Batalla’s ‘postproduction life’ included two trips to an abandoned (formerly Soviet) town within the Arctic Circle. The rooms offer visual metaphors.

Shortlisted
‘Raw’ is a photo-based series that suggests we are living in a world of our own creation. Andres Orozco utilises lighting intervention.

In each of Arseniy Neskhodimov’s series, a modern man presents a desperate desire to be forever young – trying out various treatments.

Shortlisted
‘Big Dada’ was inserted into Instagram as a digital intervention in June 2019. The artists wanted to use ML and AI to hack the personas of influencers.

Tunnels from the electricity industry place viewers at the edge of fantasy. We stare at the images as if the ground has been removed.

‘Into The Underworld’ explores the lava caves in Auckland. The caves are considered wāhi tapu (sacred) by the local Māori people.

Cody Choi’s approach to dance photography is not only to follow the movement, but to breathe with the dancers beyond the gesture.

Craig Waddell’s portraits interrogate the contemporary masculine identity, outside of the heteronormative and hegemonic ideal.

‘Snapshots From The Garden Of Eden’ includes modernised scenes from fairytales, folktales, supernatural tales and mystical tales.

Through carefully selecting buildings, Eduardo Loyola looks for emblematic structures that convey the subtlety and idiosyncrasy of their location.

Monoliths can be reinterpreted through photography. These images enhance the idea of the monument through structure.

Emmanuel Monzon believes that the expansion of urbanisation and industry in the American natural landscape has defined a new kind of space.

‘Time To Reign’ comments on the cyclical nature of trends. It celebrates the reprise of 1990s sports fashion, infused with a regal baroque aesthetic.

Cities fascinate Francesca Pompei. The artist captures the context in which urban architecture can influence our everyday life.

Aubret’s work restores a hidden sense of beauty. Like a graphic designer, he composes architectural, urban elements within vibrant photography.

Aranda was commissioned to take Dina Asher Smith’s portrait for Harrods Magazine. Dina’s eyes are set on her sporting goals.

Shortlisted
Decomposition is a stage within every organic cycle. It is also the title for Titley’s series, which explores our evolving view of the world.

The northern hemisphere was in the grip of a ‘Little Ice Age’ into the early 19th century. Julia Fullerton-Batten recreates the ‘Frost Fair’.

‘ALTERED’ is a body of work that encourages inclusion by displaying honest physical alterations, including those with life-changing alterations.

Traversing remote landscapes, Martin Tscholl seeks out moments of contemplation. These locations provide incomprehensible horizons.

Michael Schwan offers insight into the beauty, decay and nostalgia of bygone days. Nowhere is safe from the march of time.

NPier’s pictures represent humanity without actually needing to have people present in the composition, revelling in emptiness and decay.

‘Finding the Red’ is built upon childhood memories, reflecting on the artist’s background in film. The images are wrapped cinematically.

Shortlisted
Known highly intense, saturated colour, Patty Carroll takes a humorous, yet critical look at how women continue to strive for perfection.

Robert Walker is curious by nature; his work reflects this, enjoying the intrigue of an empty room as much as a frenetic street scene.

What is it about the piano that evokes such nostalgia and strong emotions within us? Romain Thiery explores the instrument from new angles.

Passionate about travel and photography, Veillon specialises in an exploration of heritage across the world – what humanity has left behind.

Romina Ressia’s practice is an analysis of contemporary society and family – charting how it has evolved through historical reference.

The ‘Dramatis personae’ series represents public façades that obscure the identity of a given location – buildings existing on a public stage.

Korea has been developing rapidly over the last 40 years. ‘Better Days’ describes leisure time from the perspective of its holiday-goers.

Simple-T’s images from the ‘Alone No More’ series were taken in nature whilst travelling through Iceland, Jordan and the USA.

Stas Bartnikas is an award-winning aerial photographer in Moscow. The artist flies in light aircrafts across the world to create “aero-art.”

Shortlisted
Stephanie Potter Corwin’s work uses data as a framework to investigate the intersections of perception, expectation and self-awareness.

