FRANKFURT.- The 2024 exhibition will feature work by the international shortlisted artists: VALIE EXPORT, Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, Lebohang Kganye and Hrair Sarkissian, at The Photographers’ Gallery in London, from 23 February until 2 June 2024.
Now in its 28th year, the Prize has become renowned as one of the most important international awards for photographers, spotlighting outstanding, innovative and thought-provoking work. This year’s edition marks the 20th anniversary of Deutsche Börse’s partnership with The Photographers’ Gallery. The 2024 shortlisted artists and their projects all critically engage with urgent concerns, from the remnants of war and conflict, experiences of diasporic communities and decolonisation, to contested land, heritage, equality and gender. Together these artists demonstrate photography’s unique capacity to reveal what is invisible, forgotten or marginalised and imagine a path to redress.
VALIE EXPORT uses photography as a tool for her radical performances and critical examination of women’s roles. Together Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad invite us to explore hidden layers of meaning beneath the surface with their collaboration of photography and traditional painting. Lebohang Kganye draws on her personal and collective histories before, during and after apartheid to examine and re-enact notions of home, heritage and belonging. By intricately weaving personal and political narratives, Hrair Sarkissian explores themes of conflict, displacement and memory.
After the exhibition in London, the work will be on show at the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn/Frankfurt, Germany, from 15 June to 22 September 2024.
The winner of the £30,000 prize will be announced at an award ceremony at The Photographers’ Gallery on 16 May 2024, with the other finalists each receiving £5,000.
The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize exhibition will feature a selection of work from the nominated projects of the 2024 shortlisted artists. The nominated artists and their projects
are:
VALIE EXPORT for the exhibition VALIE EXPORT – The Photographs at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (25 February – 29 May 2023) and originated at the Albertina in Vienna.
VALIE EXPORT (b. 1940, Austria), born Waltraud Lehner, is one of the most important international artists today. Over a career spanning more than five decades, EXPORT has continuously challenged artistic and societal norms, emerging as a trailblazer in feminist art. From the late 1960s, EXPORT explored a new, radical artistic practice that defied conventions and sharply interrogated the politics of the body within the context of the environment, culture and society.
Photography has played a central role in her work, from documenting performances to multimedia installations and single image works. Works on display from her major retrospective range from her early, provocative actions to her symbolic performances and urban interventions and filmic works. While working with different media, EXPORT confronts viewers with different perspectives, challenging the normative gaze as well as ideas around performing gender.
Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad are shortlisted for their book Fields of Sight (2023), published by Edition Patrick Frey.
Through fusing photography and Warli painting, photographer Gauri Gill (b. 1970, India) and painter Rajesh Vangad (b. 1975, India) collaboratively reinvent the practice of painted photography, interweaving historical and generational painting practices into the photographic object. Their complex image dialogue addresses the politics of aesthetics, environmental destruction, memory and decolonisation.
The project began in 2013 in the Adivasi village of Ganjad, Dahanu. Vangad, who grew up in this landscape, served as Gill’s knowledgeable guide. While Gill’s photographs captured the ever-changing qualities of the land, they fell short of revealing the hidden but essential elements beyond the visible. Vangad bridged this gap by embellishing Gill's images with intricate drawings. His vivid narratives depict the multifaceted realities of Warli life in the region, from floods and droughts to family and village life, unrest and terror, spirits and myths, light and shadow. Through their creative and experimental partnership, Gill and Vangad encourage us to explore the hidden, elusive layers that exist beneath the surface.
Lebohang Kganye is shortlisted for the exhibition Haufi nyana? I’ve come to take you home at Foam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (17 February – 21 May 2023).
Lebohang Kganye (b. 1990, South Africa) combines photography, sculpture, performance, theatre and moving image into her multifaceted artistic practice. Exploring the intersections of personal history and ancestry, Kganye draws inspiration from shared oral histories and fictional texts. Growing up in Johannesburg before, during, and after apartheid and colonialism, she delves into South Africa's intricate past.
