The Judges’ Panel of Bird in Flight Prize ‘20 Announces the Contest Winner

Today, on November 13th, the panel of judges of Bird in Flight Prize ’20 Photo Contest has announced the winner. It is Paola Jimenez Quispe, a Peruvian photographer, with her “Rules for Fighting” project.

Paola’s project gives account of her father’s murder that happened in 1998. For many years the details of this tragedy had been unknown to her until Paola discovered some police documents at her place that shed some light on certain details. The photographer started to recreate this family story to live the grief which otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to bear in her childhood.

This year the best project is chosen by a panel of judges consisting of artist Ari Versluis, photographer and curator Misha Pedan, photo editor Arianna Rinaldo, curator of Krakow Photo Museum Agnieszka Olszewska, photo editor of Financial Times FT Weekend Magazine Emma Bowkett and Bird in Flight Prize ‘19 winner Shadman Shahid.

“The projects that lack storytelling are not uncommon. We had applications with pictures which had no narrative, sometimes they had no subject either, – says Lyolya Goldstein, the curator of Bird in Flight Contest and a photo editor. – On the contrary, our winner Paola Jimenez Quispe, of Peru, builds her personal story in such a way so that it could be easily understood in any part of the world. By combining archive photographs and scanned copies with modern shots the artist is trying to understand herself in her coming-of-age phase”.

Colin Pantall: “There were really strong submissions which cover a very different range of approaches and voices. Some consistent themes were the modification of materials, digital collage, some of them were funny. Not everything that was successful necessarily gets in a shortlist, that needs to be emphasized, because it is such a strong shortlist. I think the most successful projects were the ones who were consistent in a storytelling”

Shadman Shahid: “The works were extremely diverse and seem that now photographers are truly understanding and exploring the potential of photographic narratives it was a variety of aesthetics, methods, a background which is absolutely crucial to have in common years”.

The mission of Bird in Flight Prize International Photo Contest is to support authors that shift from traditional visual standards and look for new forms for storytelling. The top award of the contest is 2000 Euro.