Kurmaz Shortlisted for Deutsche Börse Prize for War Diary Photo Book
The Ukrainian photographer's 800-page volume Red Horse is one of four projects in contention for the award, which carries a £30,000 top prize.
By Layla Petrov ·
Ukrainian photographer Sasha Kurmaz is among four artists shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2027, the foundation announced. Kurmaz earned the nomination for his photo book Red Horse, published by Éditions Images Vevey in November 2025. The winner will be named on 29 April 2027.
Red Horse documents Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kurmaz started assembling the material in 2022, combining documentary photographs with personal notes and items gathered from streets. Graphic designer Nicolas Polli designed the book, which runs to about 800 pages. The foundation called it a powerful reflection on how war transforms lives and collective memory, and on what it means to create art during armed conflict.
Three other projects share the shortlist. Iranian documentary photographer Hoda Afshar was nominated for Performing the Invisible, shown at the Musée du quai Branly, Jacques Chirac in Paris. Canadian photographer Lotus L. Kang was selected for The face of desire is loss, installed at the Bulgari Pavilion during the 61st Venice Biennale. Italian artist Salvatore Vitale made the list for SABOTAGE, exhibited at Photo Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. The foundation said the four projects examine images, bodies, war, labour, power, desire, memory, the costs of the digital economy, conflict and the politics of looking.
The prize carries £30,000 for the winner and £5,000 for each of the other shortlisted artists. The Photographers' Gallery in London will exhibit the shortlisted projects from 10 March to 6 June 2027. The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation in Eschborn, near Frankfurt, will host the same exhibition from 19 June to 26 September 2027.
The Photographers' Gallery established the prize in 1996 to recognise work addressing social, political and philosophical questions. Kurmaz began with graffiti writing in the early 2000s and joined the Kyiv-based group Psia Krev by 2010. He has worked independently on art and photography since 2010 and has collaborated with the Viktor Marushchenko School of Photography since 2011. His projects span photography, video, performance and public-space interventions. He won the 2026 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award.
