Calvert 22 Foundation announces 2016 winner of New East Photo Prize

Calvert 22 Foundation and The Calvert Journal are delighted to announce the winner of the inaugural New East Photo Prize after last night’s award ceremony in London.

Documentary photographer Michał Siarek has been chosen as winner for his project Alexander, which will be published by the Foundation as a photo book. Alexander centres on myths, identity and nationalism in Macedonia.

Siarek was selected as winner by the Prize’s panel of judges, which included award-winning photographer Donald Weber; Creative Director of Calvert 22 Foundation, Ekow Eshun; leading curator and critic Kate Bush; and Head of Photography at the Guardian and Observer, Roger Tooth, among others.

In addition to the main prize, the Special Prize, dedicated to unfinished documentary projects, was awarded to Elena Subach by New East Photo Prize partner Bird In Flight. Subach will receive a £1000 grant toward the completion of her project, The Sacrifice, which focuses on rural Ukraine and explores the blurred boundary between reality and myth.

A mentorship scheme was also awarded to Lana Stojićević by New East Photo Prize partner Metro Imaging. Stojićević‘s series Black Hill focuses on the complex connection between a landscape and its people, centering on a Croatian village where nearly 200,000 tons of industrial waste were deposited in 2010.

The prize winners number among 11 shortlisted finalists, who are showing in a group exhibition at Calvert 22 Foundation’s exhibition space in London until 18 December.

Accompanying the 2016 New East Photo Prize Exhibition, Calvert 22 is hosting the New East Photo Weekend today and tomorrow, bringing together leading photographers, artists and curators to share their experience with emerging photographers.

The New East Photo Prize seeks to champion outstanding projects that offer an insightful, contemporary perspective on the people and countries of the New East.