Exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery Will Spotlight Compelling Visual Narratives on Migration, Identity, and Cultural Memory
© Rahim Fortune
The Photographers’ Gallery is thrilled to announce the exhibition details for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025, set to take place in London this spring. Featuring works by shortlisted artists Cristina De Middel, Rahim Fortune, Lindokuhle Sobekwa, and Tarrah Krajnak, the exhibition will run from 7 March to 15 June 2025 at The Photographers’ Gallery.
The prestigious Prize recognizes photographers for projects—whether exhibitions or books—that have made a significant contribution to photography over the past year. Now in its 28th year, it is celebrated as one of the most important international photography awards, spotlighting exceptional and thought-provoking work.
The 2025 shortlisted projects span documentary photography, constructed images, self-portraiture, performance, and family archives. The artists explore powerful themes of migration, community and belonging, intergenerational traditions, and family memories, highlighting some of the most compelling work exhibited or published in Europe over the past year.
The 2025 Shortlisted Artists and Projects:
Cristina De Middel (b. 1975, Spain) – Journey to the Center
Exhibition: Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France (1 July – 25 August 2024)
Cristina De Middel presents the Central American migration route across Mexico as an intrepid, heroic journey rather than a desperate escape. Drawing inspiration from Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, her part-documentary, part-conceptual project blends fiction and reality. The journey starts in Tapachula, near the Guatemala-Mexico border, and ends in Felicity, California—dubbed the ‘Center of the World’—where the USA-Mexico border fence looms over an absurd tourist landmark. De Middel’s layered narratives incorporate documentary photography, archival material, and constructed images, challenging simplistic portrayals of migration in media and official discourse.
Rahim Fortune (b. 1994, USA) – Hardtack
Book: Published by Loose Joints (2024)
In Hardtack, Rahim Fortune blends documentary and personal history to express his love for the American South, where he grew up. His portraits celebrate Black American culture and traditions, featuring young bull-riders, praise dancers, and pageant queens—individuals embodying communal rituals passed down through generations. Fortune’s lens captures the discipline, creativity, and enduring heritage of these cultural practices. The book’s title, referencing a type of unleavened bread with survivalist associations, serves as a metaphor for the resilience of Black traditions and their deep-rooted connection to land and history.
Tarrah Krajnak (b. 1979, Peru) – Shadowings: A Catalogue of Attitudes for Estranged Daughters
Exhibition: Huis Marseille, Amsterdam (28 October 2023 – 3 March 2024)
Tarrah Krajnak interrogates photography’s historical canon by inserting her body into iconic works. Her conceptual practice spans two decades, blending staged self-portraiture, performance, and archival engagement. With a shutter release in hand, she asserts agency over the female body in photographic history, challenging conventional beauty standards and reclaiming Indigenous representation. Her work oscillates between studio, field, and darkroom, reimagining ‘master’ photographers’ work in a radical and personal critique.
Lindokuhle Sobekwa (b. 1995, South Africa) – I Carry Her Photo with Me
Book: Published by MACK (2024)
Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s project began with a family portrait where his sister Ziyanda’s face had been cut out. This intimate, scrapbook-like work combines photographs, handwritten notes, and snapshots to document Sobekwa’s search for her life story and the broader issue of disappearances in South Africa. The book reflects on trauma, memory, and loss, connecting personal experience to the socio-political legacy of apartheid and colonialism. Sobekwa’s deeply personal exploration contributes to his broader practice examining fragmentation and poverty in post-apartheid South Africa.
Prize and Awards
The winner of the £30,000 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize will be announced at an awards ceremony on 15 May 2025 at The Photographers’ Gallery. Each finalist will receive £5,000.
Shoair Mavlian, Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, said: “The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025 highlights the power of contemporary photography. Addressing migration, identity, and the reimagining of historical narratives, these projects resonate deeply with the issues shaping our world today.”
For more information, please visit The Photographers’ Gallery and the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation.
