Shortlist announced for the Syngenta Photography Award
The shortlisted finalists have just been announced for the the Syngenta Photography Award in its third edition (2016/17). Photographers were invited to enter in two categories – the Professional Commission, and an Open Competition.
The shortlisted photographers in the Professional Commission category
Lucas Foglia (USA)
Claudia Jaguaribe (Brazil)
Yan Wang Preston (United Kingdom)
The first prize winner will receive a US$15,000 cash prize and up to US$25,000 to fulfill their submitted proposal.
The shortlisted photographers in the Open Competition category
Robin Friend (United Kingdom)
© Robin Friend.
Matt Hamon (USA)
Kenneth O’ Halloran (Ireland)
The first prize winner of the Open Competition will win a US$5,000 cash prize.
The shortlisted photographers were selected for their powerful responses to the theme of Grow-Conserve. They illustrate how the tension between growing demand for more food, energy, and resources is being challenged as populations grow, and provide insight and inspiration for how we can protect and conserve what our planet has to offer for future generations.
The winners in both categories will be announced at an award ceremony on 1 March, 2017 at the Carnegie Library in Washington DC. The winning photographs will be exhibited alongside a curated selection of more than 500 compelling images from the competition first at the Library (2 March – 31 March, 2017) and thereafter in various international venues.
About the finalists
Lucas Foglia (b. 1983) grew up on a farm in New York and now lives in San Francisco. He graduated with a MFA in Photography from Yale University and with a BA in Art Semiotics from Brown University. His photographs have been widely exhibited in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and are in the permanent collections of the Denver Art Museum, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, International Center of Photography, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Philadelphia Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Victoria and Albert Museum. Foglia’s first monograph, A Natural Order (2012), and his second monograph, Frontcountry (2014), were published by Nazraeli Press. He is represented by Fredericks and Freiser Gallery, New York, and Michael Hoppen Contemporary, London.
Claudia Jaguaribe was born in Rio de Janeiro but has lived and worked in São Paulo since the 1990s. She received her BA with an art history major from Boston University. She was nominated for the Prix Pictet in 2010 for Entre Morros. Her photographs are in the collections of Maison Européenne de la Photographie - Paris; Brasilea Foundation, the Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo; MASP - São Paulo; Itau Cultural, Institute for Contemporary Art of Inhotim, as well as several private collections. She has published twelve books, including Entrevistas by Ed Madalena in 2014; Sobre São Paulo by Ed. Madalena in 2013; Entre Morros by Cosac Naify in 2012; Aeroporto by Ed Codex in 2002 and Quando eu Vi by Ed Punctum, in 2009. In 2013 she co-founded the publishing house Ed. Madalena with Iatã Canabrava and Claudi Carreras.
Yan Wang Preston is a British-Chinese photographer. Preston’s work has won international awards and been shown in prestigious venues around the world. Her series Mother River won the Shiseido Photographer Prize at the Three Shadows Photography Annual Award in Beijing, China (2016), has been nominated for the Prix Pictet Award (2015 and 2016), and won the Reviewers Choice Award at FORMAT Portfolio Review in Derby, England (2014). It has been shown as part of the Dubai Photo Exhibition (2016), at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015) and in three large-scale solo shows at Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum, Wuhan Art Museum and the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai. Her series Forest won the third prize of the Curator’s Choice Award at CENTER in Santa Fe, USA in 2012, and was shortlisted for the Renaissance Photography Prize in 2013. Her work is in the collection of the Wuhan Art Museum, China and a number of private collections.
OPEN COMPETITION
Robin Friend (b. 1983) was born in London but grew up in Melbourne, Australia. Friend graduated with a BA in Design and Photography from the University of Plymouth in 2006 where he was taught by the British landscape photographer Jem Southam. In 2009 he went on to complete an MA in Fine Art Photography at the Royal College of Art. His book assignments include the award winning and critically acclaimed, Sanctuary: Britain’s Artists and their Studios and Art Studio America, both published by Thames & Hudson. Friend’s work has been exhibited in galleries and fairs ranging from the Aperture Gallery in New York to the Pingyao Photography Festival in China, Christie’s in Paris and the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts in London. He's currently working on his first monograph, Bastard Countryside which will be published in 2017.
Matt Hamon is a freelance portrait photographer who lives in rural Montana. Hamon is a featured artist in Scott Ligon's, Digital Art Revolution (Watson-Guptil/Random House). Hamon's work has been featured on CNN, The Independent – UK and Lens Culture amongst others. He was a finalist for the 2016 edition of Nera di Verzasca Award, winner of the Diaframmi Chiusi Photography Prize, and IPHA 5 (Manifest's International Photography Annual). Two of Hamon’s portraits were featured in the 2016 edition of the Taylor Wessing Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, London, UK.
Kenneth O’Halloran was born in the West of Ireland and is a graduate of the Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin. He holds a Masters in Fine Art Photography from The University of Ulster, Belfast. O’Halloran's work has appeared in magazines such as The New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Le Monde, TIME and FT Weekend Magazine. His work has been recognised by World Press, American Photography, Alliance Francaise, and the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize. He is also a winner of the Terry O'Neill Photography Award. O’Halloran lives and works in Dublin.
About the Syngenta Photography Award
Launched in 2012, the Syngenta Photography Award was created to stimulate dialogue around key global challenges and to establish an important platform to explore issues of global significance through photography.
For the Professional Commission, professional photographers were invited to submit a series of 5–10 images relating to the theme, accompanied by a creative project proposal of a maximum of 500 words exploring the theme in a more in-depth way, for a commission worth up to US$25,000. Three prizes will be awarded in the Professional Commission category: first prize: US$15,000, plus up to US$25,000 for the commission project; second prize: US$10,000; third prize: US$5,000.
The Open Competition is open to all photographers who are 18 years or older whether amateur, professional or student. Photographers were invited to submit between 1-3 images exploring the theme of Grow-Conserve. The jury members will award three prizes in the Open Competition category: First prize: US$5,000; Second prize: US$3,000; Third prize: US$2,000.