December 4 – January 5, 2026
Online Artist Talk – January 17th, 2026 2 to 3:30pm
The Griffin Museum is pleased to present the work of inaugural 2025 Richards Family Prize winner, Izabella Demavlys.
Without A Face
In 2009, Izabella Demavlys embarked on a project that involved traveling from New York to Pakistan to photograph and interview women who had experienced acid attacks. Coming from a fashion photographer’s perspective, her objective was to comprehend and establish her personal interpretation of the concept of beauty.
This endeavor resulted in the project titled Without a Face. Expanding on this initiative, Demavlys continued to delve into the concept of beauty and its social and cultural implications through her
ongoing project. She has traveled across the United States with the intention of engaging with
women whose beauty transcends their scars, skin disorders, age, or struggles.
These encounters fostered discussions surrounding genuine significance of beauty and self- acceptance, despite the unrealistic beauty standards imposed by society onto women. Her belief, which has been a guiding principle since her days as a fashion photographer, is that beauty cannot be
solely defined by appearance. Consequently, Demavlys photographs women whose empowered and
embodied beauty radiates from their accomplishments, struggles, and triumphs in life.
About Izabella Demavlys
Izabella Demavlys is a Swedish born photographer and artist based in New York City. She studied at the Royal Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, as well as Parsons School of Design in New York. Initially carving her niche in fashion photography, she made a pivotal transition to portraiture and documentary work. Izabella’s work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, Marie Claire, The New York Times, and VICE, with exhibitions in both the U.S. and Europe.
About the Richards Family Prize
The Richards Family Prize is a $4,000 scholarship support professional, mid-career photographers producing work that is creative and original.
We are proud to support emerging, mid-career and professional talents in the field of photography. We support visual artists with dynamic and creative ideas that challenge and progress the art form forward to new heights in vision and technology. Our support of photography is broad, from Fine Art to Documentary and Photojournalism, from digital to film-based works and cameraless images.
