I’ve deliberately refrained from any comment in public (or at least I think so) on this year’s Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2014 at the London Photographers’ Gallery. Let’s just say I found none of the short-listed photographers of great interest.
But if you don’t know who won, and want to, this page will tell you. In case you were wondering, “At the project’s heart are the points of failure of documentary photography” though I still see plenty of good documentary photography that excites and informs me considerably more than this work; (one example that comes immediately to mind is Robin Hammond’s ‘Your Wounds Will Be Named Silence’ shown at Arles in 2013 but there are many, many more.)
But had I been one of the judges faced with the four short-listed bodies of work, I think I would been hard put to make an award. But I doubt if “none of the above” was one of the options available to them.
But good luck to the fortunate winner – who is at least this year a photographer, unlike some previous recipients. Perhaps the fame and money will give him the time and space to produce something of more interest. And to buy some new film.