Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025

The annual exhibition of work by the four shortlisted artists is open until 15 June.

This long-standing annual Prize, originally established in 1996, is one of the most important international awards for contemporary photographers. The Prize spotlights outstanding, innovative and thought-provoking work by artists whose exhibitions or books have made a significant contribution to photography over the past year.

The 2025 shortlisted projects feature documentary photography, constructed images, self-portraiture, performance and family archives. Themes of migration, community and belonging, intergenerational traditions and rituals, family memories and histories are brought together in this powerful shortlist.

Cristina De Middel (b. 1975, Spain) questions the documentary value of photography and the role it plays in creating stereotypes. Her conceptual approach often examines the delicate and loaded relationship there can be between photography and ‘truth’.

Rahim Fortune (b. 1994, USA) celebrates Black American traditions and culture. He focuses on family and community stories to explore migration and resettlement and how these histories are written on the landscapes of his home state of Texas and the American South.

Tarrah Krajnak (b.1979, Peru) uses the camera as a research tool to bend time and blurs the lines between staged self-portraiture and performance, self and other, fact and fiction.

Lindokuhle Sobekwa (b, 1995, South Africa) explores fragmentation, poverty and the long-reaching ramifications of apartheid and colonialism across all levels of South African society through his deeply personal work.

The winner of the £30,000 Prize will be on 15 May 2025, with the other finalists each receiving £5,000.