Portfolio Prize

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Announcing the 2026 Aperture Portfolio Prize Shortlist

Here are the shortlisted artists for Aperture’s annual award, which aims to spotlight new talent in contemporary photography.

Alana Perino Crafts a Haunting Story of Family and Memory

In the Florida island town of Longboat Key, the photographer—and winner of the 2025 Aperture Portfolio Prize—portrays a home upended by loss.

A Shimmering Portrait of Contemporary Iran

When Sara Abbaspour returned to Iran after working in the United States, she found a new way of photographing her home country.

How the War in Ukraine Altered Life for a Lost Generation

Rather than making documentary images of the war itself, Daria Svertilova focuses on her friends and acquaintances—and the emotions of resistance.

Life in Afghanistan after the Fall of Kabul

Hashem Shakeri’s photographs show the texture of daily life in a place the rest of the world has seemingly forgotten.

A Transfixing Look at Nature at Its Most Unnatural

Emma Ressel’s dioramas question our relationship to animals and the environment in an era of climate anxiety.

Announcing the 2025 Aperture Portfolio Prize Shortlist 

Here are the shortlisted artists for Aperture’s annual award, which aims to spotlight new talent in contemporary photography.

Avion Pearce Creates a World between Reality and Dreams

Winner of the 2024 Aperture Portfolio Prize, Pearce maps the interplay between time and the body.

A Playful Investigation of Community and Territory

In the Bolivian Andes, River Claure reckons with colonial history.

Janna Ireland’s “Pauline” Is a Passport into a Past Life

When she inherited her grandmother’s photographs, Ireland discovered how image making is an act of self-preservation.

In India, an Artist Revives the Legacy of a Small-Town Photo Studio

Abhishek Khedekar pays tribute to a photographer whose images permeated everyday life.

Laila Stevens Seeks Sisterhood in Her Portraits of Black Women

A visit to North Carolina influenced the photographer’s ideas about the power of family.

Announcing the 2024 Aperture Portfolio Prize Shortlist 

Here are the shortlisted artists for Aperture’s annual award, which aims to spotlight new talent in contemporary photography.

2020 Portfolio Prize Runner-Up: Gloria Oyarzabal

Mixing archival images with contemporary snapshots, Gloria Oyarzabal examines the effects of colonialism and the follies of white feminism in West Africa.

2019 Portfolio Prize Winner: Mark McKnight

Mark McKnight’s black-and-white images of bodies and landscapes challenge Eurocentric ideas about male beauty—and aim to make “straight” photography a little less straight.

2019 Portfolio Prize Runner-Up: Teresa Eng

In her lyrical, dreamlike images, Teresa Eng asks—what does modern China look like to a child of the Chinese diaspora?

2019 Portfolio Prize Runner-Up: Jack Latham

In the age of fake news, Jack Latham investigates the secret society that has inspired conspiracy theories, protests, and attacks since its founding days in 1872.

2019 Portfolio Prize Runner-Up: Zora J Murff

Zora J Murff evaluates the fallout of prejudicial housing policies within the larger narrative of violence perpetrated against African Americans.
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Aperture Magazine No. 261, “The Craft Issue” Cover
Aperture Magazine

Aperture No. 261

Aperture’s issue on craft features photographers who make pictures the slow way—building camera obscuras, creating photograms, and laboring in traditional darkrooms to make handmade, unrepeatable forms.

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