Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize Winner
News Release
4 November 2009
PORTRAIT OF ASPIRING PARALYMPIAN WINS TOP PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE
Winner of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2009 announced at the National Portrait Gallery
The 2009 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize has been won by Paul Floyd Blake, 47, for his portrait of 13-year-old swimmer Rosie Bancroft, who hopes to compete in the 2012 Paralympic Games. The portrait of the teenager, who had her right foot removed when she was ten months old, was taken in a swimming pool changing room in her home town of Oxford. Blake says, ‘Rosie was competing throughout the day and there was only a short window when I could take the picture. She had just swum a personal best in her event and I think that's why she has such a confident, self-assured look in the portrait.'
The £12,000 award was presented to the West Yorkshire-based photographer at the National Portrait Gallery, London, last night (Tuesday 3 November).
Blake's shortlisted portrait is part of a series called On Track for 2012 in which each year from 2007 - 2012 he will photograph twelve young athletes with the potential to compete in the 2012 Olympics, regardless of whether or not they make it to London 2012. Shot in large format with a 5x4 Wista field camera the series will show ‘ordinary youngsters striving to do extraordinary things' says Blake. ‘The series is probably less about sport than it is about young people growing up and the transition from childhood into adulthood. These teenagers exist in this ultra-professional world that can often be very isolating. It is about them growing up and how the experiences they have now shape them for the future.'
Born in London in 1961, Paul Floyd Blake took his first photograph aged thirteen but didn't begin his photographic career until he was forty. Since graduating from Bradford College, his work has been exhibited in six solo exhibitions and he works for a variety of arts organisations and commercial clients.
The following artists have also been commended in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize and receive the following prizes:
£3,000 Second Prize: Vanessa Winship for Girl in a Golden Dress, Georgia, 2009 from the series Georgia for a Song
Born in 1960, Winship grew up in Lincolnshire and was the winner of the Godfrey Argent Award 2008. Represented by Agence VU, Winship gained a BA in film, video and photographic arts from the Polytechnic of Central London and a postgraduate Diploma in photojournalism at the London College of Printing. In 2003 she moved to Istanbul to work on a project about the Black Sea which was published in Germany in 2007, entitled Schwarzes Mee, and her second book, Sweet Nothings was published in 2008. Winship's portrait was taken on one of several trips to Georgia where she was searching for people who represented the contemporary face of the country. ‘I found this particular young girl in the capital, Tbilisi, at one of the Palaces of Marriage. I liked the delicacy of her features and the way she held herself in what looked like a new and best outfit.'
£2,000 Third Prize: Michal Chelbin for Stas, Sentenced for Murder, Juvenile Prison, Russia 2009 from the series Locked
Michal Chelbin was born in Israel in 1974 and graduated from The Wizo School of Design and Education, Haifa, in 2001. Her work has been exhibited in the United States and Europe, most recently at Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York, and has been published in ArtForum, The New York Times, The New Yorker and GQ amongst others. Chelbin's first monograph, Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes and other Travelling Troupes, was published in 2008 by Aperture and a second monograph will be published in autumn 2009 by Twin Palms. Chelbin's shortlisted portrait is part of a larger series called Locked and depicts Stas, a 15-year-old inmate of a maximum security prison in Russia. Chelbin spent several days in the prison but only noticed Stas on the last day. ‘He was extremely quiet and distant... I could feel there was an enormous burden on his shoulders. I spent several hours with Stas in different locations in order to build up his trust. When we finished I learned that he had been sentenced for murder.'
£1,000 Fourth Prize: Mirjana Vrbaski for Girl, 2009
Mirjana Vrbaski was born 1978 in Montreal, Canada, but grew up in Serbia. Aged sixteen she moved back to Canada due to the Balkan wars and remained there until she was twenty-seven. She studied English Literature at the University of Guelph and is now studying photography at the Royal Academy of Art, in The Hague. Vrbraski's work aims to ‘balance the notions of ambiguity and universality' in a portrait and her shortlisted photograph is of an anonymous girl shot in June 2009 in the Netherlands. She says, ‘I find that a truly outstanding expression captured within a truly outstanding combination of elements happens very rarely and the best way of finding such a combination is by photographing as many people as possible.' Of the girl in the portrait, ‘I only took one shot of her because I could immediately feel that I reached my ideal image with her.
