The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize exhibition is currently showing in three exhibition spaces. Works range from 15cm x 17.5cm to 2.8m x 1.6m in size; black and white; colour; analogue and digitally-produced work.

Ground floor:

Sophie Ristelhueber. Five large photographs (168cm x 208cm, 110cm x 133cm, 155cm x 190cm; colour silver print and pigment print). An overall feeling of loneliness in her selection. In one of the pictures from a series titled Eleven Blowups there is a pothole in a road in a plain vast landscape. The picture is divided horizontally by the earth and sky. There are industrial tracks on the road showing different states of the earth surrounding the pothole: cracks, holes, mud, puddles. One can see how cars would make their way around the hole and bumps in the road. The eye is drawn both to the depths of the black pothole and the horizon to which the road leads.

Corridor:

A short film (approximately 4 minutes) giving some insight into the point of view of the four artists and their motivation.

Third floor:

Anna Fox: 32 works from her exhibition Cockroach Diaries And other Stories, including a series titled Notes from Home and a series titled My Mother's Cupboard And My Father's Words. There is a wall with shelves full of postcards (31.5cm x 23cm) in concertina format; several prints (55cm x 50cm and 36cm x 36cm) showing faces of men, women and children in masks, costumes and make up; some very fine small pictures (about 5cm x 7cm) on a white background with pale coloured writing on the left hand side. One has to go nearer to take these in and to read the words to get the full impact. These small pictures show the insides of cupboards, with linen, glasses and plates - evoking a dense, neat, forgotten kind of feeling. There are some densely-packed wine glasses in a dark wooden space in one picture; with a caption 'She's bloody rattling again. Can you stop your bloody fucking rattling glasses'. Reading the caption brings a new inflection to the narrowness of the cupboard and the darkly-lit glasses. Other pictures in the series have similar captions creating a dark, sinister and violent atmosphere.

Next room:

Zoe Leonard: 39 dye transfer prints (24.2cm x 22.2cm) show a colourful collection of street views, urban landscapes, shop windows and materials. Some give a feeling of old-fashioned styles and desertedness but also glimpses of hope, creativity and individualism. One picture shows two side-by-side paper cartons of men's black leather shoes tightly packed. In the background there's a green shed, outside on a street. The right carton has one pair missing, which is sitting on top of the left carton. It seems as if this pair of shoes has escaped the narrowness of the boxes and is hiding on top.

Room behind a wall:

Donovan Wylie. 34 Giclée prints (30.5cm x 40.5cm and 61cm x 76cm) plus a selection of scrapbook pages. His prints from the MAZE 2007/8 show pictures of and in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. A cold, vacant atmosphere; structured, linear pictures showing the fencing, walls and grass spaces outside the prison and the similar beds inside. In one of the series Deconstruction Of The Maze Prison, a metal fence in front of the prison wall is shown in a torn and shredded pile. The wall behind gives a balanced space with regular lines and windows opposing the heap of metal in the centre. Different shades of grey make the place seem wet and cold. The metal fence heap resembles a wave of water and foam, as if wind has disrupted the structure, like a creature moving in an empty place.

Credits: The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize is given to one living photographer of any nationality who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe over the past year. The shortlisted artists for 2010 are: Anna Fox (born 1961, UK); Zoe Leonard (b 1961, USA); Sophie Ristelhueber (b 1949, France); Donovan Wylie (b 1971, UK). The jury for 2010 is: Olivia Maria Rubio (Director of Exhibitions, La Fàbrica, Spain); Gilane Tawadros (Chief Executive, Design Artists Copyright Society, curator and writer); James Welling (artist, USA); Anne-Marie Beckmann (Curator, Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Germany). Brett Rogers, Director of The Photographers' Gallery, is the non-voting Chair. The winner is announced on 17 march 2010. Source: The Photographers' Gallery, March 2010.

END

(c) Fleur Poad 2010

reviewed Saturday 6 March 2010 / The Photographers' Gallery, London UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

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