2025 Winners

"Second Vibess’ Scraps is a feat of conscious design, relationality, and site responsiveness. A remarkable production by a budding brand with a distinct voice, the entire collection and its presentation demonstrate a cohesive vision for a future defined by collaboration, eco-consciousness, and embodied values. Their perspective feels generational, presenting several alternatives to compulsory consumption without sacrificing quality or functionality. Demanding a culture that is sensuous, engaged, and enduring, Second Vibess leaves no one off the guest list to the future."

"This body of work exemplifies the forward-looking possibilities of photographic art today. Drawing on photography while pioneering what they describe as a new genre of “staged documentary,” the artist dissolves the boundaries of traditional portraiture, presenting the human form as inseparable from its environment. The body becomes a fluid, surreal extension of nature and memory, layered with imagery that evokes both the subconscious and the infinite inner world. Far from static representation, the photograph is a dynamic construction of identity, environment, and imagination—an abstract "inner world portrait that transforms how we see both subject and medium. By rejecting the fixed borders of the body and instead envisioning people as boundless, equal, and interconnected, this work expands how we can think about the ways we can tell stories. It is this creativity, along with a keen sense of visual composition and wonder, that makes this a deserving winner of the 2D category."

"Cameron Stalheim's sensitively styled Persist is a sculptural balancing act. Such duality is found in the body language of the androgynous figure, which suggests both containment and release, resistance and acceptance. The draped clothing rises from the grounded figure into a billowing swirl with a life of its own. At once contemporary and Baroque, this sculpture compels us to continue circling it to behold the drama of its form."

"Verdantine Tabernacle is a conceptually rich installation that touches on the personal, political, spiritual, and ecological. The work is beautifully constructed and installed, and its lushness inspires and rewards prolonged and repeated viewing."

"This layered piece begins with haunting performance and ends in delicate art object, understating its salient observation through the stationary witness of the artist's tablecloth-veiled body and the tie-dyed husk that remains of her day's work: that tradition is passed down thanklessly through women's hands, is inherently fragile and, undervalued, perhaps too easily cast aside. Dempsey's artist-is-present is modest, her feminism apolitical, and her resulting forms ghostly, solemn, and—with an errant splash of water—may be returned to the quotidian they dignify. "

"The initial impact came from the physical presentation: the matte screen produced an immediately lifelike quality, creating a remarkable sense of realism that digital displays often lack. This effect was amplified by the subject matter, the fresh flowers, which created a beautiful juxtaposition—the organic, fleeting nature of life presented through a clean, modern digital lens. This initial high-fidelity image sets the emotional high point. The core concept—the capturing of a perfect moment only to have it deliberately decay into digital noise—was deeply captivating. This deliberate fading not only held my attention but served as a powerful metaphor. The visual degradation mirrored the way real, beautiful moments are frequently fading from memory or existence. "

"The works presented in Manufactured Memory were selected for their quiet elegance and the deeply thoughtful nature of their design. Each piece is both humble and refined - delicate to the eye and to the touch - yet speaks volumes through its form and materiality. These designs elevate the everyday, drawing our attention to the beauty embedded in common objects and manufacturing processes. With grace and restraint, they move beyond pure function to evoke memory, emotion, and sensory engagement. The result is work that resonated with me on both a tactile and emotional level."