Richard Mosse Madonna and Child, North Kivu, Eastern Congo, 2012 Digital C print, 35 x 28 inches © Richard Mosse Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
The Photographers’ Gallery awarded Richard Mosse with the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2014 in London tonight at a special ceremony in the Gallery. The announcement was made by artist Richard Wentworth CBE. The annual award comes with a prize money of 30,000 GBP and recognizes a photographer who has made an important contribution to contemporary photography in Europe in the previous twelve months. Richard Mosse won for his exhibition “The Enclave at Venice Biennale”, Irish Pavilion. In “The Enclave”, he 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.
Richard Mosse Safe From Harm, North Kivu, Eastern Congo, 2012 Digital C print, 48 x 60 inches © Richard Mosse Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery
The artist 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 GBP, are: Alberto García-Alix for his publication Autorretrato/Selfportrait, La Fabrica Editorial; Jochen Lempert for his exhibition Jochen Lempert at Hamburger Kunsthalle; and Lorna Simpson for her exhibition Lorna Simpson (Retrospective) at Jeu de Paume, Paris.
The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2014 is organised by The Photographers’ Gallery and is on display there until 22 June followed by presentations at the Deutsche Börse headquarters in Frankfurt/Eschborn, from 17 July until mid September.
Brett Rogers, non-voting chair of the Jury and Director of The Photographers’ Gallery said, on behalf of the jury: “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.”
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.”