Running annually since 2003, the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize hosted in the National Portrait Gallery, returns for another year. The exhibit unveils a wide range of images, capturing both unique and intimate moments between photographers and their subjects.
The £15,000 prize was awarded to Pat Martin, for his is sensitive series of images telling the story of his late mother; incorporating both sensitivity and humour in the images of her and her dog, Beaux. Martin notes how the series of photographs allowed him to reconnect with his mother following conflict in their differences; ‘for most of my life, I misunderstood my mother and witnessed how the world misunderstood her. Photographing her became a way of looking into a mirror’.
The second prize of £3,000 was awarded to Enda Bowe, who’s portrait ‘Neil’, taken on the Belfast Conway estate, exposes the complex relationship between youthful rebellion and uncertainty in a simple style, highlighted through natural light.
The final prize of £2,000 was awarded to Garrod Kirkwood for his portrait ‘The Hubbucks’, featuring an eclectic family car, packed with bright and buoyant holiday essentials, described as a ‘cinematic scene from real life’. Kirkwood perfectly captures the cheerful moment of a family, poised on the cusp of holiday adventure.
The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize is judged anonymously, with both stand-alone portraits as well as larger series’ encouraged. This year saw over 1600 entries from more than 70 countries – of which 55 were selected for display at the gallery.
Beyond the scope of the photographic prize, the exhibit also hosts further unseen prints from New York photographer Ethan James Green, ‘In Focus’, featuring striking black and white portraits of eight New York couples connected to the artist.
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Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2019
7 November 2019 – 16 February 2020
National Portrait Gallery
St. Martin’s Pl, Charing Cross, London WC2H 0HE
£6 Admission, concessions available.