And the finalists are…
Top Left to Bottom Right: (1)Raymond Boisjoly, Station to Station (Image Detail, 1 of 5 Prints), 2014, 5 screen resolution LightJet prints mounted on dibond. Each 45.75 x 61 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver, BC. (2) Liz Johnson Artur, Unititled, 1986 to 2010, Black Balloon Archive, Courtesy of the artist. (3) Taisuke Koyama, Untitled (Melting Rainbows 103), 2010 Archival Pigment Print, 111 x 74 cm / 60 x 40 cm, Courtesy of the artist. (4) Hank Willis Thomas, Crossroads, 2012. Digital c-print Variable sizes. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery.
Big news! Four outstanding international artists have been shortlisted for the 10th annual Aimia | AGO Photography Prize, which will award $50,000 to a winner decided entirely by public vote. Without further ado, they are…
- Liz Johnson Artur (Ghana/Russia)
- Raymond Boisjoly (Haida Nation/Canada)
- Hank Willis Thomas (USA)
- Taisuke Koyama (Japan)
Here’s how the finalists were chosen: thirteen international nominators selected a long list of 30 artists. From that list, a jury of three experts named the four finalists, who have each shown extraordinary potential. The jury was headed by Sophie Hackett, the AGO’s Curator of Photography, and included Ken Lum, artist, professor and Chair of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pennsylvania, and Eva Respini, Barbara Lee Chief Curator at the ICA/Boston.
Sophie Hackett, who will also curate the 2017 exhibition, said of the shortlisted artists: “The jury was struck by the distinctly compelling character of each nominee’s work. Though they are working in very different ways, each artist aims to transform and transmit a new understanding of the world we live in, through variations of digital image capture, experiences of blackness, and the relationship between indigeneity, language (both visual and verbal) and colonialism. I look forward to putting the nominees and their work in dialogue in the exhibition and through the various programs related to this year’s prize.”
The four finalists will present their work in an exhibition opening on Level 5 of the AGO’s Contemporary Tower on September 6. You can cast your vote in person at the AGO after the exhibition opens, and on the Prize website beginning September 13.
In celebration of the 10th year of the Prize, Aimia and the AGO will present a symposium in partnership with Aperture Magazine. The symposium, which will be held at the AGO on December 3 and 4, will feature curators, scholars, and artists (including past prizewinners and nominees) who will discuss the issues and ideas impacting the field today. Stay tuned for more details to come.
Congratulations to the finalists. We can’t wait to see the exhibition!
The Aimia | AGO Photography Prize Exhibition runs from September 6, 2017 to January 14, 2018. It’s included in general admission, so AGO Members see it free.
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