Photographer Daniel Shea wins Foam Paul Huf young photographer award 2018

The winner of the annual Foam Paul Huf Award has been announced. This year, the esteemed photography prize has been awarded to the American artist Daniel Shea, whose work was described by the jury as “seductive and disconcerting.” The panel went on to state that “in a profoundly strong and varied list of international artists, the quality and consistency of Daniel Shea’s subjective visual idiom, greatly impressed the jury. Using a variety of visual mediums, Shea’s work explores the complexity and ambiguities of urban development in his home city, New York.”

This is the 12th presentation of the Foam Paul Huf Award, which continues to attract attention from all of over the world. The prize, which aims to highlight young talent under the age of 35, awards €20,000 and and an exhibition at Foam Fotogragiemuseum in Amsterdam. Daniel Shea’s work will be on show until the end of 2018. “I’m a bit at a loss at the moment; to say that I’m honoured feels like an understatement. I’ve been following this award and Foam for a long time, and I feel incredibly honoured, grateful, lucky, and humbled by this opportunity,” Daniel said on his win.

Last year’s winner, Romain Mader, was surrounded by controversy after a petition was launched against the Amsterdam gallery. Romain’s photographs were described by the petition as sexist, “using senseless humour and disrespectful naivety as its main artistic tool.” Foam issued a response, which you can read here.