Rene Matić Wins The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026. Artsy

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Rene Matić Wins the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026 for“AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH”

Rene Matić has been named the winner of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2026, taking home the £30,000 ($39,964) award at The Photographers' Gallery in London. The announcement was made on Thursday by author and broadcaster Liv Little, placing Matić's work at the center of one of Europe's most closely watched photography prizes.

Born in Peterborough, U.K., in 1997, Matić received the honor for“AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH,” an exhibition presented at CCA Berlin from November 8, 2024, through February 15, 2025. The project brought together new photographs, installations, and sound pieces, with themes of identity, belonging, class, and family running through the installation like a quiet current.

Matić's images are diaristic in form, but they resist the flatness that word can imply. They register ordinary moments with unusual closeness, then expand outward through the addition of collected objects, film, and sound. The result is a body of work that feels personal without becoming sealed off from the wider social world.

Shoair Mavlian, director of The Photographers' Gallery and chair of the jury, said Matić's work is“rooted in community and belonging-and their power both to heal and bring people together.” She added that the artist's“raw and honest photographs bring a story of Britain today to audiences outside the U.K.” Matić was also nominated for the 2025 Turner Prize, underscoring the growing attention around their practice.

The other shortlisted artists were Jane Evelyn Atwood, Weronika Gęsicka, and Amak Mahmoodian. Each received £5,000 ($6,661). Work by all four artists is currently on view at The Photographers' Gallery through June 7, 2026, before traveling to the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation at The Cube in Eschborn, where it will be shown from September 3, 2026, through January 17, 2027.

This year's jury included Anne-Marie Beckmann, director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation; Iranian photojournalist Newsha Tavakolian; Elisa Medde of Foto Colectania Foundation; Mark Sealy of Autograph Gallery; and Mavlian as voting chair. The prize continues to function as a useful barometer for contemporary photography in Europe, especially for work that links formal experimentation to social and political texture.

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