ARLES.- The Jury of the Grand Prix Images Vevey 2025/2026 met in Vevey to award prizes and mentions to the photographers who took part in the international photography competitions organised by the Biennale Images Vevey. Between the Grand Prix Images Vevey, the Images Vevey Book Award and the various mentions, the Fondation Vevey ville d’images distributes more than CHF 70,000 in creative grants every two years.
On Tuesday, July 8, Images Vevey announced the winners of the Grand Prix Images Vevey 2025/2026 at the Hôtel du Forum in Arles.
The awarded projects will premiere at the next Biennale Images Vevey from 5 to 27 September 2026.
GRAND PRIX IMAGES VEVEY 2025/2026
Abdulhamid Kircher » (DE/TR, 1996)
Untitled (TBA)
Abdulhamid Kircher’s new photography project explores inherited wounds and generational masculinity through an intimate, autobiographical work. Blending portraits, archives, and everyday scenes, he will document father-son duos across Turkey at traditional oil wrestling tournaments. The project questions identity, tenderness, and whether paternal love can emerge in cultures where emotional expression is often suppressed.
Artist quote
"I often think about how different my life would have been had I been exposed to love like this by my father or any other male family figure," writes Kircher.
Jury statement
The Jury highlighted the project for its courage, raw energy, clear artistic vision, and Abdulhamid Kircher’s remarkable versatility across photographic genres.
IMAGES VEVEY BOOK AWARD 2025/2026
Stacy Kranitz » (US, 1976)
Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down
Stacy Kranitz’s new book examines the evolving representation of the Appalachian mountaineer, tracing how poverty in the region has been constructed, challenged, and reimagined over time. Through historical archives, critical essays, and contemporary images, the book explores how the camera has served as a witness to hardship, a tool of propaganda, an instrument of oppression, and, at times, a vehicle for redemption.
Artist quote
"My project is an exploration of the ethical role of photography," Stacy writes. "Urging a deeper understanding of class, history, and generational poverty."
Jury statement
The Jury was particularly impressed by the dignity and sensitivity with which the artist tells the story of one man and, through him, that of an entire marginalized community.
HONOURABLE MENTION GRAND PRIX IMAGES VEVEY
Pacifico Silano » (US, 1986)
Undercover Pleasures
Blending personal narrative with queer identity, family history, and the legacy of the AIDS crisis, Pacifico Silano plans to recreate part of his parents’ former adult store as an immersive installation. This tribute to his late mother and uncle transforms a once-stigmatized space into one of remembrance and resilience.
Artist quote
"Taking all of the themes I have explored around loss, sexuality and identity, I plan to recreate parts of my parents' store, Undercover Pleasures, and merge it with my work around HIV/AIDS, gay identity and my unique upbringing. This installation will be a way to pay tribute to both my deceased uncle, and my mother, whose sacrifice went unnoticed by those around her."
Jury statement
The Jury was moved by the sincerity and complexity of the proposal, which combines intimate storytelling with broader reflections on homophobia, sexuality, and visual culture.
HONOURABLE MENTION GRAND PRIX IMAGES VEVEY
Kata Geibl » (HU, 1989)
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Blending analogue photography, sketches, and AI-generated imagery, Kata Geibl explores how unconscious thoughts shape our lives. Praised for its originality and poetic depth, the project reflects on memory, imagination, and the tension between control and algorithmic unpredictability.
Artist quote
« When I was 12 years old, my mother's frustration with me for not talking that much got to the point of yelling. "Why don’t you speak, like any other normal person?" she raised her voice at me. I promptly answered, "Instead of speaking, I have images in my head." With this new body of work, my mother will see those images that I was talking about. »
Jury statement
The Jury praised the originality of an approach in which introspection becomes a dialogue between imagination, personal narrative, and new technologies.
HONOURABLE MENTION IMAGES VEVEY BOOK AWARD
Mario Wezel » (DE, 1988)
Interstellar Nights
Documenting five nights of weaning his second child, Wezel transforms the family bed into a poetic, interstellar landscape of care and connection. The Jury praised the emotional depth, conceptual clarity, and innovative use of a technology often linked to surveillance, here reimagined to depict tenderness and transformation.
Artist quote
"Our bed transforms into an interstellar space where mother, father, and child orbit one another," Wezel writes. "Held together by an invisible gravitational pull, their orbits realign and a new kind of closeness emerges."
Jury statement
The Jury was particularly struck by the cinematographic rhythm of the proposed layout, as well as the use of thermal imaging: a technique more commonly associated with surveillance and political conflict, particularly in contexts such as migration or warfare.
HONOURABLE MENTION IMAGES VEVEY BOOK AWARD
Karolina Wojtas » (PL, 1996)
We can’t live – without each other
Through a bold book dummy shaped like a children’s fabric book, Karolina Wojtas blends photography, absurd humour, and digital manipulation to portray her love-hate bond with her younger brother.
Artist quote
"A little brother appeared one day, and our war began," "We decided to document some of our battles and tricks, to teach siblings from all over the world how to fight!"
Jury statement
The Jury praised the work’s wild energy, tactile form, and its powerful evocation of familial closeness and tension.
JURY OF THE GRAND PRIX IMAGES VEVEY 2025/2026
The final Jury of the Grand Prix Images Vevey is composed of five international personalities from the institutional, artistic, curatorial media and editorial world. It is always chaired by an artist, a renowned photographer, which comprises international experts.
→ RINEKE DIJKSTRA
Photographer and video artist, based in Amsterdam (NL),
has chaired the jury of the Grand Prix Images Vevey 2025/2026, which comprises the following international experts (in alphabetical order):
→ LEWIS CHAPLIN
Co-founder, Loose Joints, Marseille (FR)
→ OLUREMI C. ONABANJO
The Peter Schub Curator, The Robert B. Menschel Department of Photography, MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York (US)
→ ALONA PARDO
Director, Arts Council Collection, London (UK)
→ URS STAHEL
Artistic Director, Fondazione MAST, Bologna (IT)
