LONDON.- Swedish photographer Martina Holmberg has won first prize in the prestigious Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2025 for her portrait Mel.

Second prize was awarded to Luan Davide Gray for We Dare to Hug - from the series Call Me by Your Name.

The third prize winner was Byron Mohammad Hamzah for Jaidi Playing - from the series Bunga dan Tembok (The Flower and The Wall: The Stateless Youths of Semporna).

Hollie Fernando won the Taylor Wessing Photographic Commission for her portrait Boss Morris – from the series Hoydenish.

The prize-winning portraits are now on display as part of the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2025 exhibition. The 2025 judges panel comprised photographer and educator Sunil Gupta; art historian, curator and writer Katy Hessel; Senior Curator, Photography at the National Portrait Gallery Sabina Jaskot-Gill; and photographer Tim Walker.

First Prize £15,000: Martina Holmberg

Martina Holmberg is a freelance photographer and writer based in Stockholm. Her interest in photography began early, sparked by accompanying her father when he would develop his own prints and photos. Holmberg’s work has been published, awarded and exhibited internationally, including in the Sony World Photography Awards 2020, the Tokyo International Foto Awards 2023, New York Photography Awards 2024 and the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers 2024.

Holmberg’s work focuses on portraying people’s living conditions around the world, often those of women. Her portrait, Mel, is part of her project The Outside of the Inside – a photography series that documents people with facial and physical differences that fall outside of the norm. The series is a tribute to the rich diversity of appearances that exist among us and endeavours to bring more visibility to the discrimination those with physical differences experience.

This stunning portrait shows Mel, a burn survivor, gazing thoughtfully out of a window, cool light caressing her repaired skin. Appearing lost in a daydream, it immediately captures the imagination as viewers wonder what might be on her mind, as well as what her story is. When Mel was two years old, she and her sister were waiting for their mother in the car while she went to make a quick purchase at the convenience store. When she returned, the car was on fire. Tragically Mel’s sister died in the accident; Mel survived with severe burns.

The judges commended this portrait for its combination of compassionate approach and technical skill, noting how the beautiful lighting and thoughtful pose draw viewers into the sitter’s remarkable story.

Second Prize £3,000: Luan Davide Gray

Luan Davide Gray is a fine art photographer based in London. Gray has a degree in Visual Communication from the University of Brighton and over 20 years of experience as a hairstylist and creative image consultant. His work explores the unseen and emotionally raw layers of identity, often focusing on themes of intimacy, marginalisation and the moments of beauty found within everyday acts of survival.

We Dare to Hug is part of a photographic series, Call Me by Your Name, which was created to illustrate that love is love regardless of the form, face or name of those connected by it.

This black and white portrait of two men in their 60s sharing a tender embrace tells a quiet story of trust, love and the passage of time. It captures a moment of mature intimacy that defies conventional representations of physical closeness, as one softly holds the other’s bare chest, gently kissing him on the cheek. Their skin meets and their bodies intersect forming a continuous, intimate loop. The image evokes sculpture through its composition and in its use of light and shadow to create areas of contrast and connection between the sitters and their interlocking bodies.

The judges noted how it was unusual to see a portrait capturing such tenderness and physicality between older sitters. They felt that the portrait contained a clear and beautiful message, suitably conveyed through the closely cropped, black and white print.

Third Prize £2,000: Byron Mohammad Hamzah

Byron Mohammad Hamzah is an NHS consultant and photographic artist based in Malaysia and the UK. Hamzah has an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from University of Arts London and his work has been featured in the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2023, the Paris Photo Carte Blanche Award, and Europe Queer Photo Festival 2022. He was also a winner in the 2020 Portrait of Britain Photography Awards.

For the past two years Hamzah has been working as a volunteer art and photography teacher with an NGO based in Sabah, East Malaysia that provides free schooling for stateless and marginalised youth, particularly from the Bajau Laut ethnic group. Working in Semporna, a coastal town with a large enclave of stateless Bajau Laut, Hamzah began documenting the lives of the local youths and their community as part of a collaborative photographic and documentary project.

Amidst such challenging lives, Hamzah wanted to document the innocence of youth and the relationships that form between the children. Play was a crucial expression of these. Jaidi is one of the stateless children who attend the free school where Hamzah teaches. This gentle portrait of Jaidi playing, his head cradled in the hands of a fellow child, captures a moment of tranquillity within a tumultuous and uncertain existence. Despite the injustices they experience, the outcome of the project encapsulates the spirit of these young people; resilient, colourful and full of hope and pride.

The judges were drawn to the way this portrait pictures a moment of youthful connection and play yet invites many questions from the details it excludes.

Taylor Wessing Photographic Commission £8,000: Hollie Fernando

Hollie Fernando is a photographer and director based in London and Brighton. Her work is inspired by the natural world and classical painting, particularly pre-Raphaelite portraits, which she fuses with an inimitable dreamlike vision and dynamic use of colour. Fernando has worked with a wide variety of sitters and clients, including Adidas, Barbour, BAFTA, Dickies and Gucci.

A form of English folk dance, Morris dancing rings were traditionally male dominated. Now, women make up more than half of its participants. With her portrait, Boss Morris, Fernando wanted to explore the shift in gender equality within Morris dancing. Boss Morris is a young, all female Morris side based in Stroud.

Part of her series, Hoydenish, the photo presents Boss Morris adorned in folkloric dress and make up as they huddle together for a group portrait. Pictured in communion with nature, the shoot took place over the summer solstice, with the dancers’ wildflower makeup and white dresses evoking the traditions of this ancient festival. Their hyper-feminine, traditional costume juxtaposes with the unusual and somewhat feral placement of flora and fauna across their faces. Romantic and soft yet full of energy, the photograph powerfully conveys the spirit, creativity and ambition of the subjects.

The judges commended this image for its striking and otherworldly qualities. They noted how intriguing details draw the eye into the frame, building a mysterious narrative.

Taylor Wessing Photographic Commission 2024 winner: Jesse Navarre Vos

A new portrait of queer activist and advocate Lady Phyll (Phyllis Akua Opoku-Gyimah) taken by the winner of the 2024 Taylor Wessing Photographic Commission, Jesse Navarre Vos, will also be unveiled as part of the exhibition. Inspired by Lady Phyll’s lifelong commitment to intersectional justice, the South African artist collaborated closely with his sitter to create a portrait rich with symbolic elements that honour her heritage and activism.

Lady Phyll is a prominent political activist and campaigner, known for her work championing LGBTQI+ rights, racial and gender equality worldwide. She is co-founder and CEO of charity UK Black Pride, which organises the world’s largest annual celebration for LGBTQI+ people from the global majority.

Lady Phyll chose to be photographed at Home House, a Georgian townhouse turned inclusive members’ club founded in deliberate contrast to these traditionally exclusionary institutions – an act of reclamation that spoke to her values.

Artist Cynthia Fan arranged the floral elements in the composition including the headdress formed of dried black Catalpa seed pods and black Petunia flowers. The simple design allows each flower to hold its own space, echoing her strength and spirit. She is wrapped in a kente cloth, a traditional Ghanaian textile, passed down through the women in her family. “This isn’t just material — it’s heritage”, she reflects. “To be wrapped in it for this portrait is to be held by generations of love, strength, and resilience.”