An artist who explores the modern obsession with technology has won one of the most prestigious prizes in photography, with judges saying her work is a perfect fit for a world adjusting to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chinese artist Cao Fei was awarded the £30,000 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation prize 2021 at the Photographer’s Gallery in London. The judges called her work, which was made before the pandemic, “gripping and prescient”.
Brett Rogers, the director of the Photographer’s Gallery and chair of the Deutsche Börse jury, said Cao’s dystopian visions impressed the judging panel, with a balanced approach to predicting a near-future that wasn’t ever dogmatic.
She said: “The work touched the jury because we’ve all lived through these strange times, and although all the bodies of work are very strong, and spoke about different issues, in a way this speaks most strongly for our time.”
Asia One, the artist’s film that was set in a factory where workers interact with automated machines, has been described as a “sci-fi romcom that speaks to China’s past and the global future”. That prescient intersection between technology, human emotion and state power won over the jury.
“[In Nova] there are lots of empty streets, and it’s about humanity’s links to digital technology and how you get lost in it,” said Rogers. “It’s about the need for human connection.”
Anne-Marie Beckmann, director of Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, said Fei’s work offers “a uniquely poetic dystopia” that echoes the human condition today. “She captures the particular isolation and alienation experienced in our increasingly digital age through a distinctive and seductive visual language that speaks both through and about images and their place in the world today,” she added.
The award, which is in its 25th year and recognises projects that made “significant contributions to photography over the previous 12 months”, featured three other nominees, including Alejandro Cartagena, Zineb Sedira and Poulomi Basu, who focused on the battle between the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) and the Indian state.
Cartagena’s A Small Guide to Homeownership consisted of material drawn from 15 years of images documenting Mexicans’ quest to own their own abode, while Sedira’s Way of Life, from the series For a Brief Moment the World Was on Fire ... and We Have Come Back, looked at the counterculture movements of the 60s and 70s.
