Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026 shortlist revealed: Jane Evelyn Atwood, Weronika Gęsicka, Amak Mahmoodian, Rene Matić

The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and The Photographers‘ Gallery have today revealed the shortlist for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026. The four finalists are Jane Evelyn Atwood, Weronika Gęsicka, Amak Mahmoodian and Rene Matić.

The Prize, originally established in 1996, identifies and rewards artists for an exhibition or book shown or published in Europe within the past 12 months that have made a significant contribution to photography. Over its long history, the Prize is renowned for spotlighting outstanding and innovative work and celebrating the work of leading international photographers.

The 2026 shortlisted work features collaborative photographic projects; long-term investigative documentary photography; installations, video and sound pieces; and experimental conceptual photography. The thought-provoking, powerful shortlist explores themes of exile and memory; gender inequalities and advocacy; identity and belonging, subculture and class in contemporary life; and the shifting boundaries between photographic fact and fiction.

The exhibition of selected work from the four artists’ shortlisted projects will be on view at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, from 6 March to 7 June 2026. It will then be on display from 3 September 2026 to 17 January 2027 at the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn/Frankfurt.

The winner of the £30,000 Prize will be announced at an award ceremony on Thursday, 14 May at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, with each of the other shortlisted artists receiving £5,000.

The 2026 shortlisted artists and projects are:

Jane Evelyn Atwood (b. 1947, New York, USA) is shortlisted for her publication ”Too Much Time / Trop de Peines”, a revised, bilingual reprint of two works originally published in 2000 and updated by Le Bec En L’Air, Marseille in 2024.

Atwood’s ”Too Much Time / Trop de Peines” stems from a ten-year investigation during which she accompanied incarcerated women in forty prisons across nine countries in the 1990s. Through research and empathy, Atwood documented the lived realities of female inmates: limited access to hygienic facilities, a lack of gynaecological and mental health care, and stark inequalities compared to their male counterparts. The intimacy of her black-and-white images is rooted in long-term commitment and unwavering advocacy for women in prison – a cause she continues to champion today. Since its original publication, Atwood’s message has only become more urgent. Globally, the female prison population has grown by 50-60% since 2000. Driven by a deep commitment to social justice and a desire to expose systems of exclusion, Atwood brings visibility to lives and stories many choose to ignore.

Weronika Gęsicka (b. 1984, Włocławek, Poland) is shortlisted for the publication ”Encyclopaedia”, published by BLOW UP PRESS and Jednostka Gallery in November 2024.

“Encyclopaedia” draws on a phenomenon: fake entries intentionally inserted into encyclopaedias, dictionaries and lexicons, originally devised as traps to catch copyright violations or as a playful way for editors to leave their mark on the text. These fictitious facts subtly contribute to the erosion of trust in sources once considered authoritative. In ”Encyclopaedia”, Gęsicka presents several hundred of these fabricated definitions, sourced from historical publications.

By visually reinterpreting fake entries using manipulated stock photos and AI-generated imagery, Gęsicka highlights the tension between truth and invention, as well as the fragile line between fact and fiction. In a world saturated with information, where news, advertising, and fiction increasingly overlap, how can we distinguish what is ‘real’?

With AI-generated content becoming a norm and images being easily altered, the project asks: what happens when even a single error appears in a source we trust? In an era marked by misinformation and manipulation, the work is a humorous reminder that knowledge, once perceived as stable and objective, is now a shifting terrain.

Amak Mahmoodian (b. 1980, Shiraz, Iran) is shortlisted for the exhibition ”One Hundred and Twenty Minutes”, at the Bristol Photo Festival, UK (16 October – 17 November 2024).

Spanning photography, poetry, text, drawing and video, the artist explores emotional and psychological landscapes in exile: how new lives are formed within dreams and the persistent return to the past. Over six years, Mahmoodian worked closely with sixteen collaborators from fourteen countries. Their long-term conversations focused on recurring dreams and the effects of exile on memory and identity.

A multidisciplinary artist and educator, Mahmoodian began her career in Iran and has been based in the UK since 2010, unable to return to her homeland. For her, dreams offer a vital connection to a lost home and family, between reality and imagination. In ”One Hundred and Twenty Minutes” – the amount of time adults and children dream each night – Mahmoodian gives visual and poetic form to her collaborators’ dreams. Together, these elements invite us into an immersive experience of shared dreaming. At a time when ideological shifts continue to marginalise migrants and displaced communities, Mahmoodian imagines a world without borders, one where shared dreams form bridges across geography, politics and time.

