Congratulations to Tamara Dean who has won the $50,000 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize (MCPP) for 2019. Dean’s colour underwater photograph, Endangered, was selected from a pool of 30 finalists.
This year the MCPP was judged by Australian photographer, artist and filmmaker Stephen Dupont; international photographer and curator Cheryl Newman; and Jon Jones, an international photojournalist and photo editor.
According to the artist her winning work is about the interconnectedness of humans with the rest of the natural world, and is part of a series focusing on the Great Barrier Reef.
“Biologists predict that if we continue carrying on the way we are then by the end of this century 50% of species living today will face extinction,” said Dean. “And humans are not immune. To see ourselves as different and separate to the ecology and ecosystem of our planet is leaving humanity unprepared. We are mammals in a sensitive ecosystem, vulnerable to the same forces of climate change as every other living creature.”
MCPP judge Cheryl Newman said, “This symbolic image addresses the fragility of our planet and vulnerability of its inhabitants. Endangered is an important picture; its message is challenging, its presentation poetic.”
Works by all 30 finalists in the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize are on show at Juniper Hall in Paddington until 2 June.
The Moran Contemporary Photographic Exhibition
Juniper Hall
4 May – 2 June
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