Student Anton Vester wins the 2024 VGH Photo Award.
His winning series focuses on the topic of organ donation.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Photograph from the work "Ohnmächtige Stille" by Anton Vester.
Anton Vester wins this year’s VGH Photo Prize, which has been awarded exclusively to students on the Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography course for 17 years. With his project “Powerless Silence”, the 28-year-old photographer focuses on the topic of organ donation, which is not very present in current debates, although there are around 8,400 patients on the waiting list for a donor organ in Germany and Germans are still reluctant to donate. Anton Vester succeeds in creating a touching photographic portrait that tells the story of people’s lives rather than the moment of success of the transplant. In an impressively cautious approach, Anton Vester takes an intense and personal look at the situation of the people behind the numbers, whose lives are defined by waiting. They hope and wait for a new kidney, a new heart, a new life – sometimes they wait for years and sometimes people have to die before their hopes are fulfilled.
“It is deliberately a narrative of waiting and nothing more. It is intended to make people’s situation more comprehensible, their fear of the future, the anxious uncertainty and moments of hope,” says the young photographer.
Anton Vester was born in Baden-Württemberg in 1996. After a 180-degree career change from being a police officer to a photographer, he started realising his first projects in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Greece and Ethiopia in 2019. Anton Vester has been studying Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography at Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts since 2021. In 2023, he completed a six-month photo internship at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In addition to commissioned work, he also realised his own projects there. His work focuses on the social and psychological challenges of our society. His work is characterised by an openness to new realities of life and an interest in in-depth encounters.
For the high-profile jury of this year’s VGH Photo Award, the vote for Anton Vester’s project was a clear decision.
“There was great unanimity in favour of Anton Vester’s story. The focus on the waiting of those affected, coupled with the incredibly intense portraits, won us all over,” says Guido Schmidtke (Senior Photo Editor STERN), summing up the jury process.
This year’s expert jury consisted of Henner Flohr, head of the F.A.Z. picture editorial department; Cale Garrido, author and curator for photography; Lara Huck, picture editor DIE ZEIT; Nicole Neumann, picture editor DER SPIEGEL; Guido Schmidtke, Senior Photo Editor STERN, Hannah Schuh, Visual Director ART- Das Kunstmagazin; Barbara Stauss, Studio Stauss and Reporters Without Borders, and a representative of the VGH.
With prize money of 10,000 euros, the VGH Insurance Photo Award is one of the highest endowed awards in the field of photography nationwide. With its exclusive sponsorship, VGH Versicherungen supports the internationally renowned “Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography” course at Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HsH), which has a focus on visual journalism and documentary photography that is unique in Germany. Based on the media of photography and video, the program teaches multidisciplinary visual skills. The focus is on journalistic and documentary narratives.
“We would like to thank VGH Versicherungen for the long-term, sustainable and trusting cooperation. Together we can create a great forum for documentary photography in Hanover with the VGH Photo Prize,” says Karen Fromm, professor of the “Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography” course.
The award ceremony is accompanied by an exhibition of the prize-winning work and the finalists of the jury process at the GAF – Galerie für Fotografie. The award ceremony will take place on Wednesday, December December 4, 2024, at 7 pm in the rooms of the GAF – Gallery for Photography in Hanover. The exhibition is organized by the December 5, 2024 to January 12, 2025.
The high quality and diversity of the student projects impressed this year’s jury. In addition to Anton Vester’s prize-winning work, Jonathan Funk, Lisa-Maria Gruber and Ludwig Nikulski received an honorable mention as finalists in the jury process
Finalists:
Jonathan Funk “Local control drive”
Lisa-Maria Gruber “The Face”
Ludwig Nikulski “Pod Palmami – Under the Palm Trees”
Photo: Tim Kirchhof
The jury of the VGH Photo Prize 2024 (from left): Prof. Dr Karen Fromm (advising), Henner Flohr FAZ, Guido Schmidtke Stern, Alexandra Bartsch, VGH Versicherungen, Cale Garrido, author and curator, Barbara Stauss, Studio Stauss and Reporters Without Borders, Lara Huck, DIE ZEIT, Nicole Neumann, DER SPIEGEL, Hannah Schuh, ART – Das Kunstmagazin, Tobias Eineder (advising), Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Dates:
Award ceremony and exhibition opening
December 4, 2024, 7 pm
Exhibition
5. December 2024 until January 12, 2025
Location
GAF-Gallery for Photography
Eisfabrik
Seilerstraße 15d
Hannover 30171
The gallery is open Thursdays through Sundays, from noon to 6 p.m.
Further information on the VGH Photo Prize can be found here.
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