Wolfgang Tillmans Wins The Hasselblad Photography Award 2015

Wolfgang Tillmans

German photographer and artist Wolfgang Tillmans has won the 2015 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography, worth roughly $120,000 or £79,000. The prize will be presented to the artist at a ceremony in Gothenburg, Sweden on November 30, 2015. On December 1, the Hasselblad Centre will open an exhibition of Tillman’s work, in conjunction with the launch of his new book and a symposium with the artist.

Tillmans, born in 1968, is a German fine-art photographer. In 2000, the artist was the first photographer – and also the first non-English person – to be awarded The Turner Prize. In 2009, Tillmans was awarded the Kulturpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie (The Culture Prize of the German Society for Photography).

The foundation’s annual photography prize is considered to be amongst the most important in the world. Previous recipients have included Miyako Ishiuchi, Japan, in 2014, Joan Fontcuberta, Spain, in 2013, Paul Graham, Great Britain/USA, in 2012, Walid Raad, Lebanon/USA, in 2011, and Sophie Calle, France, in 2010 (see Miyako Isiuchi Wins Hasselblad Award for Photography).

The foundation made a statement regarding Tillmans’ success: “Wolfgang Tillmans has established himself among the most original and innovative artists of his generation, constantly pushing the photographic medium in new directions. His practice has covered subjects of pressing political and social importance since the 1990s, reflecting both directly and indirectly on the power of the photographic image to engage critically with the world around us.”

The Hasselblad Foundation was founded under the terms of the will of Dr. Victor Hasselblad and his wife Erna in 1979, which aims to promote education and research in the field of photography and natural sciences.

Tags

,