Announcing 40 New Discoveries in Art Photography
As a juror, I was thrilled by the range of work that was submitted for both the Single and Series categories. We were able to review submissions featuring a variety of processes, techniques, and interventions, as well as novel takes on well-known themes. It was a great opportunity and privilege to see new work, but also learn from new approaches that are pushing what art photography can encompass.”
picks
French photographer Camille Gharbi’s photographic project titled Matres Mundi stood out to me. I was drawn to Gharbi’s photographic strategy of mixing vibrant portraits of women from Sub-Saharan Africa with architectural images of streets and buildings in Grigny, a small town in the suburbs of Paris. Collaborating with the women, known as “Mamas of Grigny,” Gharbi states that this project “probes the complexities of social cohesion viewed through the lens of France’s colonial history.”
All kinds of ambiguities are contained in this work and its complex structure. It looks as if the person is diving into the sea or trying to jump towards the sky. The moment that follows holds both the possibility of hope and hopelessness for the future. Despite being in this unstable landscape, the body that dives into it must be looking powerfully ahead. It reminds us that no matter what kind of society we live in, we must never forget that gaze that bravely stares ahead of us.
What strikes me about Donna Gordon's series of black-and-white portraits of her sister is the almost hopeless quest to capture through the lens our dearest loved ones. With a kind of cinematic impulse, it's about trying to detect the fleeting signs of the soul's evolution on the face and physiognomy of the person photographed — and more precisely here the traces of both illness and mutual affection. I'm very moved by the vulnerability conveyed by these images, both of the model and of the artist.
After some consideration, I chose Robert Nzaou’s Louzolo, which means love in Kilkongo, a local Congolese language. I've delved into this word and have found that it means more than love; from my understanding, it is an important aspect of his culture's expressions of traditions, daily rituals and performances. 'Louzolo' defines love as well as community and a sense of connection and celebration. Nzaou's exploration of men joyfully taking on what is known in the Congolese context as women's roles, represents to me an introspection and departure from how love is typically expressed within this culture. He takes the confined gender roles he has known and turns them on their head, evoking a sense of joy, love and nurturing.
A Portrait of Tiegan and Alfie from the series A Place I Call Home. Enigmatic and haunting, this artistic and socially-engaged photography series is focused on the lives of four young women, their families, the impacts of generational gender-based trauma and their progressive relationship with the police. Socially-engaged practice intends to affect change in this case using the power of photography to generate empathy and understanding amongst officers to influence real developments within police work and help foster better compassion about the complex issues faced by the girls. This portrait stood out in particular for its sensitive portrayal of the girl and the child; a strong composition full of painterly light in a beautifully caught and selected moment, it is clear that from the trusting gaze, vulnerability and strength, that a genuine emotional bond has been built with the photographer through spending time together in their participatory sessions co-creating images and text, listening to and valuing contributions. This humbling image prompts more questions than answers but left me with a feeling of admiration, love and hope.
As beautiful as they are compositionally, I find many of the photographs in Alastair Wiper’s series Unintended Beauty difficult to look at. They are brutally honest, and shine a hard, unforgiving light on how we use our natural resources, and even how we use our own intellectual capabilities and desires. As a book publisher, I tend to be more romantic at heart, but I found this body of work so powerful — and even shocking — that I am pleased to select it as my juror’s choice.
I was immediately attracted to the energy and eye movements generated by Cynthia Katz’s multi-piece composition Almost Gone: Lunar Eclipse and Sailor. I was delighted even more when I learned that all of the components in this attractive grid were cherished bits and details from larger printed works that the artist had considered failures — and had almost thrown away! By rescuing and re-purposing these best bits, Katz allows us to appreciate all of these little gems, and we get to identify originally unintended dynamic interconnections that reveal wide-ranging, ever-changing artistic constellations.
My friends are cyborgs but that’s okay by Ramona Wang considers dominant notions of Asian identity as both fluid and limited. Described by Wang as a “mockumentary,” the series explores and critiques the damaging binaries that emerge in representations of Asian culture in mainstream media. Wang argues that if representation is ultimately an act of imagination, why can’t its critique be as well? Through each meticulously staged image in her series, Wang imagines an alternative to the sometimes rigid and inherited boundaries of identity, community, and humanness — often in playful and surprising ways. In the process, she builds a world entirely her own.
The rich diversity of themes and photographic languages explored by the candidates is what makes the LensCulture Art Photography Award such a stimulating competition to be part of as a juror. ”
Our International Jury
Damarice Amao is an associate curator for photography at the Musée National d’ Art Moderne/Centre Pompidou in Paris. She has co-curated exhibitions such as Eli Lotar (Jeu de Paume, 2017), Photography, Weapon of Class (Centre Pompidou, 2018) and Dora Maar (Centre Pompidou, Tate, Getty, 2019) and co-edited the accompanying catalogues.
She recently curated and edited the following projects : Charlotte Perriand. Politics of photomontage (Rencontres d’Arles, 2021), Nicole Gravier. Myths and Clichés (Rencontres d’Arles, 2023) and Décadrage colonial. Anticolonialism, Surrealism, Modern Photography (Centre Pompidou, 2022) She is the author of Eli Lotar et le mouvement des images (2017) and has contributed to numerous publications including Bernar Venet. Photographies ; James Barnor. The Roadmaker (2021) ; Variétés et l’esprit contemporain (2019), Le Spectre du Surréalisme (2017).