Rene Matić (b. 1997, Peterborough, UK) is shortlisted for the exhibition “AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH”, at CCA Berlin, Germany (8 November 2024 – 15 February 2025).

Featuring newly produced photographs, installations and sound pieces, “AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH” is rooted in identity and belonging, subculture, class and family. Their diaristic, snapshot-like photography captures everyday moments with poetic intimacy. The images, combined with collected objects, film and sound, form a vivid and layered portrait of contemporary life.

Matić’s practice spans across photography, film, and sculpture, converging in a meeting place they describe as "rude(ness)" – an evidencing and honouring of the in-between. In a climate of rising right-wing populism and performative compassion, they turn to interpersonal relationships as spaces of resistance and care, how people hold on to one another, and learn to live with vulnerability – despite, or in defiance of, so-called contemporary “truths”. For Matić, intimacy, vulnerability and desire become tools for survival.

The 2026 jury and statements:

This year’s jury are: Elisa Medde (Director at Foto Colectania Foundation in Barcelona, Spain; former Editor-in-Chief of Foam Magazine), Newsha Tavakolian (photographer and Magnum Photos member), Mark Sealy OBE (Executive Director of Autograph ABP), Anne-Marie Beckmann (Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation) and Shoair Mavlian (The Photographers’ Gallery) as voting chair.

Shoair Mavlian, Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, said:

“The Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize 2026 shortlist demonstrates the pertinent themes being investigated by photographers today. Whether their work was shown as a book or an exhibition, the shortlisted artists all invite us to reconsider how stories are told and who gets to tell them. We look forward to sharing their work in London in 2026.”

Anne-Marie Beckmann, Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, said:

"This year's shortlist is a powerful testament to photography's enduring ability to explore our shared social and societal circumstances. It celebrates photography’s versatility and capacity to not only document the world but to challenge our perceptions of it, giving significance to issues and communities that are often overlooked. It is an inspiration to witness the pioneering work of the shortlisted artists. Congratulations to all of them for their exceptional contributions!"

Notes to Editors:

You can find an overview of the press images for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026 shortlist here. We will be happy to send you the press images in print quality upon request.

Media contacts:

Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation

media.foundation@deutsche-boerse.com
Tel. +49 69 21117014

The Photographers’ Gallery

Robyn Deane
robyn@margaretlondon.com

Alex Finch
alex@margaretlondon.com

About the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation

The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, dedicated to collecting, exhibiting and promoting contemporary photography. The Foundation is responsible for the development and presentation of the Art Collection Deutsche Börse, which now comprises over 2,400 photographic works by around 170 artists from 38 nations. It shows several public exhibitions a year in its exhibition space in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. The Foundation supports young artists through awards, scholarships or the annual talent programme of the Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Foam. The Foundation also works on exhibitions with international museums and institutions, as well as creating platforms for academic dialogue and research on photography.
www.deutscheboersephotographyfoundation.org

About the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize history

Founded in 1996 by The Photographers’ Gallery, and now in the 30th year, the Prize is one of the most prestigious international arts awards and has launched and established the careers of many photographers over the years. Previously known as the Citigroup Photography Prize, the Gallery has been in collaboration with Deutsche Börse Group since 2005. In 2016 the Prize was retitled the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, following the establishment of the Foundation as a non-profit organisation, dedicated to collecting, exhibiting and promoting contemporary photography. The winner of the 2025 Prize was Lindokuhle Sobekwa for his book I carry Her photo with Me (published by MACK in 2024). Past winners include: Lebohang Kganye, Samuel Fosso, Deana Lawson, Cao Fei, Mohamed Bourouissa, Susan Meiselas, Luke Willis Thompson, Dana Lixenberg, Trevor Paglen, Juergen Teller, Rineke Dijkstra, and Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin.

The Photographers’ Gallery

The Photographers’ Gallery explores how photography is connecting, captivating and radically changing our world today. The Gallery’s programme and spaces – from exhibitions, talks, workshops and digital platforms, to the galleries, shop and cafe – all explore the beauty, complexity and future of photography. Right outside the Gallery, the very best of contemporary photography is shown for free, day and night, in Soho Photography Quarter.
www.tpg.org.uk