Bowness Prize People's Choice winner revealed

An image by Ali Tahayori, Sisterhood (2021), has been awarded the 2021 Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award – part of the Bowness Photography Prize. The work also received an Honourable Mention in the 2021 competition.

The winning image is a photograph from Tahayori's family archive that has been transformed into a kaleidoscopic interpretation that speaks to an undisclosed trauma creating a dynamic composition and complex interweaving of layered imagery. The work claimed 35% of the vote – the greatest proportion of the vote ever received by an entrant.

Of Tahayori's image, MGA Director Anouska Phizacklea stated: "The work by Ali Tahayori is compelling and visually dynamic. It is a fascinating use of found imagery, transformed into a photographic work that resembles a patchwork quilt. It is a vibrant composition that speaks to complex relationships with family that reaches back into the past and brings the work into the present. The Smith & Singer People’s Choice Award makes an incredible contribution to the Bowness Photography Prize that enables our community to give their voice to the prize."

Smith & Singer (previously Sotheby’s Australia) became the sponsor of the People’s Choice Award in 2018. The winner of the People’s Choice Award receives $5,000 to support their practice.

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