Artist Avion Pearce Awarded the 2024 Aperture Portfolio Prize

(New York, May 14, 2024) Aperture is pleased to announce that the photographer Avion Pearce is the winner of the 2024 Aperture Portfolio Prize.

Merging analog techniques with political purpose and a poetic sensibility, Avion Pearce creates a visual world that operates between reality and dreams. Born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to Guyanese parents, Pearce has been interested since childhood in beauty and the cultivation of a space. They were inspired by Abelardo Morell’s use of the camera obscura technique, and the photography of Ming Smith, Roy DeCarava, and Graciela Iturbide, who each innovated with light, motion, and ambiance. In their series In the Hours Between Dawn, Pearce explores photography’s potential to chart the interplay between time, the body, and Brooklyn’s transformation.

As the first-prize winner, Pearce will be featured in Aperture’s upcoming Summer issue and will receive a $3,000 cash prize, a $1,000 gift card for mpb.com, and a solo exhibition at Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York, opening June 26. A reception will be held on Wednesday, June 26 from 6–8 p.m.

Since 2005, the Aperture Portfolio Prize has aimed to spotlight new talent in photography, identifying contemporary trends in the field and highlighting artists whose work deserves greater recognition. In addition to the winner, Aperture’s editors selected four runners-up for the 2024 Portfolio Prize: River Claure, Janna Ireland, Abhishek Khedekar, and Laila Stevens.

These artists join the ranks of illustrious winners shortlisted for the Portfolio Prize in past years, including Felipe Romero Beltrán, Dannielle Bowman, Alejandro Cartagena, Jessica Chou, Eli Durst, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Natalie Krick, Daniel Jack Lyons, Mark McKnight, Drew Nikonowicz, Sarah Palmer, RaMell Ross, Bryan Schutmaat, Donavon Smallwood, Ka-Man Tse, and Guanyu Xu.

For the second year in a row, alongside the five shortlisted artists, Aperture’s editors selected twenty finalists. The finalists and shortlisted artists will each receive a virtual portfolio review with an Aperture editor, providing thoughtful and constructive feedback on their work. The twenty finalists are: Shavon Aja Morris, Andrés Barón, Robin Bernstein, Jo Ann Chaus, Jesse Clark, Leah DeVun, Jenna Garrett, S*an D. Henry-Smith, Khashayar Javanmardi, Alexander Komenda, Gabriel Lopez, Max Miechowski, Nathalie Mohadjer, Kriss Munsya, Adali Schell, Aaryan Sinha, Val Souza, Gilleam Trapenberg, Balázs Turós, and Stan De Zoysa.

Avion Pearce studied photography at Parsons the New School of Design and is currently an MFA candidate for photography at the Yale School of Art. They received a BFA Photography Scholarship at Parsons, and they are a NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship recipient. Pearce’s work has been shown at Ryan Lee Gallery, Aperture, and Hudson Opera House; and has been featured in New York magazine’s The Cut, W, Crack, Netflix, and the New York Times.

The Aperture Portfolio Prize aims to spotlight new talent in photography, identifying contemporary trends in the field and highlighting artists whose work deserves greater recognition. Pearce’s work, chosen from an outstanding number of submissions, is published with an essay by Lucy McKeon in the Summer 2024 issue of Aperture magazine.

The Aperture Portfolio Prize is supported by MPB.

About Aperture
Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From its base in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through its acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society.

Aperture’s programs and operations are made possible by the generosity of our board of trustees, our members, and other individuals, and with major support from 7G Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, Documentary Arts, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Ishibashi Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, Henry Luce Foundation, Mailman Foundation, MurthyNAYAK Foundation, Grace Jones Richardson Trust, San Francisco Foundation, Thomas R. Schiff Foundation, Jane Smith Turner Foundation, Stuart B. Cooper and R. L. Besson, Kate Cordsen and Denis O’Leary, Thomas and Susan Dunn, Michael Sonnenfeldt, Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts, with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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Press Contact
Lauren Van Natten, +1 212.946.7151, publicity@aperture.org