THE GODFREY ARGENT AWARD and the inaugural ELLE COMMISSION
Ali Lomas, twenty-two, is the winner of the 2009 Godfrey Argent Award and the inaugural ELLE Commission. The Godfrey Argent Award this year acknowledges an outstanding portrait taken by an exhibitor aged between eighteen and twenty-five. Lomas receives £2,500 for her portrait Untitled 1 of 4 from the series To Feel Beautiful. As winner of the ELLE Commission, which is new this year, Lomas will be given the opportunity to shoot a feature story for ELLE magazine. The ELLE Commission was judged by the fashion magazine's editor-in-chief, Lorraine Candy, together with the creative director, Marissa Bourke and deputy picture editor, Hannah Ridley.
Taken from her degree show, Lomas's portrait reflects her interest in combining narrative-based portraiture with fashion photography. Shot on her university campus using a digital Hasselblad camera with flash, a student friend, Laura Daley, posed for the picture. Lomas says ‘I didn't want the series to self-narrate; I wanted to keep things ambiguous. The portrait of Laura is meant to portray a moment of unspoken personal trauma and I hope people can perhaps read into it a similar experience of their own. It's meant to be disquieting and uncomfortable to look at.'
Born in Burton upon Trent, Lomas graduated from Loughborough University School of Art and Design in July with a degree in fine art specializing in photography. Since graduating she has been looking for photographic work while considering whether to return to college to take a Masters degree in fashion photography. ‘It's hard being a graduate with no work experience,' she says. ‘I'd love to be in the position one day when I'm shooting fashion campaigns for the high-end, couture brands. I feel I have a distinctive style and signature that I could bring to the industry.'
This is the second year that the law firm, Taylor Wessing LLP, have sponsored the Prize.
The judges selected 60 portraits for the exhibition from over 6,300 submissions entered by 2,452 photographers from around the world.
Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery and Chair of the judges, says: ‘Paul Floyd Blake's winning portrait is a brilliant study of youthful determination. My congratulations go to him and all of the selected photographers, and my great thanks to Taylor Wessing.'
Tim Eyles, Managing Partner, Taylor Wessing says: 'Taylor Wessing is honoured to be involved in this very important photographic competition and we congratulate all those whose images feature in this year's exhibition - particularly Paul Floyd Blake for his captivating image of Rosie Bancroft.'
Lorraine Candy, Editor-in-Chief of ELLE Magazine says: ‘ELLE magazine has a long tradition of finding and supporting new talent from models, designers to photographers and it is an honour to be involved in such a prestigious photography competition. We chose Ali's work because of the exceptional technical quality of her picture and the haunting feel of the subject matter. It was also extremely stylish. I felt her work would complement the pages of ELLE.'
PUBLICATION
A fully illustrated book including photographs from this year's exhibition features an essay by broadcast presenter and bestselling author, Stuart Maconie and interviews with the prize winners by Richard McClure. Price £12.99, 72 pages paperback. (Available from 5 November 2009).
EXHIBITION
The exhibition will tour to the Shipley Art Gallery in Newcastle from 27 March to 6 July 2010 and The New Art Gallery Walsall from 16 July to 12 September 2010. The exhibition tour is organised by the National Portrait Gallery.
Notes to Editors
- The competition was judged from original prints by: Sian Bonnell, Artist and Curator; Michael Frawley, Partner, Taylor Wessing; Fergus Greer, Photographer; Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery (Chair); Terence Pepper, Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery; Stephen Snoddy, Director, The New Walsall Art Gallery; Diane Smyth, Deputy Editor the British Journal of Photography.
- The First Prize winner receives £12,000, Second Prize £3,000, Third Prize £2,000 and Fourth Prize £1,000.
- Admission to the exhibition is free
- The Godfrey Argent Award is named in honour of British portrait photographer, Godfrey Argent (1937-2006), who, over his long and varied career, widely contributed to the Photographic Collection at the National Portrait Gallery, specifically as appointed photographer for the National Photographic Record (1967-1970). The Gallery is very grateful to the estate of Godfrey Argent for enabling us to include the prize for the third year running.
- New for 2009, ELLE magazine will commission a photographer selected for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition to shoot a feature story. The ELLE Commission was judged by the fashion magazine's editor-in-chief, Lorraine Candy, creative director, Marissa Bourke and deputy picture editor, Hannah Ridley.
For further press information and image requests please contact: Eleanor Macnair, Press Office, National Portrait Gallery Tel: 020 7321 6620 (not for publication) Email: emacnair@npg.org.uk; To download images: www.npg.org.uk/press
