Launched in 2022, the Prize is conceived as part of the V&A's Parasol Foundation Women in Photography curatorial program, which seeks to foreground, sustain and support women's practice in contemporary photography and highlight the role women have played throughout the history of the medium.
The Prize is produced in partnership with Peckham 24, south London's innovative photography festival. The prize has been made possible by the support of Ms. Ruth Monicka Parasol and The Parasol Foundation Trust.
Find out more about the Prize and the The Parasol Foundation Women in Photography Project on our blog.
The V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography 2025
The Prize is free to enter and open to all women internationally.
Applicants must submit up to 20 images from an ongoing or existing body of work, plus accompanying statements, biography and a draft installation plan of the proposed exhibition at Peckham 24 festival. Work submitted must have been created in the last 3 years and should not have previously been exhibited in London.
Applications close 8 January 2025 at 18:00 GMT. Winners will be notified by 21 February 2025.
2025 Theme – 'Unity'
This year the V&A Parasol Prize for Women in Photography invites photographers to respond to the concept of 'Unity'. We encourage submissions which explore how communities, individuals, and even nature come together to heal, reconcile, and find peaceful resolution. Photographers are encouraged to focus on stories of hope, collaboration, compassion, and the shared human experience. Images should reflect photography's transformative qualities, showcasing contemporary imagery which transcends boundaries, mends division, and fosters harmony.
Please see our Terms and Conditions for more information
Prizes
- Four artists included in a group exhibition at Peckham 24 festival, alongside accompanying events and public programming
- International travel and two night's accommodation expenses for exhibiting artists to attend the festival in London, in May 2025
- Networking event with Prize selection committee and industry experts
- Bursaries of £2000 for each exhibiting artist
- Winning artists featured on the V&A and Peckham 24 social media channels and communications
Selection Committee
Dr Charmaine Toh (Singapore) is Senior Curator, International Art (Photography) at Tate. Her research focuses on alternative histories of photography and art in Southeast Asia. She was previously Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore where she curated Living Pictures: Photography in Southeast Asia (2022), the first survey of the history of photography in the region. Before that, she was Programme Director at Objectifs: Centre for Photography and Film where she initiated a new exhibition and research programme. Charmaine co-curated the Singapore Biennale (2013) and is the author of Imagining Singapore: Pictorial Photography from the 1950s to the 1970s (Brill, 2023).
Thyago Nogueira (Brazil) is the head of the Contemporary Photography Department at Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS), Brazil, and founding editor of ZUM photography magazine, published by IMS. He has curated numerous exhibitions such as Daido Moriyama: A retrospective (2022), Miguel Rio Branco: Dreamt Words... (2022), Claudia Andujar: The Yanomami Struggle (2018), Claudia Andujar: In the place of the other (2014), William Eggleston: The American Color (2015), Body Against Body: the dispute of images, from photography to live transmission (2017), Mauro Restiffe: São Paulo, Beyond Reach (2014) and Rosângela Rennó: #RioUtópico (2017). He has guest edited Aperture magazine dedicated to São Paulo photography (2014), chaired the 2020 Hasselblad Award, and organised the Offside project with Magnum during Brazil’s World Cup.
Gillian Wearing (UK) is a contemporary artist who investigates the tensions between public and private, fiction and reality, and the relationship between the artist and the viewer. Her performative photographs and films explore personal revelations, private fantasies, and psychological trauma. Drawing on theatrical techniques, fly-on-the-wall documentaries, and reality TV, her work explores public personas and private lives in an investigation of the way in which we present ourselves to the external world. Wearing employs prosthetic masks, voice dubbing, altered photographs, in her portraits of herself, individuals, and groups. Notable series of work by Wearing include Signs that Say What You Want Them To Say and Not Signs that Say What Someone Else Wants You To Say (1992 – 93), in which the artist asked strangers to "write what they were thinking, then photographed them holding the sign." Born in 1963 in Birmingham, England, she moved to London in 1983, she studied at Chelsea School of Art then Goldsmiths College. In 1997, the artist was the winner of the prestigious Turner Prize for her 60 Minutes Silence (1996). She currently lives and works in London. Today, Wearing's works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Guggenheim, New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., among others.
The V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography 2024
The theme for the V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography 2024 was 'Histories'. Congratulations to our four winners Aisha Seriki (Nigeria), Nancy Floyd (United States), Silvia Rosi (Italy) and Mia Weiner (United States).
The V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography 2023
The theme for the V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography 2023 was 'Agents of change'. Congratulations to our five winners Anya Tsaruk (Ukraine), Priyadarshini Ravichandran (India), Gohar Dashti (Iran/America), Vân-Nhi Nguyễn (Vietnam) and Cynthia MaiWa Sitei (UK/Kenya).
The V&A Parasol Foundation Prize for Women in Photography is supported by Ms. Ruth Monicka Parasol and The Parasol Foundation Trust.
