Seventy-four works have been selected as finalists for the 2024 William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize. The judging panel – artist and academic Dr Peta Clancy, former Director of Photographers’ Gallery London Brett Rogers, and MAPh Director Anouska Phizacklea worked through the 750 submissions to select a diverse representation of contemporary Australian photography.
With large-scale installations through to meticulous daguerreotypes, the shortlisted works canvass sculptural, digital and analogue photography.
Nathan Stolz, And I am in them, 2023, chromogenic prints, 64 x 100cm. Collection of the artist. Courtesy the artist
The winner of the prize will win $30,000 and their work will be acquired into MAPh’s collection; the judges will also select three Honourable Mentions, thanks to Colour Factory. The artist selected for the Wai Tang Commissioning Award will receive $10,000 and the opportunity to exhibit a body of work throughout next year’s Bowness Photography Prize season. The Camera House People’s Choice winner will be awarded a prize pool worth $5000.
Selected artists include established practitioners such as Jemima Wyman, Rod McNicol, Amanda Williams, James Tylor and William Yang, as well as mid-career and emerging artists demonstrating a mastery of the medium. It’s an exciting field of artists and will make for a superb exhibition: a journey through voices, concepts and perspectives that address issues such as climate change and censorship of LGBTQI+ expression, through to the very process that drives the making of photographic work.
Teva Cosic, Untitled (tillsammans och isär/ together and apart), 2024, pigment ink-jet print, 56 x 70cm. Collection of the artist. Courtesy the artist
The 2024 Bowness Photography Prize finalists are:
Hameed Akinwande, Karenne Ann, Zia Atahi, Ramak Bamzar, Chris Barry, Yashodha Boopalan, Renee Broders, Lina Buck, Khoi Bui, Emil Canita, Aletheia Casey, Danica Chappell, Saville Coble, Renato Colangelo, Michael Corridore, Teva Cosic, Zo Damage, Lucas Davidson, J Davies, Rianon Dillon, Ella Dreyfus, Jo Duck, Jennifer Eadie, Michele Elliot, Robert Fielding, Axel Garay, Juno Gemes, Michaela Gleave, Jody Haines, Siri Hayes, Andrew Hazewinkel, Anna Higgins, Naomi Hobson, Yasmin Idriss, Minami Ivory, Natasha Johns-Messenger, Ayman Kaake, Kate Kennedy, Shea Kirk, Janet Laurence, Kirsten Lyttle, Judith Martinez Estrada, Mia McDonald, Rod McNicol, Stavros Messinis, Kent Morris, James Nguyen, Deborah Paauwe, Amanda Page, Trent Parke, Travis Paterson, Minh-An Pham, Diego Pizarro, Patrick Pound, Cameron Robbins, Joan Ross, Helga Salwe, Jessica Schwientek, Greg Semu, Talia Smith, Cecilia Sordi Campos, Tace Stevens, Nathan Stolz, Darren Tanny Tan, Angela Tiatia, Wani Toaishara, James Tylor, Justine Varga, Alex Walker, Amanda Williams, Rudi Williams, Amy Woodward, Jemima Wyman, and William Yang
The 2024 Bowness Photography Prize finalist exhibition opens 12 September at the Museum of Australian Photography (MAPh), Melbourne.
From the judges:
“The breadth and depth of practice from photographers and artists who entered the prize has truly astounded me. Conceptually, from the personal to the political and all spaces in between, as well as technically from digital to non-silver processes, and from the very intimate to the very large in scale. I have been delightfully reminded that photography is an endlessly fascinating, interesting, evolving and powerful medium and why it has absorbed me for most of my life. We need artists’ voices now more than ever, as we are living in such politically and environmentally complex and challenging times . . . ” – Dr Peta Clancy.
