Exhibition: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize is one of the most prestigious photography awards in the world, celebrating the very best in contemporary portrait photography.

This year the exhibition will take place at Cromwell Place while the National Portrait Gallery building in St Martin’s Place is closed for major redevelopment work.

Three international photographers have been shortlisted for this year's prize, with the winner announced on Monday 8 November, 2021. The three shortlisted photographers are:

Katya Ilina for her portrait David, which examines body positivity in masculinity and celebrates gender in its fluid physical form.

Pierre-Elie de Pibrac for his series of portraits Hakanai Sonzai, taken in some of Japan’s most troubled regions and focusing on people who exhibited fortitude in the face of adversity.

David Prichard for Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women, his series of portraits of First Nation women who have spent most of their working lives as stock women on cattle stations in Queensland, Australia.

The prize-winning photographs and those selected for inclusion in the exhibition were chosen from 5,392 submissions entered by 2,215 photographers from 62 countries. A total of 55 portraits from 26 artists have been selected for display. Judged anonymously, the diversity of styles in the exhibition reflects the international mix of entries as well as photographers’ individual and varied approaches to the genre of portraiture. Photographers were again encouraged to submit works as a series in addition to stand-alone portraits.