Last week i attended the Deutsche Börse photography award. As i entered the building my excitement grew, not least because of the impressive setting (Ambika P3, University of Westminster)a vast open space not unlike a warehouse, but also because i'd never been before and had only heard good things about the work usually exhibited in this prize.
My enthusiasm didn't stop there, I found Jim Goldberg's work utterly compelling the various combination's of mixed media, in my opinion, accumulated into a body of work that was incredibly effective. To the read the text contributed by the people in the image, completed the whole broken brutality of the experiences of those photographed. It truly felt that Goldberg had captured the stories of these tortured souls.
Unfortunately the compelling work stopped there and what continued was to me an almost completely mundane and unchallenging collection of work from each of the other three nominees. I was under the impression that the prize was for 'the most significant contribution to photography in Europe', I'm sorry but I fail to see how an image of cats another of cucumbers can truly be a distictive contibution to photography, the best thing about Lassry's work was the framing! Again Ethridge's images of the ballerinas feet was all very pretty but what message did it convey? Don't get me wrong i'm not saying that there is no room for things that are just beautiful in the world, of course we need those things to keep the balance but i was under the impression that this award was supposed to be for something more 'significant.' So, it was with great pleasure that I read today that Jim Goldberg won the award, as he was in fact the only real contender....And he gave you a free poster.
www.magnumphotos.com
www.portlandart.net
//deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/en/kir/gdb_navigation/about_us/30_Art_Collection/25_photography_prize
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