Rahaab Allana is Curator/Publisher, at Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, New Delhi. He was the Founding Editor of PIX (enterpix.in) which focused on South Asian lens-based practices and production; also Founder of ASAP | art (asapart.in), the region’s first app for presentation and discussion of contemporary creative work.  

Rahaab works nationally and internationally with museums, archives, cultural initiatives and institutions, universities and festivals. He was Guest Editor for a Delhi-themed issue of Aperture (Summer 2021). He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (UK), and was recently awarded ‘Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters’ by the French Government. 

What does the shortlist say about photography today? 
 
“I was deeply moved by how practitioners embodied their experiences, touching upon sensitive issues associated with nationalism and marginalisation by seeking (counter)memory and collaboration as a viable means. Photography here has a resistutive quality - an ability to communicate beyond the arena of local realities. By sharing secular means and strategies, they organically broaden viewer engagement, and present the medium as a deeply inclusive means for fighting for social upliftment.” 

Can you sum up the shortlist in three words? 

"Decolonial. Wordly. Emboldened."

Quentin Bajac is a French museum curator and art historian specialising in the history of photography. He is the Director of the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris, and has held positions at the Musée d'Orsay, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne and École du Louvre and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).  

Quentin has published a number of works on photography, most notably the three-volume series - La photographie - on the history of photography (2000–2010), as well as Parr by Parr: Discussions with a Promiscuous Photographer (2011), Stephen Shore: Solving Pictures (2017), Being Modern: MoMA in Paris (co-author with Olivier Michelon, 2017).

What does the shortlist say about photography today? 
 
“The selection gives us an overview of the extreme diversity of the contemporary photographic scene but above all reminds us that, beyond artistic practice, photography remains today a powerful mode of anthropological and cultural knowledge.” 

Can you sum up the shortlist in three words? 

"Stories. Histories. Inquiries."

Image: ©Jeu de Paume, Photo Renaud Monfourny

Anne-Marie Beckmann is a German-French art historian and curator. She has been the Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation since August 2015.

Since 1999 she has curated the Art Collection Deutsche Börse and developed the company's cultural programme, as well as curating photography exhibitions at the Deutsche Börse headquarters in Frankfurt/Main and in several art institutions. Beckmann is a lecturer at the University of Art and Design in Offenbach/Main, and has been an Honorary Professor there since October 2023.

What does the shortlist say about photography today? 

"The shortlist impressively illustrates how highly complex states of life and mind. Questions of identity and equality and the processing of trauma can be processed and visually expressed through photography in diverse visual languages and conceptual approaches."

Can you sum up the shortlist in three words?

"Culture. Identity. Heritage."

Laura El-Tantawy is an award winning British/Egyptian documentary photographer, book maker and educator. Her projects investigate notions of home and belonging, routinely approaching her work from a social and environmental perspective inspired by her transatlantic background. 

Her visual explorations often intertwine moving images, sound, and personal narratives, marked by the artist’s lyrical eye on reality. Laura studied in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the US and UK. She started her career as a newspaper photographer in the United States. In 2016, she was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize for her self-published monograph In the Shadow of the Pyramids. She is the recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Fund, Prix Virgina and PHMuseum awards. 

What does the shortlist say about photography today? 

"Our shortlisted artists invite us into their own home. They are singular, diverse and multigenerational voices whose deliberate, tenacious and sometimes playful gaze takes us on an eye-opening journey through their own lived experiences. In their world we find ourselves enveloped by memory, history and place. Their adamant documentation and interrogation of the very art of image making is a window into what was — lest we forget, as much as it is a doorway into what may come — lest we not heed the past."

Can you sum up the shortlist in three words?

"Singular. Diverse. Multigenerational."

Image: ©Laura El-Tantawy

Shoair Mavlian is Director of The Photographers' Gallery where she leads the strategic vision and artistic direction of the organisation. She was previously Director of Photoworks where she oversaw the exhibitions, biennial festival, commissions, learning and engagement, publishing and digital content. From 2011-2018 Mavlian was Assistant Curator, Photography and International Art at Tate Modern, London.

Mavlian has a background in fine art photography practice and the history of photography focus on the twentieth century, emerging contemporary practice, and work related to conflict and memory. 

What does the shortlist say about photography today? 

"The shortlist reflects how artists take risks, make themselves vulnerable and share stories which are both deeply personal and, at the same time, relatable."

Can you sum up the shortlist in three words? 

"Urgent. Vulnerable. Inspiring."

Image: ©Poppy Thorpe