Rene Matić has been announced as the winner of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026, one of the most significant awards in international contemporary photography. The announcement was made at The Photographers’ Gallery in London on Thursday, 14 May by author and broadcaster Liv Little, with Matić receiving the £30,000 prize in recognition of their exhibition AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH, which was presented at CCA Berlin between November 2024 and February 2025.
Born in Peterborough in 1997, Matić has built a practice that moves across photography, film and sculpture, converging in what they describe as a space of rudeness, a term they use to honour and evidence the in-between. Their work is rooted in identity and belonging, subculture, class and family, and the Berlin exhibition drew these threads together with particular force. Featuring newly produced photographs alongside installations and sound pieces, AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH used a diaristic, snapshot-like photographic approach to capture everyday moments with poetic intimacy. The resulting body of work formed a vivid and layered portrait of contemporary life, in which collected objects, film, and sound amplified and complicated what the photographs alone could convey.
Rene Matić Courtesy Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026
The prize, delivered in partnership with the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, is awarded annually to the artist or project judged to have made the most significant contribution to international contemporary photography in Europe over the preceding twelve months. It is a competitive field, and this year’s shortlist reflected the breadth of practice the prize has come to recognise. Jane Evelyn Atwood, Weronika Gęsicka and Amak Mahmoodian each received £5,000 as shortlisted artists.
Shoair Mavlian, Director of The Photographers’ Gallery and Chair of the Jury, described Matić’s work as deeply personal, rooted in community and belonging, and noted its power to heal and bring people together. “Rene’s raw and honest photographs bring a story of Britain today to audiences outside the UK,” she said. Anne-Marie Beckmann, Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, responded to the tenderness and intimacy with which Matić captures everyday life, and to the importance of chosen family and community that runs throughout the work. “Rene’s photographs celebrate the togetherness of people,” she said, “whether they are laughing, kissing or partying.”
Rene Matić Photo Courtesy Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026
The critical context for the work is one that Matić addresses directly. In a climate of rising right-wing populism and what they describe as performative compassion, they turn to interpersonal relationships as spaces of resistance and care, examining how people hold onto one another and learn to live with vulnerability in defiance of so-called contemporary truths. Intimacy, vulnerability and desire function in their practice not as private matters but as tools for survival, a proposition that AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH made visible with considerable skill and emotional intelligence.
The exhibition of all four shortlisted artists remains on view at The Photographers’ Gallery until 7 June 2026, before travelling to the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in The Cube in Eschborn, where it will be on display from 3 September 2026 to 17 January 2027.