Cancelled prom pictures win £15,000 Taylor Wessing portrait prize

A series of portraits of school leavers dressed for proms that never took place because of the coronavirus pandemic has won a £15,000 prize for photography.

The judges of this year’s Taylor Wessing Prize felt Alys Tomlinson’s Lost Summer “spoke to the events of 2020… without being heavy handed.”

London-based Tomlinson said she wanted to show her subjects’ “vulnerability, sadness [and] resilience”.

It is the first time that all three winners have been women.

The prize has been running for 18 years, and this year’s chosen competition entries can be viewed online until 31 March.

The exhibition – which features 54 portraits from 37 artists – is displayed in a virtual gallery space that replicates the rooms of London’s National Portrait Gallery.

A second prize worth £3,000 went to Lydia Goldblatt for Eden, part of a series which draws on mothering and family life.

The artist used four people within a 50-metre radius of her London home to create the series, which includes her winning image of a child in a tent.

The judges, who included British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, felt the image “embodied the psychological complexity of the events of this year”.

bbc