The highly anticipated 2020 edition of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize opened at The Photographers’ Gallery this month. Founded in 1996 by the gallery, and now in its twenty-fourth year, the prize has become one of the most prestigious international arts awards, and has launched and established the careers of many photographers over the years.
This year’s show was curated by TPG’s Anna Dannemann, bringing together the four projects from shortlisted artists Mohamed Bourouissa, Anton Kusters, Mark Neville, and Clare Strand.
Presented over the 4th and 5th floors of the gallery, the DBPFP20 exhibition comprises four distinct artist rooms, offering each project a self-contained space for visitors to engage with the works in depth, highlighting the diverse and innovative nature of their individual practices. The exhibition also encourages consideration of the projects in dialogue to get a sense of the shared artistic, social, and political issues influencing contemporary photography more widely.
Continuing our long-standing relationship with artist Mark Neville, Metro Imaging was delighted to work with him in producing archival c-type prints and bespoke wooden box frames to showcase his DBPFP shortlisted series Parade, situated on the 5th floor and featuring 21 prints.
In 2016, commissioned by the GwinZegal Centre of Art, Neville began taking photographs in Guingamp, Brittany (“little Britain”), starting on the day the UK voted to leave the European Union. Over three years he produced a complex, multi-layered portrait of this tight-knit provincial farming region, documenting different agribusinesses in the community – from small holdings to large industries. Neville has captured the multitude of relationships the Guingamp community holds with animals, conveying everything from horse whispering, to rehabilitation, to farming for animal consumption.
Parade’s resulting photobook is now accompanied by a publication of essays (Parade Texts) written by Brittany farmers, articulating the need for a sustainable, humane, even ecotopian type of agriculture. The essay publication will be available for free at the exhibition, and has also been sent out to UK and European ministries of agriculture and food, as well as key policy makers, calling for the urgent adoption of more ecological methods of farming.
The exhibition will run at The Photographers’ Gallery from 21 February until 7 June 2020, then tour to the Deutsche Börse headquarters in Eschborn/Frankfurt on 26 June 2020 until 27 September 2020.
