New East Photo Prize 2020
Winner & Finalists Announced

Alexey Vasilyev

Calvert 22 Foundation is proud to announce that Alexey Vasilyev from Russia has been named the winner of the New East Photo Prize 2020 for his project Sakhawood. The prize is presented by Calvert 22 Foundation and The Calvert Journal to give an international platform to photographers of the New East – Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia and Central Asia – and provide a unique glimpse into the self-identity of this underrepresented region and the lives of its people.

 

Alexey Vasilyev

Alexey Vasilyev

Alexey Vasilyev

Alexey Vasilyev

Alexey Vasilyev

Alexey Vasilyev

Alexey Vasilyev (b. 1985, Yakutsk, Russia) is a documentary photographer focusing on the everyday lives of people in Yakutia and the Russian North. Vasilyev began his photographic career in 2010 as a reporter for a local newspaper covering stories about young people. In 2017, he became a member of the Russian Union of Photographers. In 2018, he enrolled at St Petersburg’s school of Russian contemporary photography, Docdocdoc. His photographs have been published in publications including The Guardian, National Geographic, National Geographic (Russia), Wired, The Calvert Journal, Meduza, It’s Nice That, Takie Dela (Russia), Lenta.ru (Russia), LensCulture, MoscowTimes, MyModernMet.

As the winner of the New East Photo Prize 2020, Vasilyev will receive a cash prize of £1,000 to further develop his work, as well as exposure to an international audience through The Calvert Journal.

Sakhawood invites us behind the scenes of Yakutia’s remarkable independent film industry, where up to 10 feature length films are shot per year and where local movies outrank international blockbusters.

“Yakutian films are shot for little money. Film production costs somewhere between 1-2 million rubles, which is modest even by most Russian standards,” says Alexey Vasilyev.

Though a majority of directors and actors that Vasilyev photographs have no formal education in film, Yakutia’s movies have found success at international festivals in Europe and Asia. The movies range from romantic comedies to fairy tales and are based on local legends and beliefs. With his project, Vasilyev wanted to show that “Yakutia is famous not only for its -60 C° temperatures and gold mining” but is also a home to superb cinematic talent. “Most directors don’t make a living from just making films. That doesn’t stop them in their ambitions to win over audiences in Russia and across the world.”

“I am delighted with the news,” he adds. “I am currently on a trip documenting reindeer herders in a remote village in Russia. It has been a surprise to hear the news. I am proud to be a winner among such a strong shortlist of projects.”

Two special prizes have also been awarded as part of this year’s competition. New East Photo Prize judge Davide Monteleone and Spazio Labo’ presented the Mentorship Award to Uzbek photographer Hassan Kurbanbaev. His project Logomania: Owning the World at Half Price examines Uzbekistan’s obsession with Western luxury brands through staged photos featuring counterfeit Chanel and Gucci products. Kurbanbaev will be invited to attend the Tutorship in Visual Storytelling training course organised by Davide Monteleone and Spazio Labo’, offering individual coaching for visual storytellers in their early career.

 

Hassan Kurbanbaev

Marina Istomina

Marina Istomina

Marina Istomina

Moscow-based photographer Marina Istomina, originally from Ust-Kut, Siberia, has been awarded a £500 voucher for photography for her series Suffocation, made in response to the wildfires that ravaged through Siberia and the Russian Arctic in 2019.

The finalists / Shortlisted:

Agnieszka Sejud​, ​Hoax.
Alexey Vasilyev, ​Sakhawood.
András Ladocsi, ​Swallow.​
Hassan Kurbanbaev​, ​Logomania: Owning the World at Half Price​.
Igor Elukov, ​The Book of Miracles​.
Ilir Tsouko, Starting Over: From the Donbass to Chernobyl​.
János R. Szabó, ​Stories along the Öreg-Túr River.
Justyna Górniak, ​Haytarma.​
Lilith Matevosyan, ​I had left my home early in the morning.
Marina Istomina, ​Suffocation.​
Tomasz Liboska, ​Turn Around.​

 

Agnieszka Sejud

Agnieszka Sejud

Igor Elukov

András Ladocsi

András Ladocsi

Lilith Matevosyan

Lilith Matevosyan

János R. Szabó

Ilir Tsouko

Ilir Tsouko

Launched in 2016, the New East Photo Prize seeks to broaden perceptions of the New East through the medium of photography. It is a Calvert 22 Foundation initiative supported by its award-winning online magazine, The Calvert Journal. The biennial prize received over 700 entries this year from 26 New East countries.

