The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation is an annual Prize originally established in 1996. It was established in 1996 and it identifies and rewards artists for their projects that have made a significant contribution to photography over the previous 12 months. Over its 28-year history, the Prize has become one of the most important international awards for photographers, spotlighting outstanding, innovative and thought-provoking work. 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 a powerful shortlist which highlights some of the best work shown or published in Europe in the past year.
Lindokuhle Sobekwa is shortlisted for his book titled ‘I carry Her photo with Me’, published by Mack Books in 2024. The deeply personal project began when Sobekwa found a family portrait with his older sister Ziyanda’s face cut out. It remains the only photograph he has of her. One day when the siblings were seven and thirteen, she chased him and he was hit by a car and badly injured. She disappeared hours later, only returning a decade later, ill. By this time Sobekwa had become a photographer. He tried to take her portrait, but stopped when she reacted angrily. Ziyanda died soon after. ‘I carry Her photo with Me’ combines photographs, handwritten notes and family snapshots. Through this scrapbook-like publication, Sobekwa explores the memory of his sister and the wider implications of such disappearances which is a troubling part of South Africa’s history. The work is part of his wider practice on fragmentation, poverty and the long-reaching ramifications of apartheid and colonialism across all levels of South African society.
The annual exhibition of works from the shortlisted projects by the four artists will be on show at The Photographers’ Gallery in London from the 7th of March until the 15th of June 2025. The winner will walk away with £30,000 and will be announced at an award ceremony at The Photographers’ Gallery on the 15th of May 2025. The other shortlisted finalists will receive £5,000 each. Full details of the Prize exhibition and award evening will be announced in early 2025.
The other shortlisted artists and projects are Cristina De Middel (b. 1975, Spain) is shortlisted for the exhibition ‘Journey to the Center’ at Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France. The exhibition presents the Central American migration route across Mexico as a heroic and daring journey, rather than a desperate escape. Rahim Fortune (b. 1994, USA) is shortlisted for the book ‘Hardtack’ published by Loose Joints in 2024. Hardtack is an unleavened bread that was typical of the southern states of America during the Civil War era. Due to its extremely long shelf life, hardtack is long associated with survivalism and land migration. Tarrah Krajnak (b. 1979, Peru) is shortlisted for the exhibition ‘Shadowings. A Catalogue of Attitudes for Estranged Daughters’ at Huis Marseille, Amsterdam (28 October 2023 – 3 March 2024). The Peruvian-American artist bends time and blurs the lines between staged self-portraiture and performance, self and other, fact andfiction bringing together the artist’s most important work spanning twenty years.
