The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, established in 1996, celebrates exhibitions and publications that have made “a significant contribution to photography in the past 12 months.” It’s a major moment in the cultural calendar, and, over the years, has spotlighted seminal names such as Arthur Jafa, Deana Lawson, Lorna Simpson, Richard Mosse and Susan Meiselas. This year’s winning artist is Rene Matić, for the exhibition AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH, at CCA Berlin, Germany, which ran from November 2024 to February 2025. The show, as Shoair Mavlian, Director of The Photographers’ Gallery and Chair of the Jury, describes, comprised “raw and honest photographs” that “bring a story of Britain today to audiences outside the UK.” On accepting the award, London-based Matić said: “An artist is only one small cog in a large machine of people, workers, communities, organisers and carers who make it possible for ideas to become real and I would not be here without any of these people. I am rewarded every day by this practice, I really truly would not survive without the radical sustaining power of art, especially now.”
Matić, who was selected by a jury comprising representatives from Autograph ABP, Foto Colectania Foundation, Magnum Photos and The Photographers’ Gallery, will receive £30,000, with each of the other shortlistees taking away £5,000. Along with Matić, the 2026 honourees – Amak Mahmoodian, Jane Evelyn Atwood and Weronika Gęsicka – demonstrate the wide-reaching nature of photography today, presenting everything from collaborative projects to long-term investigative documentary, installation, video and sound. Moreover, their works navigate pressing themes: exile and memory; gender inequalities and advocacy; identity and belonging, subculture and class in contemporary life; and the shifting boundaries between photographic fact and fiction. Learn more about the creatives selected for 2026:
Rene Matić
Rene Matić (b. 1997) won with the exhibition AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH, which was at CCA Berlin from November 2024 to February 2025. Matić’s practice spans photography, film and sculpture, and the Berlin show was a culmination of these approaches. It combined diaristic, snapshot-like photography alongside collected objects, film and sound. Together, these elements formed a vivid and layered portrait of contemporary life – rooted in identity and belonging, subculture, class and family. In a climate of rising right-wing populism and performative compassion, Matić turned to interpersonal relationships as spaces of resistance and care. For them, “intimacy, vulnerability and desire become tools for survival.”
Anne-Marie Beckmann, Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, said: “Their photography captures everyday life with tenderness and intimacy. The importance of chosen family and community shines through. Matić’s photographs celebrate the togetherness of people – whether they are laughing, kissing or partying … AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH is a vivid, fluid portrait of contemporary life. Their experimental approach expands what photography is and how we experience it.”
Amak Mahmoodian
Amak Mahmoodian (b. 1980) was selected for the exhibition One Hundred and Twenty Minutes, which explores “emotional and psychological landscapes in exile.” Mahmoodian began her career in Iran and has been based in the UK since 2010, unable to return to her homeland. For her, dreams offer a vital connection to a lost home and family. Over six years, Mahmoodian worked closely with sixteen individuals from fourteen countries. Their long-term conversations focused on recurring dreams and the effects of exile on memory and identity. The resulting show, part of the Bristol Photo Festival in 2024, spanned photography, poetry, text, drawing and video, giving visual and poetic form to her collaborators’ thoughts.
Jane Evelyn Atwood
Jane Evelyn Atwood (b. 1947) was shortlisted for the publication Too Much Time, which is a vital visual record of 10 years in the lives of incarcerated women. The series spans 40 prisons across nine counties, and documents the experiences of female inmates: limited access to hygienic facilities, a lack of gynaecological and mental health care and stark inequalities compared to their male counterparts. The book was made during the 1990s and originally published in 2000. Since then, Atwood’s message has only become more urgent, with the female prison population growing 50-60%. The series is testament to Atwood’s commitment, empathy and unwavering advocacy for social justice and women in prison.
Weronika Gęsicka
In her shortlisted project, Encyclopaedia, Weronika Gęsicka (b. 1984) draws attention to a little-known phenomenon: fake entries – otherwise known as “mountweazels” – that are deliberately inserted into dictionaries and lexicons to catch copyright violations and plagiarism. Gęsicka presents several hundred of these fabricated definitions, sourced from historical publications and accompanied by manipulated stock photos and AI-generated imagery. It’s all about the tension between truth and invention, and the erosion of trust in sources once considered authoritative. Encyclopaedia is a playful, humorous yet strikingly prescient series, published at a time when misleading AI content, misinformation and manipulation are rife.
The exhibition of selected work from the four artists’ shortlisted projects is at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, until 7 June 2026. It will then be on display from 3 September 2026 to 17 January 2027 at the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn/Frankfurt.
deutscheboersephotographyfoundation.org | thephotographersgallery.org.uk
Words: Eleanor Sutherland
Image Credits:
1. Detail: Rene Matić Feelings Wheel, 2024 – 2025. Installation of glass-framed photo series and sound piece, Dimensions variable. © Rene Matić. Courtesy the Artist and Arcadia Missa, London.
2. Rene Matić, Self Portrait with Mohawk, 2024 © Rene Matić. Courtesy of the Artist and Arcadia Missa, London.
3. Amak Mahmoodian, One Hundred and Twenty Minutes, 2019-2024. Courtesy of the artist
4. Jane Evelyn Atwood, Prisoner in the prison workshop, Centre Pénitentiaire Les Baumettes, Marseille, France, 1991 © Jane Evelyn Atwood.
5. Weronika Gęsicka, Argusto Emfazie, from the ‘Encyclopaedia’ series, 2023-2025. Courtesy of the artist and Jednostka Gallery.
