The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize has announced the four shortlisted artists for its 2027 edition. The selected artists are Hoda Afshar, Lotus L. Kang, Sasha Kurmaz and Salvatore Vitale.
Established in 1996 by The Photographers’ Gallery, London, and partnered with the Deutsche Börse group since 2005, the prize recognises artists for an exhibition or book that has made a ‘significant contribution to photography’ in the past year. Previous winners include Rene Matić, Lindokuhle Sobekwa, Lebohang Kganye and Samuel Fosso.
This year’s jury comprises Laia Abril, multidisciplinary artist; Damarice Amao, associate curator for photography at the Musée National d’Art Moderne / Centre Pompidou, Paris; Verónica Fieiras, artist, editor and publisher (CHACO); Anne-Marie Beckmann, Director of Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and Shoair Mavlian, Director of The Photographers’ Gallery, as voting chair.
‘From century-old photographic archives to radical contemporary experiments, the 2027 shortlist proves how urgently photography speaks to our times. The nominated projects are both rigorous and profoundly moving’, said Beckmann in a statement.
Work by the four selected artists will be on view at The Photographers’ Gallery from 10 March – 6 June.
The winner of the £30,000 prize will be announced in April. The remaining shortlisted artists will each receive £5,000.
Explore the shortlist:
Hoda Afshar
Hoda Afshar is shortlisted for the exhibition Performing the Invisible that took place at the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris from 30 September 2025 to 25 January 2026. Through photographs, drawings, mirrors, videos and sound installations, she explores notions of established perspectives and photography as a tool of resistance. In particular in her series The Fold, she examines the legacy of colonial photographic practice and how they continue to shape the way veiled Islamic bodies are perceived.
Lotus L. Kang
Lotus L. Kang is selected for her exhibition The face of desire is loss, on view at the Bulgari Pavilion at the Venice Biennale through 22 November. Kang considers how bodies change over time. In her work, she suspends lengths of unfixed photographic film from steel joists, displaying how they react to their environment.
Sasha Kurmaz
Sasha Kurmaz is recognised for the publication Red Horse published by Éditions Images Vevey in November 2025. The 800-page publication, started in 2022 following Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine, is a visual diary composed of handmade collages that recount the constant reshaping of life in Ukraine by war.
Salvatore Vitale
Salvatore Vitale is shortlisted for the exhibition SABOTAGE that took place at Photo Elysée, Lausanne from 6 March to 31 May. Vitale makes visible the hidden human labour that sustains the digital economy and uses the notion of sabotage to explore the possibility of resistance and agency within systems of control.
