£30,000 Prize at Stake as Kurmaz Joins Deutsche Börse Shortlist
The winner of the 2027 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize will be named on 29 April 2027.
By Anthony Foster ·
Ukrainian photographer Sasha Kurmaz has been named among five contenders for a prize carrying a £30,000 payout, with the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2027 shortlist now set. The other four shortlisted artists will each collect £5,000 regardless of the outcome.
Kurmaz earned the nomination for Red Horse, a photo book published by Éditions Images Vevey in November 2025 that runs to roughly 800 pages. He began the project in 2022 and built it from documentary photographs, personal notes, and material found on the streets. Graphic designer Nicolas Polli handled the book's design. The foundation described it as "a powerful reflection on how war transforms our lives and collective memory, and on what it means to create art in times of armed conflict."
Three other artists join him on the shortlist. Iranian documentary photographer Hoda Afshar was nominated for Performing the Invisible, shown at the Musée du quai Branly, Jacques Chirac in Paris. Canadian photographer Lotus L. Kang was selected for The face of desire is loss, installed at the Bulgari Pavilion during the 61st Venice Biennale. Italian artist Salvatore Vitale made the list for SABOTAGE, exhibited at Photo Elysée in Lausanne. The foundation said the group "examines how images shape our understanding of bodies, war, labour and power."
The award itself dates to 1996, when The Photographers' Gallery in London established it to back work addressing social, political and philosophical questions. A public exhibition of the shortlisted projects opens at The Photographers' Gallery on 10 March 2027 and runs through 6 June 2027. It then travels to the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn, near Frankfurt, from 19 June to 26 September 2027. The winner is announced on 29 April 2027.
Kurmaz started out in graffiti writing in the early 2000s and joined the informal Kyiv-based group Psia Krev by 2010. He has worked on independent projects and photography since 2010 and has collaborated with the Viktor Marushchenko School of Photography since 2011. His practice spans photography, video, performance, and interventions in public spaces, examining the links between individuals, society, and power. He took the 2026 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award.
