LONDON.- Today the V&A announces the five winners of the inaugural V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography. The prize is a three-year commitment by the museum and is dedicated to identifying, supporting, and championing innovative women artists working in the field of contemporary photography.

The prize attracted nearly 1400 submissions from artists all over the world, representing a broad visual and conceptual interpretation of the theme ‘Agents of Change’, which celebrates photography’s role in affecting and documenting transformation, revolution and innovation. The five winners of the prize will have their work displayed at Peckham 24 – south London’s vibrant three-day contemporary photography festival – which opens Friday 12 May 2023.

The winners were chosen from a shortlist of ten by the prize selection committee, co-chaired by Fiona Rogers, the inaugural Parasol Foundation Curator of Women in Photography at the V&A, and Vivienne Gamble, co-founder of Peckham 24 and Director of Seen Fifteen gallery, London. They were joined by Lesley A. Martin, Creative Director of Aperture; Ronan Mckenzie, photographer, curator and founder of Black-owned artist space HOME; and Turner nominated multi-media artist and lecturer Ingrid Pollard.

The selection committee said: “This range of artists wonderfully characterizes the concept of ‘change agents’ and demonstrates photography’s ability to capture and influence societal and political evolution. Each artist represents a compelling shift in the medium, from traditional observational documentary practices to the exploration of archives and staged imagery as a means of reflecting upon authentic, lived experiences.”

The winners:

Anya Tsaruk ‘Mother Land’ (2022)

Anya Tsaruk is a Ukrainian photographer based in Berlin. Her artistic approach focused initially on documentary and street photography but evolved in the past year to expose the realities of war in Ukraine and its consequences. Her series ‘Mother Land’ is an autobiographical example of how families have been affected by the war.

Vân-Nhi Nguyễn ‘As You Grow Older’ (2021)




Vân-Nhi Nguyễn is a Vietnamese photographer and designer based in Hà Nội, Việt Nam. Her work is concerned with the reconstruction of collective memory – be it that of her own identity or of the larger community – and its relationship to contemporary society. Her ongoing project, ‘As You Grow Older’, takes the familiar shape of a family photo album and features portraits in which each individual is presented in their own space.

Gohar Dashti ‘Home Series’ (2017)

Gohar Dashti is an Iranian American photographer and video artist lives and works in Tehran. Her native country is a dominant feature in her work, with particular focus on its topography, socio-geography, and history of violence. In ‘Home Series’, Dashti documents the places ‘left behind’ in Iran; evidence of those displaced by years of conflict.

Priyadarshini Ravichandran ‘Surge’ (2019)

Priyadarshini Ravichandran is an Indian photographer whose work is connected with lived experience, including stories of women, their lives and the land. ‘Surge’ (2019) is a poetic and personal exploration revealing the complexity of familial relationships.

Cynthia MaiWa Sitei ‘Spear of a Nation’ (2019)

Cynthia MaiWa Sitei is a Kenyan British visual artist and curator whose work is heavily influenced by the culture of storytelling. She integrates photography, text and the archive to explore themes such as stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Responding to the colonial archive of British social anthropologist Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard, ‘spear of a nation’ embarks on its own expedition to critically reflect on acculturation and assimilation, and the legacy of colonialism.

The five winners of the prize will have their work displayed at Peckham 24 – south London’s vibrant three-day contemporary photography festival – which opens Friday 12 May 2023. Each artist will also receive career enhancing opportunities, including a networking dinner with industry experts, and a financial bursary of £2000, as well as a spotlight on the V&A blog and the V&A Parasol Foundation Women in Photography Project’s Instagram account.

The prize has been made possible by the support of Ms. Ruth Monicka Parasol and The Parasol Foundation Trust, and forms part of the V&A Photography Centre’s ongoing commitment to diversifying the museum’s photography Collection and programme and to reach new audiences outside of the museum in South Kensington.