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40 Award-Winning Artists Defining Contemporary Art Photography

March 09, 2026 01:49 PM

The LensCulture Art Photography Awards recognize 40 exceptional photographers whose work expands the boundaries of contemporary art photography, highlighting diverse global perspectives, experimental practices, and powerful visual storytelling.


By the Editorial Staff

ART PH0TOGRAPHY AWARDS 2026

Photo:  Anastasia Sierra

The LensCulture Art Photography Awards celebrate the work of 40 remarkable photographers and visual artists whose practices challenge and expand the language of photographic art. Selected from an international open call that attracted submissions from across the globe, this year’s award highlights the breadth and vitality of contemporary photography. The chosen projects range from experimental and conceptual explorations to intimate personal stories and striking visual approaches that redefine aesthetic possibilities.


An international panel of curators, editors, and photography specialists carefully reviewed the submissions to select the winners, jurors’ picks, and finalists. Together, these artists represent a dynamic mix of perspectives, ideas, and cultural backgrounds. Their work reflects both technical excellence and bold creative vision, while also engaging with the social, cultural, and artistic questions shaping our present moment. The 40 selected photographers stand as powerful voices in the evolving future of art photography, each offering a unique perspective through which audiences can reconsider the world around them.

1- Anastasia Sierra

Hidden

Listener

Anastasia Sierra

Disappearing

Majesty 

Anastasia Sierra

Distance 

Escape 

Anastasia Sierra

2-Lisa Murray

Delicate

This Too Shall Pass

Lisa Murray

Entangled

Grey Matter

Lisa Murray

Soluable

Slipping

Lisa Murray

3- Series Winner

-Spore Print. This silver gelatin photogram was made in the darkroom by exposing a spore print onto paper. 

This project, titled Armillaria, investigates the Armillaria ostoyae, the world’s largest living organism, a 10,000-year-old fungus spanning three square miles and weighing 35,000 tons. Through constructed narratives and psychic landscapes, the project examines our entanglement with vast ecological networks and queer ecology.


-Untitled (Cave). This project, titled Armillaria, investigates the Armillaria ostoyae, the world’s largest living organism, a 10,000-year-old fungus spanning three square miles and weighing 35,000 tons. Through constructed narratives and psychic landscapes, the project examines our entanglement with vast ecological networks and queer ecology.


Jonah Reenders

-Untitled (Toad). This project, titled Armillaria, investigates the Armillaria ostoyae, the world’s largest living organism, a 10,000-year-old fungus spanning three square miles and weighing 35,000 tons. Through constructed narratives and psychic landscapes, the project examines our entanglement with vast ecological networks and queer ecology.


-Untitled (Painted Hills). This project, titled Armillaria, investigates the Armillaria ostoyae, the world’s largest living organism, a 10,000-year-old fungus spanning three square miles and weighing 35,000 tons. Through constructed narratives and psychic landscapes, the project examines our entanglement with vast ecological networks and queer ecology.


Jonah Reenders

-Untitled (Ladder Tree). This project, titled Armillaria, investigates the Armillaria ostoyae, the world’s largest living organism, a 10,000-year-old fungus spanning three square miles and weighing 35,000 tons. Through constructed narratives and psychic landscapes, the project examines our entanglement with vast ecological networks and queer ecology.


-Untitled (Egg and Feet). This project, titled Armillaria, investigates the Armillaria ostoyae, the world’s largest living organism, a 10,000-year-old fungus spanning three square miles and weighing 35,000 tons. Through constructed narratives and psychic landscapes, the project examines our entanglement with vast ecological networks and queer ecology.


Jonah Reenders

SINGLE WINNER

1st Place

Identity

Alena Solomonova

2nd Place

Intimacy

Mad Paule

3rd Place

Returning to You

Nicolas Bernal

LensCulture draws an amazing group of photographers from all over the world with an incredible range of artistic styles. The experience of being a juror is stunning – it offers an unrivaled opportunity to see fresh, expressive photographs that illuminate o

Finalists

Untitled. From the series “The Path to Shizen” 

Carolina Baldoma

From the series, “Oracle”

Andrea Koesters

Balance

Ekaterina Erofeeva


From the series, “When Will I Go Blind?”

Hannah Schneider

Laundry at Dusk. Frida Kahlo washing her clothes, dressed in her traditional costume, is an image that fuses the everyday with art, identity and resistance. In an act as simple as this, Frida connects with her Mexican roots, proudly wearing her traditional dress, which is not only a symbol of her heritage, but also a statement of her individuality.

The act of washing clothes, although seemingly mundane, can be seen as a reflection of vulnerability and an intimate relationship with the everyday.

Julia Fullerton-Batten


Generalissimus Episoda

Helga Madajová

Not Lockdown In Tokyo, Urban Foggy. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Tokyo, he went out into the city. There, buildings stood in silence. People appeared and disappeared one by one, and he lit a cigarette, feeling a new future. The cigarette smoke eventually transformed into the mist that appears in his artwork.

Keigo Nakamura


Under the Same Night

Mihai Ciama

Braids that Hold Memory

Uriel Montúfar


A Pact with Death

Yvann Zahui

Outgoing. Archival pigment print on Kozo paper which is then infused with encaustic wax to heighten the sense of delicate strength and translucent power.

Steve and Ellen Konar Goldband


Remains

Viet Van Tran

Watermelon Respite. A Bed of Watermelons. A quiet moment of rest right where the work is done. The day’s labor yields a unique, temporary sanctuary.

SM Mostafijur Rahman


Chimera V

Stephanie O’Connor




This article is an original editorial analysis produced by [DIBA magazine]

Research and references are used for contextual accuracy.