As a self-taught photographer, Bernitz produces long-term documentary projects that focus on the built environment and urban landscapes.

Photographer and filmmaker Tim Max Hetherington represents the scale, alteration and intensification of the landscape by humankind.

Tyler Grace is a conceptual photographic artist specialising in creating dark and emotionally compelling images that explore life.

Shortlisted
Andreas Lutz’s practice refers to human–machine interactions and the approaches taken to create integrated, universal communication systems.

Charles Aweida is an artist and roboticist exploring the intersection of science, engineering, visual arts and film – responding to nature.

David Aston’s practice is centred around anthropology and human cultural evolution. ‘Rolling with Humanity’ looks to the impact of AI.

Geraldo Zamproni’s career as an artist is marked mainly by large installations that interact with architecture and the public – thinking globally.

Hugo Harris’ practice is a continual experiment exploring ways in which we can depict the weight of the human body through poses and positions.

In many of Jim Jacobs’ sculptures, tree limbs are grafted to milled lumber, wooden tools, furniture and human hair – reflecting on nature.

Informed by a love of nature and fine details, London-based Colombian ceramic artist Josefina Isaza’s sculptures have highly tactile surfaces.

Shortlisted
Kenichi Shikata creates sculptures and photographs that use geometric patterns. These pieces interact through light and shadows.

We live in divisive times: Brexit, anti vaxxers, flat earthers, climate change, alternative facts. Hurst’s driving force is to seek common ground.

Whilst painting in-situ, Amanda Watson experiments with how artists can connect materials to the land. Works unfold organically.

Shortlisted
Christopher Stott produces clean and representational oil paintings that transform vintage objects into icons, telling stories.

Growing up in a holiday destination – a seaside town – Day Bowman often makes reference to the sea. Recent series circle back to childhood.

‘Woolscape – Warm Gaze’ depicts the process of drawing woven cloths – strand by strand. The repetitive process mirrors modern society.

Junsuke Yokoyama’s subjects are derived from thoughts or feelings that come and go. The artist focuses on concepts that emerge and disappear, thinking about the…

Creating nebuli through painting, Loz Atkinson use different textures, giving them no definitive edge that can be perfectly measured.

Fusing traditional painting techniques with a contemporary aesthetic, Marcus Callum’s paintings convey a sense of psychological insight.

‘Noise;nse’ was conceived in a bid to look into how our everyday lives would or will change when we give meaning to the things that we often overlook.

Focused around a sense of presence, Zara Matthews explores the aura which surrounds, and still lives in abandoned hotel room objects.

Interactive artist Akira Nakayasu, evokes the idea of a living presence with Tentacle Flora, a lifelike robotic sea anemone sculpture.

Responding to patterns in nature, Alexandra Carr’s The Cloud of Unknowing has a sense of presence without definition of form.

Ant Hamlyn explores our shifting enthusiasm towards contemporary life with The Boost Project, which responds directly to its own popularity.

Through art, film and provocative, participatory actions, collaboration Bank Job tackle economic, philosophical and social issues of our time.

British Land artist, Chris Drury explores the connections between nature and culture; inner and outer; microcosm and macrocosm.

Shortlisted
Christiane Zschommler explores the sense of uncertainty surrounding Brexit, reducing published studies to geometric coloured shapes.

Interested in the deconstruction of the male gaze, Desireé Moore considers the capacity of the mind, through two-channel experimental installations.

Despoina Zachariadou’s Hostile Nature exposes the viewer to the crucial choices that need to be made in the environmental crisis.

Donna Marcus utilises discarded aluminium kitchenware with beautifully grazed surfaces, bringing a past to new assemblages.

Shortlisted
Erik Deerly’s time-based compositions investigate alternative narratives, created solely by a deliberate manipulation of extraneous content.

With hyperthyroidism, Eunmi Mimi Kim can easily be pushed into sensory overload. The project Me-Time (4.0) aims to realign the mind and body.

Shortlisted
Collective Fragmentin questions the impact of digitalisation by investigating technology’s disposition towards control and opacity.

