The Griffin Museum is honored to announce Izabella Demavlys as the winner of the inaugural 2024 Richards Family Prize. We extend our gratitude to all the talented artists who submitted their remarkable work and to our esteemed juror, Aline Smithson, for her thoughtful review of each individual project. Read below a statement from our juror.
“I want to start by sharing that this was truly one of the best groups of submissions I’ve seen in a long while. There was so much significant work submitted that it was almost impossible to narrow hundreds of projects down to one. Thank you to all who submitted for elevating the craft with such powerful, personal, and meaningful projects that make me so excited to be part of this special community of seers and thinkers. Thank you also to the Griffin Museum of Photography for establishing this incredible award.
As I went through the work, one project continued to haunt me. Izabella Demavlys produced a powerful series titled Without a Face that shares a series of unflinching portraits of women who have suffered acid attacks, resulting in profound disfiguration. As we know, all juroring is subjective and we ar drawn to particular projects for personal reasons. As a woman, I have been thinking a lot about how women are treated around the world, thinking about the assaults, physically and politically, that women face on a daily basis. I have watched my rights erode over the last year, and have witnessed horrific violence towards women all around the globe. I have followed the trials in France and abuses in Africa and South Asia. Demavlys’ photographs come at a critical time in history, forcing us to look hard at that abuse, but also consider the beauty inside the subject, having suffered and survived. This is an important series, confronting the viewer with the hard truths of what human beings can do to each other. As the photographer states, ‘The women displayed enormous strength and a willingness to keep on living. This is something we can all learn a great deal from. Some people go through tremendous amounts of pain in their lives and still carry on.’ Huge congratulations to Izabella, thank you for bearing witness with your meaningful work.”