 

New East Photo Prize 2020
Calvert 22
Visit the award page >

30 Under 30 Women Photographers / 2023 TAW
Torino Art Week / Exhibition
Presented for Torino Art Week 2023 and in collaboration with Recontemporary in Turin, Artpil proudly announces the 2023 exhibition...
+
Torino Art Week 2023
Prescription .144
Torino Art Week 2023 opens the first week of November with events that will fill the city with works...
+
Antoni Tàpies. The Practice of Art
Sep 15, 2023 – Jan 7, 2024
A self-taught artist during the interwar period, Tàpies reflected on the human condition, his historical situation and the artistic...
+
Dorothea Lange. Tales of Life and Work
Prescription .143
Dorothea Lange's photography, now nearly a hundred years later, continues to resound in its portrayal of a time and...
+
Paris Photo 2023
November 9–12, 2023
Paris Photo is the largest art fair dedicated to the photographic medium and is held each November in the...
+
REGENERATE
Jun 23 – Dec 10, 2023
With REGENERATE as its theme, the festival brings together works that explore the changes modern society must face, seeing...
+
Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects
Sep 28, 2023 – Jan 21, 2024
American Prospects has enjoyed a life of acclaim. Its pages are filled with unexpected excitement, despair, tenderness and hope....
+
ARTPIL / Prescription .142
White heat. A Green River.
A bridge, scorched yellow palms from the summer-sleeping house drowsing through August. Days I have held, days I have...
+
30 Under 30 Women Photographers / 2023 TAW
Torino Art Week / Exhibition
Presented for Torino Art Week 2023 and in collaboration with Recontemporary in Turin, Artpil proudly announces the 2023 exhibition...
+
Torino Art Week 2023
Prescription .144
Torino Art Week 2023 opens the first week of November with events that will fill the city with works...
+
Antoni Tàpies. The Practice of Art
Sep 15, 2023 – Jan 7, 2024
A self-taught artist during the interwar period, Tàpies reflected on the human condition, his historical situation and the artistic...
+
Dorothea Lange. Tales of Life and Work
Prescription .143
Dorothea Lange's photography, now nearly a hundred years later, continues to resound in its portrayal of a time and...
+
Paris Photo 2023
November 9–12, 2023
Paris Photo is the largest art fair dedicated to the photographic medium and is held each November in the...
+
REGENERATE
Jun 23 – Dec 10, 2023
With REGENERATE as its theme, the festival brings together works that explore the changes modern society must face, seeing...
+
Joel Sternfeld: American Prospects
Sep 28, 2023 – Jan 21, 2024
American Prospects has enjoyed a life of acclaim. Its pages are filled with unexpected excitement, despair, tenderness and hope. Its fears are expressed in beauty, its sadnesses in irony.
+
ARTPIL / Prescription .142
White heat. A Green River.
A bridge, scorched yellow palms from the summer-sleeping house drowsing through August. Days I have held, days I have lost, days that outgrow
+
  • Marina Abramović
    Sep 23, 2023 – Jan 1, 2024
    Royal Academy of Arts
    London, UK

    An art world icon and a performance art pioneer – Marina Abramović has captivated audiences by pushing the limits of her body and mind, for the past 50 years.

    Marina Abramović Hon RA has earned worldwide acclaim as a performance artist. She has consistently tested the limits of her own physical and mental endurance in her work, subjecting herself to exhaustion, pain and even the possibility of death. (more…)