Congratulations to British photographer, John Stezaker, who has been announced as the winner of the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2012.
After competing with three other shortlisted artists – Pieter Hugo, Rinko Kawauchi, and Christopher Williams – Stezaker was presented the award dotted with the £30,000 by influential photographer, Juergen Teller, who won the prize back in 2003.
Controversially, Stezaker received the award without having actually taken a photograph himself. Nominated for his Whitechapel show in 2011, Stezaker combines found imagery from vintage postcards and film stills, magazines and other publications to create surreal collages with often humorous and sometimes sinister outcomes.
Speaking on behalf of the jury, non voting Chair of the Jury and Director of the Photographers Gallery, Brett Rogers, praised Stezaker for not only an outstanding contribution to the art and photography world, but for the significance of his work for younger artists: “compelling and disruptive, Stezaker’s work has been influential on a new generation of image-makers who have been inspired by his unswerving commitment to his practice.”
The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize including work by all shortlisted photographers will be on display until 9th September 2012 at the Photographers Gallery, London.