in her own projects. She has shot extensively for clients like The New Yorker, Refinery 29, TIME, Instagram, and Vice among others. No matter what, she isn’t afraid to make photography weird across commercial or fine art. As an editor and curator, Elizabeth has worked in the photo departments of Marie Claire, TIME, Vice, and, most recently, The New Yorker where, as Senior Photo Editor, she commissions original photography for the weekly magazine.

Alexa Becker
Contributing Editor
Kehrer Verlag Publishers
Germany

Alexa Becker is a Contributing Editor for photography and art books for Kehrer Verlag, a Germany-based publisher founded in 1995.

After earning her Master’s in Art History from the University of Heidelberg,she started her career at Kehrer in 2003, where she is responsible for selecting and acquiring new photography-related projects.

Alexa Becker provides artistic and marketing advice for photographers concerning the content and style of their work at several international portfolio reviews. She enjoys helping photographers and others appreciate the special qualities present in their work, in particular discovering novel, genuine visions of the world.

Alexa Becker is also a freelance consultant, advising and coaching photographers independently.

Dilys Ng
Senior Photo Editor
TIME
United States

Dilys Ng is Senior Photo Editor at TIME. She commissions, produces and edits photography across platforms for high impact features and projects like TIME100, Person of the Year, Guns in America and Next Generation Leaders. She was previously at the Singapore International Photography Festival and has served as juror on multiple awards and reviews.

Catherine Hug
Director
Catherine and André Hug Gallery
France

Catherine and André Hug founded their gallery in Paris in 2000. Located in the heart of the artistic and historic Saint Germain des Prés neighborhood, the Catherine and André Hug Gallery offers a photographic program that compares historical series to the most contemporary expressions. They have presented the work of Susan Meiselas, Raymond Depardon, Philippe Chancel, Kourtney Roy, Joni Sternbach, Reine Paradis, Mona Kuhn, and many more. Catherine has a degree in communications and worked as a sales director for 15 years prior to opening the gallery with her husband.

Raquel Villar-Pérez
Curator
PhotoWorks
United Kingdom

Raquel Villar-Pérez is a researcher, writer, and curator whose practice focuses on de- and anti- colonial discourses within contemporary art and literature from the ‘Global South’. She is interested in the work of image-makers who address notions of transnational feminisms, social and environmental justice, and do so in original, expansive ways.

Currently, she is the Curator at Photoworks, where she is instrumental to the development of the Photoworks Festival and she leads on the Annual, the Jerwood/Photoworks Awards, and the Ampersand Fellowship, among other projects. Prior to Photoworks, Raquel worked for Tate Modern as an Exhibitions Assistant. As a freelancer, Raquel has curated exhibitions of contemporary art and public programmes in London, Cambridge, Bogotá, Stockholm, Seoul, Málaga, and Valencia. Her exhibition project Poetics of Resistance from the Archive in Two Acts won the 2021 Peckham24 Open Call. She regularly sits in jury panels and contributes to publications such as British Journal of Photography, C&, C& América Latina, and Africanah.

Having graduated in Cultural Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2017, she is now a PhD candidate at Birkbeck’s School of Art. She has been recently appointed co-coordinator of the CILAVS Early Career Researchers Network and is a member of the research group Art and Identity Politics at the University of Murcia in Spain.

Dimitri Beck
Director of Photography
Polka Magazine
France

Dimitri Beck is the editor-in-chief of the Paris based photography magazine, Polka. Dimitri has been part of the executive management of Polka since 2008, contributing to the development of the magazine, gallery and website, including the magazine’s new feature-rich iPad version. Dimitri lectures on photojournalism at conferences and educational institutes. Prior to working at Polka, he was the Director of the Aina Photo Agency based in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Claartje Van Dijk
Head of Exhibitions
FOAM
Netherlands

Claartje van Dijk is head of the photography department at Foam Photography Museum in Amsterdam since 2020. She curated various exhibitions including “Laia Abril - On Rape: A History of Misogyny, Chapter Two”, “Karolina Wojtas - We can’t live – without each other” and “Liz Johnson Artur - of life of love of sex of movement of hope”, among others. Previously, Claartje worked at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York as Assistant Curator, Collections. At ICP she conducted research on the museum’s collection and was a curator on numerous exhibitions, including “Perpetual Revolutions: The Image and Social Change” (2017), “Elliott Erwitt: Pittsburgh” (2018) and “Your Mirror: Portraits from the ICP Collection” (2019). Claartje has juried a number of awards including PDN: The Curator Award, Critical Mass and the Lucie Scholarship Program for The Lucie Foundation.

Catherine Edelman
Founder and Director
Catherine Edelman Gallery
United States

December 1, 2021 marked the 34-year anniversary of Catherine Edelman Gallery, a venue for contemporary fine art photography in Chicago. Since its founding in 1987, the gallery has established itself as one of the leading galleries in the US devoted to the exhibition of prominent living photographers, alongside new & young talent. The gallery showcases a broad range of subject matter, attracting both the seasoned collector and first-time buyer. Recently, CEG moved to a 4400 sq ft space, expanding its program to include artists readings and panel discussions, with a larger exhibition space and dedicated video room, as we seek to expand the vocabulary of photography. Our web site provides a wealth of information, including artist talks, interviews with art world professionals, an online only gallery for local talent, and extensive educational material.

In 2018, Catherine Edelman and Anette Skuggedal formed CASE Art Fund, a 501c3 non-profit that raises awareness about children’s human rights through the support and exhibition of photography, with the firm belief that every child has the right to an education, regardless of race, class or sexual orientation. CASE’s vision is to be at the forefront of presenting photographs that inspire and create a positive impact on social awareness, human rights, and children’s education. Photographic projects are exhibited in the public arena, including wall-pastings on the side of buildings, public libraries, art fairs, and other cultural venues.

Catherine is an active member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) and is widely respected as a leader, educator and specialist in the field of contemporary photography.

Louise Fedotov-Clements
Director
FORMAT Festival
United Kingdom

Louise has been the Director of FORMAT International Photography Festival for 18 years, which she co-founded in 2004 and the Artistic Director of QUAD a centre for contemporary art and film for 20 years. She works as an independent curator since 1998 directing commissions, publications, performances and exhibitions. Currently she leads the arts programme at Forestry England, including Earth Photo.

She serves as a Guest Curator for international exhibitions/festivals including Dong Gang (Yeongwol) South Korea; Photoquai Biennale Musée du quai Branly Paris; Les Rencontres Arles, Discoveries; Dali Photo, China; Venice Biennale EM15; Photo Beijing, and LishuiPhoto China; Korea International Photo Festival. A steering Group member for FORMAT International Photography Festival, and international award nominator, she has also contributed to numerous publications as producer/writer/editor and a regular juror, portfolio reviewer, speaker in Europe, America, Africa & Asia.

Thank You!

Congratulations to all 40 winning photographers! And sincere thanks to every photographer who participated, and to each of the experts who contributed their time and expertise.