The nominated exhibition's title, Haufi nyana? meaning ‘too close?’ in Sesotho, one of South Africa's official languages, invites a dialogue between viewer and artist and touches on notions of home as heritage and identity. In the large-scale installation on display, Kganye uses silhouettes and life-sized cut-out figures crafted from images found in photo albums. The installation considers the impact of her family’s migration, due to land acts and apartheid law, including the alteration of their surname. Through symbolic elements, such as a central rotating light representing the Sesotho word for ‘light’, kganya, she symbolises her ancestral inheritance.
Hrair Sarkissian is shortlisted for the exhibition The Other Side of Silence at Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, The Netherlands (29 November 2022 – 14 May 2023).
Hrair Sarkissian’s (b. 1973, Syria) conceptual photography intricately weaves personal and political narratives to explore themes of conflict, displacement and memory. Drawn from extensive research and personal exchanges, his photographic projects are powerful testaments to the impact and repercussions of socio-political events on individual lives.
Born in Damascus, the grandson of Armenian genocide refugees, his family experienced violent conflict and displacement. These personal experiences laid the ground for his work, with photography often serving as a visual chronicle of the intersection between the present and the memory of the past.
The concept of the witness occupies a central role in Sarkissian's photographic practice. On display, Last Seen (2018–2021) represents people who have gone missing in global conflicts. In 50 images, taken in Argentina, Kosovo, Brazil, Lebanon and what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarkissian captures the place where a missing person was last seen by their loved ones. For those remaining family members or friends, time often stands still, while they continue to wait for news. The silent images of domestic spaces are visual testimonies, archiving the memory of the missing as well as their families.
A fully illustrated catalogue, in English and German, with newly commissioned essays on the shortlisted artists and their nominated projects will be on sale in The Photographers’ Gallery shop and online. Rebecca Schneider, Professor at Brown University, USA, writes about the work of VALIE EXPORT. Inderpal Grewal, author and Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, writes about the collaboration between Gauri Gill and Rajesh Vangad. Curator and lecturer Portia Malatjie explores the work of Lebohang Kganye. Cultural historian and critic Anna Marazuela Kim writes about Hrair Sarkissian.
The Photographers’ Gallery
The Photographers’ Gallery explores how photography is connecting, captivating and radically changing our world today. The Gallery’s programme and spaces – from exhibitions, talks, workshops and digital platforms, to the galleries, shop and cafe – all explore the beauty, complexity and future of photography. Right outside the Gallery, the very best of contemporary photography is shown for free, day and night, in Soho Photography Quarter.
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation
The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation is a non-profit organisation, based in Frankfurt/Main, dedicated to collecting, exhibiting and promoting contemporary photography. The Foundation is responsible for the development and presentation of the Art Collection Deutsche Börse, which now comprises over 2,300 photographic works by around 160 artists from 35 nations. It shows several public exhibitions a year in its exhibition space in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. The Foundation supports young artists through awards, scholarships and the annual talent programme of the Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Foam. The Foundation also works on exhibitions with international museums and institutions, as well as creating platforms for academic dialogue and research on photography. In 2024 the Foundation celebrates the 25th anniversary of its collection of contemporary photography, the Art Collection Deutsche Börse, with an extensive programme of exhibitions and events.
The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize History
Founded in 1996 by The Photographers’ Gallery, and now in its 28th year, the Prize has become one of the most prestigious international arts awards and has launched and established the careers of many photographers over the years. Previously known as the Citigroup Photography Prize, the Gallery has been in collaboration with Deutsche Börse Group since 2005. In 2016 the Prize was retitled the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, following the establishment of the Foundation as a non-profit organisation, dedicated to collecting, exhibiting and promoting contemporary photography. The 2024 Prize celebrates 20 years of partnership between Deutsche Börse and The Photographers’ Gallery. The winner of the 2023 Prize was Samuel Fosso for his exhibition Samuel Fosso at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France. Past winners include: Deana Lawson, Cao Fei, Mohamed Bourouissa, Susan Meiselas, Luke Willis Thompson, Dana Lixenberg, Trevor Paglen, Juergen Teller, Rineke Dijkstra, and Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin.
