Photo Project about Sky Scraper in Johannesburg Wins Deutsche Borse Photography Prize

The jury of the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize announced that photographer Mikhael Subotzky and artist Patrick Waterhouse, who created the series “Ponte City”, are the winners of 2015. The creative duo received a $46,000 prize.

For the last six years Subotzky and Waterhouse documented life inside Ponte City – the highest apartment block in Africa, located in Johannesburg. It was built in 1976 for a white elite, but after the end of Apartheid, it became a refuge for black newcomers to the city and immigrants from all over Africa. The building has become a center of crime, prostitution and drug dealing. Waterhouse and Subtzky documented life in 54-floor apartment block, and collected stories about many of the residents. Last year they published a book about Ponte City.

“The jury praised Subotzky and Waterhouse for introducing new ways of photographic storytelling and presentation in book form. They have drawn together a rich and diverse array of archival and documentary approaches, to reveal, layer by layer, the complex stories concealed within one of Johannesburg’s most iconic buildings, Ponte City,” said Brett Rogers, non-voting chair of the jury.

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