Geoffrey Drake-Brockman’s cybernetic artworks interact with audiences to bring about dynamic human–machine performances based on mutual feedback.

HUB Studio uses creative technologies to tell stories, in turn making the world a stage through scenography, video projection and mapping.

Jacek Ludwig Scarso’s IN LIMBO invites the public to ponder what they are waiting for and whether or not it is worth the wait.

Interested in using Artificial Intelligence, Joe McAlister’s The Justice Syndicate intends to explore assumptions, intuitions and emotions.

Interested in expressing philosophical messages concerned with subconscious sensibilities, Joo-kwan Song explores the physics of time and linguistics.

Interested in the relationship between nature and artificial constructions, Juan Carlos Zaldivar explores questions often triggered about humanity.

For Luke Watson, photography is an investigative tool. Witness Objects comprises of objects which have played a role in major conflicts.

Monroe Isenberg expresses invisible concepts contributing to a language of solidarity with nonhuman beings.

Nicolas Vionnet’s installations create a non-hierarchical dialogue with the environment, opening up a visual field filled with tension.

Shortlisted
Invitation to Untitled employs manmade sounds from instant messaging software to highlight our acclimatisation to digital technologies.

In Saša Spačal’s and Mirjan Švagelj’s installation, Streptomyces bacteria emit an aroma which can evoke the memory of a forest after rain.

Shuster + Moseley create light-mobiles, sculptural installations and immersive environments that reflect on consciousness and technology.

Inspired by String Theory, Stefan Reiss’ installation includes a projection surface for vivid animations of lines, triangles and polygones.

Sylvain Souklaye’s work automated pain? is a performance about the ability to feel real-life pain via the screen as a filter.

Thodoris Trampas’ performance piece, Pangea, offers a process of union through destruction – a need for reconciliation.

Vasily Kononov-Gredin is interested in monumentality and beauty, using large formats to create a space of total installation.

Emerging Prize Winner
Counterfictions weaves together scientific facts and quotes from Donald Trump, as well as references to literature and mythology.

Fragile Machines cycles through seasons, space, the bodies of women and water with the fluidity and rapidity of panicked memory.

Di Hu engages with the language of film to demystify complex social-political constructions, including new technologies and data collection.

Elinor Staniforth asks questions about what it means to embellish the truth. Your Words, My Words is a dialogue with the viewer.

Concerned with the current state of the environment, Elise Guillaume’s work sheds light on exploitative contemporary industries.

The Art of Fugue is a chorus of female performers telling stories through the repetitive actions and movements of skilled work.

Shortlisted
Emmy Yoneda is a “collision of cultures.” Influenced by her two cultural identities, Inherited Landscapes exists in the space in between.

Driftless highlights the concept of nationhood as a form of contemporary confinement and looks at the ocean as a space for intervention.

Isolating specific movements, found gestures or unconscious actions, Silent Gestures asks audiences to engage with the body close-up.

To Melt/ To Crystallize explores an artist’s desire to ingest a sugar-coated landscape, watching it overpower her in a symbiotic relationship.

Relationships between strangers have always intrigued Ka Ki Wong. I Draw Inside A Sheep provides a personal journey through intimacy.

Shortlisted
Central to Laura Besançon’s practice are notions of play, connectivity and place. Alone, Together documents a participatory experiment.

Considering fragmented identities via archival and postcolonial frames, Marianne Keating addresses the hidden histories of the Irish diaspora in Jamaica.

Shortlisted
In ‘Self Portrait’, Natalia García Clark uses simple gestures to point out contradictions in the power structures that govern western societies.

Shortlisted
‘Bob & Sink’ follows a group of oranges through rivers and streams. The oranges are a foreign body – buoyant and immersed – yet separate.

Main Prize Winner
Rhea Storr’s work is concerned with the ability of 16mm film (and other analogue practices) to speak about black and mixed-race identities.

Rog Daglish’s work challenges the moving image as a form of visual and social communication. It questions gender, toxic masculinity and relationships.

Recitative is a fantasy spectacle that creates a counterpoint between a human voice and mechanical sounds of platforms moving within a space.