HANNOVER.- In 2015, the Foundation of Lower Saxony will be awarding the “SPECTRUM” International Prize for Photography for the ninth time. The winner of the prize is Hannah Collins.

The adjudicators have given the following reasons for their decision: “Artist, photographer and filmmaker, Hannah Collins has consistently sought to expand the field of photography and, more recently, film. She became known in the 1980s for her extremely large-scale, black-and-white photographs of evocative interiors, everyday objects and landscapes.

“Recently she has looked at a collective relationship to both the global and to modernity in filmed and photographic works.

“Profoundly democratic, Collins’ work quietly insists on revealing the complexities of life, and the ways we relate to the world around us collectively and as individuals, through vision and memory, to achieve works of subtle power.”

Awarded by the Foundation of Lower Saxony, the “SPECTRUM” International Prize for Photography pays tribute to the significance of photography as a modern medium of artistic expression. At the same time it harks back to a long tradition of photography exhibitions at the Sprengel Museum’s Spectrum Photo Gallery (1972-1992). This museum counts among the few high-ranking art museums in Germany that are dedicated to – among other things – the ongoing collection and care of works of contemporary photography.

The prizewinning photographers reflect a broad spectrum of artistic approaches to their medium. The prize, which has been awarded since 1995, has hitherto been won by Robert Adams, Thomas Struth, John Baldessari, Sophie Calle, Martha Rosler, Helen Levitt, Bahman Jalali and Boris Mikhailov.

The members of this year’s jury were: Ute Eskildsen (Essen), Simon Groom (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Edinburgh), Bartomeu Marí (Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; recommending capacity), Inka Schube (Sprengel Museum Hannover) and Joachim Werren (Stiftung Niedersachsen, Hannover; advisory capacity).

The award ceremony will take place in the spring of 2015 on the occasion of the opening of an exhibition of the works of Hannah Collins at the Sprengel Museum Hannover. Besides the exhibition and a comprehensive accompanying catalogue, the “SPECTRUM” International Prize for Photography carries a cash award of € 15,000.