Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2021 Winning Portraits

© David Prichard - Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2021

David Prichard has won first prize in the prestigious Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2021 for Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women, his series of portraits of First Nations women who spent most of their working lives on cattle stations in Far North Queensland. The winner of the £15,000 first prize was announced today, Monday 8 November, at the award ceremony held at Cromwell Place in South Kensington.

The second prize was awarded to Pierre-Elie de Pibrac for Hakanai Sonzai, a series of portraits taken in Japan focused on people who exhibited fortitude in the face of adversity. Katya Ilina was awarded third prize for David, taken from a series of portraits that celebrate positive body image and question notions of masculinity and femininity by highlighting their fluidity.

The winning portraits are now on display in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2021 exhibition at Cromwell Place, in South Kensington, London from 10 November 2021 until 2 January 2022, while the Gallery’s building in St Martin’s Place is closed for major redevelopment works. The exhibition features 54 portraits from 25 different artists, selected for display by a panel of judges including Misan Harriman, photographer and Chair of the Southbank Centre; Mariama Attah, curator of Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool; and Dr Susan Bright, curator and writer. 

© David Prichard - Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2021

The annual Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, now celebrating fourteen years under Taylor Wessing‘s sponsorship, is one of the most prestigious photography awards in the world and showcases new work submitted by some of the most exciting contemporary photographers. The prize-winning photographs and those selected for inclusion in the exhibition were chosen from 5,392 submissions entered by 2,215 photographers from 62 countries. A total of 54 portraits from 25 artists have been selected for display in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2021 exhibition.

This year’s prize is displayed at Cromwell Place in South Kensington. The National Portrait Gallery building in London is closed until 2023, while essential building works take place on the Gallery’s Inspiring People redevelopment. The popular People’s Pick feature, which offers the public the opportunity to vote for their favourite portrait is running online on the Gallery’s website.

This year’s judging panel was chaired by National Portrait Gallery Director, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, who was joined by curator, Mariama Attah, from the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool; photographer and Chair of the Southbank Centre, Misan Harriman; curator and writer, Dr Susan Bright and National Portrait Gallery Senior Photographs Curator, Magda Keaney.

Judged anonymously, the diversity of styles in the exhibition reflects the international mix of entries as well as photographers’ individual and varied approaches to the genre of portraiture. Photographers were again encouraged to submit works as a series in addition to stand-alone portraits.