Varun Nayar is the associate managing editor at Aperture magazine, and has worked on books by Myriam Boulos, Rebecca Bengal, Awol Erizku, Sunil Gupta, Kimowan Metchewais, and Zhang Xiao. He was previously at the Museum of Art & Photography, in Bangalore, India, where he served as the lead editor for the museum’s expansive digital art encyclopedia. His writing has appeared in Aperture, FOAM, Words Without Borders, National Geographic, and Pacific Standard, among other publications.
Since 2011, Natasha Egan has served as the executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (MoCP), where she was previously the associate director and curator since 2000. She has organized over fifty exhibitions with a focus on contemporary Asian art and artists concerned with societal issues, such as the environment, war, and economics. Egan was a guest curator for the 2010 FotoFest Biennial in Houston; the United States pavilion curator for the 2016 Photo Dubai Exhibition; and guest curator for the 2019 Lianzhou Photography Biennial in China. Egan has contributed essays to numerous publications such as Beate Gütschow LS / S (Aperture); Michael Wolf: The Transparent City (Aperture); Placing Memory: A Photographic Exploration of Japanese American Internment with photographs by Todd Stewart (University of Oklahoma Press), Black Maps: American Landscapes and the Apocalyptic Sublime with photographs by David Maisel (Steidl) and Taxonomy of Landscape with photographs by Victoria Sambunaris (Radius). For over a decade, she taught in the photography and humanities departments at Columbia College Chicago, and holds a BA in Asian studies, MA in museum studies, and MFA in fine art photography.
Louise Fedotov-Clements is the Director of Photoworks,a leading international contemporary photography and media organisation, charity and biennial festival. CoFounder, and former Director FORMAT Festival & previous Artistic Director QUAD,, a centre for contemporary art and film. As a creative director, she has led commissions, publications, mass participation art, film and photography programmes and exhibitions around the world. Acting National Curator of Contemporary Art Forestry England. Co-Director of Earth Photo. Louise writes about photography for catalogues and magazines in both print and online including Next Level, South Korean Photography, 1000words, co-editor of Hijacked III UK/AUS, PHOTOCINEMA. She is an international photography juror, advisor and nominator, a regular portfolio reviewer at festivals and galleries throughout Europe, America, Africa and Asia. Board member for Archivo and Inspirate.
Chris Pichler founded Nazraeli Press in Munich, Germany in 1989. In 1997, the press moved to the United States and in 2002 opened a subsidiary in the United Kingdom. Nazraeli Press has published over 500 books on the fine and applied arts with an emphasis on contemporary photography. The books are distributed throughout the world. Pichler edits and designs most of the books published by Nazraeli. He is known for his unorthodox use of common materials—such as papers, wood, plastic, metals—and for introducing elements of handiwork into otherwise mass-produced objects. The press’s award-winning books have themselves been the subject of exhibitions and books about books.
Rose Shoshana founded ROSEGALLERY in 1992, establishing a renowned space focused on works which enrich the canon of modern and contemporary photography. ROSEGALLERY has centered its programming both on pictures which instill the history of photography (such as Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Dorothea Lange) and works that ever expand the potential of photo-based art (such as John Chiara and Lebohang Kganye).
Rose Shoshana’s work with ROSEGALLERY extends beyond exhibiting photographs: often collaborating and collecting support for artists to create projects that perhaps the artists could not have realized on their own. Shoshana has worked intimately with renowned artists and institutions, including William Eggleston, Bruce Davidson, Graciela Iturbide, Evelyn Hofer and Mark Cohen. Several of these projects became a part of the Tate Modern’s rotating program, Artist Rooms.
She is one of the founding members of the Getty Museum’s Photographs Council and has worked with The J. Paul Getty Museum on several of their major exhibitions. She has published and edited several books, and she worked with Jo Ann Callis on realizing her first monograph Early Color, published by Aperture.
Following studies in art history, specializes in the history of modern/contemporary photography. Curator of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum from 2018, through curator of Izu Photo Museum (2014-2018). Organized the exhibition Fiona Tan: Ascent (2016), Terri Weifenbach: The May Sun (2017), Forever (and again) (2018), Memories Penetrate the Ground and Permeate the Wind: Contemporary Japanese Photography vol. 18 (2021), Motohashi Seiichi and Robert Doisneau: Narrative Passages (2023). co-curated I know something about love, asian contemporary photography (2018) and life actually (2023) with KASAHARA Michiko, Reversible Destiny: Australian and Japanese contemporary photography (2021) with Natalie KING. Part-time lecturer of Meiji Gakuin University.
Jim Casper is the editor-in-chief of LensCulture, one of the leading online destinations to discover contemporary photography from around the world. As an active member in the contemporary photography world, Casper organizes annual international photography events, travels around the world to meet with photographers and review their portfolios, curates art exhibitions, writes about photography and culture, lectures, conducts workshops, serves as an international juror and nominator for key awards, and is an advisor to arts and education organizations.
