The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize is awarded annually to a living artist of any nationality who is deemed to have made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe in the preceding year; this may either be through an exhibition or publication of their work.

Each year, a new set of judges made up of international photography experts is put together to select a shortlist of 4 before picking the winner.

The award ceremony will be held at the Photographers’ Gallery in London, lockdown permitting (recent events have had to be moved online in keeping with safety restrictions) and an exhibition of the shortlisted projects is due to be on display there from 19th March 2021.

This year’s shortlisted photographers have been announced as Poulomi Basu; Alejandro Cartagena; Cao Fei and Zineb Sedira.

Poulomi Basu has been nominated for her book Centralia published by Dewi Lewis Publishing in 2020. Photo: Poulomi Basu, From Centralia, 2020 © Poulomi Basu, courtesy of the artist.

Alejandro Cartagena has been nominated for his book A Small Guide to Homeownership published by The Velvet Cell in 2020. Photo: Alejandro Cartagena, Escobedo from A Small Guide to Homeownership, 2020 © Alejandro Cartagena, courtesy of the artist.

Cao Fei has been nominated for her exhibition Blueprints at Serpentine Gallery, London (4 March—17 May 2020 and reopened after lockdown 4 August—13 September 2020). Photo: Cao Fei, Nova, 2019 © Cao Fei, courtesy of artist, Vitamin Creative Space and Sprüth Magers.

Zineb Sedira has been nominated for her exhibition A Brief Moment at Jeu de Paume, Paris. (15 October 2019 –19 January 2020). Photo: Exhibition view Zineb Sedira, A Brief Moment/L’espace d’un instant, 2019 © Zineb Sedira. Photo: Archive kamel mennour.

You can read more about the prize, the shortlisted photographers and their projects here.

The Photographers Gallery is temporarily closed in line with lockdown rules; please check their website for updates if you’re hoping to visit when things improve.

11th November 2020