The four nominees for the 2022 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize offer an astounding depth of research and engagement in projects spanning personal and political themes. Last year, Chinese artist Cao Fei (profiled in Wallpaper's November 2021 issue) was awarded the prize for her first large-scale UK solo exhibition, ‘Blueprints’ (2020), at the Serpentine Gallery. The 2022 exhibition will be on display at The Photographers' Gallery, London until 12 June 2022, with the winner announced on 12 May.
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2022: the nominees
Anastasia Samoylova
Shortlisted for the exhibition ‘FloodZone’
Anastasia Samoylova, Barber Shop, Miami, 2018, from the series FloodZone
In ‘FloodZone’, Anastasia Samoylova reflects on the confusing yet alluring imagery that promotes tourism and property development, against the backdrop of climate disasters facing America’s coastal cities. Oscillating between paradise and catastrophe, ‘FloodZone’ has an interesting dialogue with the Russian-born, Florida-based artist's other works. Particularly her series Landscape Sublime, for which she assembled printouts of natural landscapes and those subject to human intervention, interrogating notions of the sublime and algorithm-driven popular tastes. This analysis of aesthetics and networks in relation to contemporary culture is integral to Samoylova’s metaphor-laden practice. ‘FloodZone’ was first exhibited at the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (8 June – 28 July 2021).
Jo Ractliffe
Shortlisted for the publication Photographs 1980s – now
Jo Ractliffe, Roadside stall on the way to Viana, 2007 from the series Terreno Ocupado
After 40 years of photographing life and landscape post-apartheid and civil war, South-African Jo Ratcliffe’s complex recordings came together in Photographs 1980s – now, a comprehensive monograph, published by Steidl/The Walther Collection in 2021. Through Ractliffe’s lens, violence isn’t documented head-on, rather its tangled consequences are seen from broad angles resulting in an all-encompassing record. With work that’s simultaneously stark and poetic, Ractliffe tells The Photographers' Gallery, ‘It’s hard to articulate precisely what photography holds for me. The crux of it, I think, is its trace of the real, coupled with the fact that things are not simply how they appear.’
Deana Lawson
Shortlisted for the exhibition ‘Centropy’
Deana Lawson, An Ode to Yemaya, 2019
Creating what the American artist describes as her ‘ever-expanding mythological family’, Deana Lawson’s work reframes the Black experience in ‘Centrophy’ (exhibited at Kunsthalle Basel from 9 June – 11 October 2020). The tableau-like images are usually of strangers, staged in enigmatic domestic surroundings with thoughtful reference to the tropes of art history and documentary photography. Symbolism relating to the Black diaspora is woven throughout these intimate and reverential scenes, in which Lawson’s subjects are radiant. The inclusion of holograms and striking natural phenomena feels fitting in the work of an artist renowned for understanding power.
Gilles Peress
Shortlisted for the publication Whatever You Say, Say Nothing
Top: Gilles Peress, Whatever You Say, Say Nothing: from the chapter, Days of Struggle. Above: Whatever You Say, Say Nothing: from the chapter, The Last Night.
Whatever You Say, Say Nothing is a test of photography’s capacity to interpret conflict. Magnum photographer Gilles Peress began this work of ‘documentary fiction’ in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Now, decades later, it has come together in a monumental, 2,000-page publication depicting protest, resistance, mourning and distraction (originally published by Steidl in 2021). The French photographer is also acclaimed for reportage in Iran, Rwanda and the Balkans.
INFORMATION
The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2022 runs until 12 June 2022 at The Photographers' Gallery, London, and will later tour to the Deutsche Börse headquarters in Frankfurt, on 30 June 2022. thephotographersgallery.org.uk
The 2022 prize winner will be announced on 12 May 2022.
-
The artistry of Japanese wineFine wine from Japan may not yet register highly on the radars of most oenophiles, but for those who know, it's a hugely rewarding and rich tapestry of flavour. Drinks expert, Neil Ridley visits London's Luna Omakase for the launch of a new dedicated Japanese wine pairing menu
-
In Los Angeles, Darling doesn’t want to be your average dinner spotVinyl, live-fire cooking, and California’s finest ingredients come together in this immersive new concept from a celebrated Southern chef
-
Ashlyn, the quietly romantic New York label from a Yohji Yamamoto alumnaThe focus of our latest Uprising column, Seoul-born Ashlyn Park worked for fashion greats before starting her own label in 2020. Showing her S/S 2026 collection at NYFW yesterday, she talks to Wallpaper* about marrying Japanese influences with the romance of Parisian savoir-faire
-
Five of the biggest art exhibitions to see in London in 2026From Marilyn Monroe, to David Hockney and Tracey Emin – get these art exhibitions in your diary now
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekWith the return of back-to-school, it's back to business for the Wallpaper* team, who’ve been making the rounds at fashion pop-ups and pavilion launches. Elsewhere, we’ve been indulging in new literature and old restaurants, and taking in a farewell exhibition at a landmark gallery...
-
From art to fashion, and back again: Jonathan Schofield’s figurative work is back in styleAfter graduating from London’s Royal College of Art, Jonathan Schofield began a career as a creative director at Stella McCartney. Now, he has returned to his first love, painting
-
Watch: artist Shezad Dawood lights up The Gaumont, King’s Road’s creatively focused new hubIn our short film, meet the artist, see his new work in the making, and discover more about The Gaumont
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekHere in the UK, summer seems to be fading fast. Moody skies and showers called for early-autumn rituals for the Wallpaper* team: retreating into the depths of the Tate Modern, slipping into shadowy cocktail bars, and curling up with a good book
-
‘A Single Man’ is now a ballet – we go behind the designAs ‘A Single Man’ is presented by The Royal Ballet and Factory International in London, here’s how its set designer brought protagonist George’s inner and outer worlds to life on stage
-
Artists imbue the domestic with an unsettling unfamiliarity at Hauser & WirthThree artists – Koak, Ding Shilun and Cece Philips – bring an uncanny subversion to the domestic environment in Hauser & Wirth’s London exhibition
-
Inside the fight to keep an iconic Barbara Hepworth sculpture in the UK‘Sculpture with Colour’ captures a pivotal moment in Hepworth’s career. When it was sold to an overseas buyer, UK institutions launched a campaign to keep it in the country
