The Irish Photographer Richard Mosse has won the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize for 2014. At a special ceremony in The Photographers’ Gallery this evening, Monday 12 May 2014, the £30,000 award was presented by artist Richard Wentworth CBE.
The Prize is awarded to a photographer of any nationality for their significant contribution to the medium of photography either through an exhibition or publication, in Europe between 1 October 2012 and 30 September 2013. Mosse won for his exhibition The Enclave at Venice Biennale, Irish Pavilion (1 June – 24 November 2013). In The Enclave Mosse documents a haunting landscape touched by appalling human tragedy in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where 5.4 million people have died of war related causes since 1998. Shot on discontinued military surveillance film, the resulting imagery registers an invisible spectrum of infrared light, and renders the jungle warzone in disorienting psychedelic hues. At the project’s heart are the points of failure of documentary photography. It is an attempt to find an alternate strategy to adequately communicate this complex and horrific cycle of violence.
Richard Mosse born in 1980 was chosen by jury members: Kate Bush, Curator; Jitka Hanzlová, Artist; Thomas Seelig, Director/Curator, Fotomuseum Winterthur; and Anne-Marie Beckmann, Curator, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Germany.
The other shortlisted artists for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2014, each awarded £3,000, are: Alberto García-Alix (b. 1956, Spain) for his publication Autorretrato/Selfportrait, La Fabrica Editorial (2013); Jochen Lempert (b. 1958, Germany) for his exhibition Jochen Lempert at Hamburger Kunsthalle (22 June – 29 Sept 2013); and Lorna Simpson (b. 1960, USA) for her exhibition Lorna Simpson(Retrospective) at Jeu de Paume, Paris (28 May – 1 September 2013).
The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2014 is organised by The Photographers’ Gallery and is on display until 22 June 2014. It will be followed by a presentation at the Deutsche Börse headquarters in Frankfurt/Eschborn from 17 July – 26 September 2014.
Brett Rogers, Director of The Photographers’ Gallery and non-voting Chair of the Jury said: The jury awarded Richard Mosse the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2014 for his extraordinarily immersive film and photo installation The Enclave, which innovatively addresses the representation of war. They praised the manner in which Mosse combined form and content to draw attention to a conflict, which despite costing the lives of millions of people has largely gone unnoticed by the West. While building upon traditional forms of documentary, the resulting hyper-real images and multichannel films open up new possibilities for story-telling and engagement with the subject of contemporary conflict.
Frank Klaas, Managing Director Global Public Affairs, Deutsche Börse said: I welcome the jury’s decision and would like to congratulate the winner. We are very impressed by the scope and creativity of contemporary photographic art and feel honoured to be part of this award; especially, as this year marks our 10th anniversary as sponsor of Europe’s most renowned photography prize.
Richard Mosse Wins Prestigious Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2014
