Zoe Leonard Nominated For The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize

The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize rewards a cash prize of £30,000 to a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution, in exhibition or publication format, to the medium of photography over the previous year.

Zoe Leonard (b.1961, USA) is among the nominees this year. She is nominated for her retrospective exhibition ‘Zoe Leonard – Photographs’, at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (1 April – 5 July 09), initiated by Fotomuseum Winterthur. Zoe is a multimedia artist who has worked in sculpture, installation, photography and film.

Zoe got her career breakethrough in 1992, when she created a series of spread-leg photographs of women friend’s genitalia for Documenta in Kassel, Germany. She casually tacked her pussy shots up on walls between 18th and 19th century paintings in the town museum. By inserting her erotic photos in what is a traditionally male space and she opened a space for the ‘cruising eye’ of the lesbian viewers in the museum.
For the last decade she has been working a body of work, which as she explains is ‘a record of an urban landscape, as a way of looking at, who we are as a people. Who we are as a cultur and – sort of understanding – the city as a social space, as an economic space, a political space, and also as an emotional space.’

Group Show In London
The Photographer’s Gallery in London opens on Friday February 12, 2010, a group show featuring the four shortlisted artists. The show is titled ‘The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2010 Shortlist Announced 28 October 2009’.

Solo Exhibition In Vienna
‘Zoe Leonard – Photographs’ can be seen in Vienna at MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst) is open until February 21, 2010

Artist Talk At The Photographer's Gallery In London
Zoe Leonard in conversation with Briony Fer, Professor of Art History, University College London.
Zoe Leonard tells the story of the overlooked, for the last 30 years Leonard has recorded urban landscapes, creating an eclectic and personal inventory of our material world. Using a variety of traditional printing techniques and always including the distinct border of the negative, Leonard’s work is also a commentary on photography itself.

Artist Talk: Mon 15 March 19:00
The Photographers’ Gallery
16 – 18 Ramillies Street
London W1F 7LW

Tickets £5.00/ £3.50 concessions.
To book call 0845 262 1618.

Related links
Wikipedia: Zoe Leonard