JURORS:

Greg Hobson, Curator of Photographs, National Media Museum

Paul Moakley, Deputy Photo Editor, TIME Magazine

Christopher Steighner, Senior Editor, Rizzoli Publications

Juror Statement

First Place:

Anastasia Taylor - Lind

Jurors' Choice:

Honorable Mention:

PROJECT COMPETITION : Jurors' Statement

JURORS GREG HOBSON, Curator of Photographs, National Media Museum; PAUL MOAKLEY, Deputy Photo Editor, TIME Magazine; CHRISTOPHER STEIGHNER, Senior Editor, Rizzoli Publications

In the initial phase of our process we were faced with more than 700 diverse and interesting projects from all around the world - a daunting but ultimately very inspiring task. As a whole, the competition revealed a fascinating picture of what are the main concerns of our photographers today, what are the subjects valued for examination.

As we moved along, certain recurring themes emerged. Among them were some of today's most pressing: the aftermath of war and natural disasters in places such as Libya and Fukushima, humans' effect on the landscape, and migration forced by economic reasons. It was remarkable that though many projects reflected on the economic downturn that has touched so much of the world in recent years, there was still a humane and ultimately hopeful aspect that rose up through many of them. We saw many fresh and exciting bodies of work that revived well-trod themes by placing them in a new conceptual framework. With stunning results, quite a few artists worked within the home environment - some particularly focusing on how a family copes with illness within its midst. There were many entries that looked at areas that have long been in the midst of transition - especially the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East - but taking an innovative approach so that we might understand in a new way. It seems that almost suddenly many fewer people are concerned with the shift from film to digital, although there were a few artists who made use of historical techniques in order to reposition a subject. There was a noticeable lack of work done in the studio and seemed to be a move towards the outdoors or environmental settings. The majority of entries appeared to be documentary in some way, and those that rose to the top were naturally the ones that told stories in fresh, new ways. A number of projects used experimental processes but in most cases meaningful subject matter trumped pure aesthetic exercises in the end.

The works that reached the final rounds of the contest were distinguished by vision of integrity and consistency. The acknowledged projects as a group reflected the overall diversity that ran throughout all the entries. This group represents a veritable crossroads: Denmark, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. But despite where the work was made or the nationality of the photographer, what made for a winning project was that it explored universal themes. They had an international scope in some way and hit on issues that affect us all.

On the whole, we learned so much from this experience - a crash course in what's occupying people's minds today as well as in current developments of photographic practice.

WINNER'S GALLERIES:

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

 

Juror's Choice: Pablo Martínez

Artist Statement: The Line

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Line

14th of October, 2010 at 12.25pm around a million cubic metres of toxic waste were released after the burst of the retaining wall of one of the reservoirs used for the accumulation of MAL aluminium company rubbish in the town named Ajka, Veszprém county, Hungary. The spilling reached two meters high and started a destructive race trying to release its energy, flooding Devecser and Kolontár villages. Nine human casualties were counted and the material damages were uncountable, including the destruction or irreparable deterioration of a big ammount of houses, the dissapearing of infrastructures and the poisoning of dozens of fields. The accident was fastly considered the biggest catastrophe of hungarian history.

Ajka, with a population of around 30.000 inhabitants, falls around 150 kilometres away from Budapest, being one of those cities established during the comunist period as a satelite for huge industrial developments. The existence of bauxite and coal deposits made Ajka an obvious candidate for the industrialization plans of the country, which had been, during austrian-hungarian development, the granary of the empire. Cities like Ajka, sometimes, were used as the practice laboratory of socialism ideas, with concrete housing blocks and interstitial garden spaces to give accommodation to the inmigration moved to work on the massive factories, on which right production was laying the hope of the city. They were quite vulnerable urban ecosystems, with a high rate of dependence towards this factory developments. After comunism fall, and once exhasuted the old production system closely related with soviet needs, the national aluminium company was faced to an uncertain future. Without the proteccionism of this previous model, the old factories, with their outdated machinery, were seen as a huge weight to carry on for the correct economic transition of the country and as it happened to most of the country public companies, they were the subject of an accelerated privatization with a quite questionable transaction value.

Reaching nowadays, we find a factory with oldfashion technology wich renovation seems not profitable but which operation is still a basic need for the future of all the county. Ruin or risk. Difficult dilemma for an impoverished nation, disappointed with the discovery that the capital economy is not completely the promised miracle.