Work by the three winners will be on view at the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto this spring, and at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa this fall.

TORONTO, April 3, 2019 /CNW/ - The Canadian Photography Institute of the National Gallery of Canada and Scotiabank today recognized Canada's brightest young photographers by awarding them the New Generation Photography Award.

This year's winners of the annual prize are:

• Luther Konadu, Winnipeg (Manitoba)
• Ethan Murphy, Toronto (Ontario)
• Zinnia Naqvi, Montreal (Quebec)

The New Generation Photography Award, established in 2018, celebrates three outstanding young Canadians working in lens-based art. The Award aims to elevate the careers of young artists and is unique in that it is the only dedicated prize offered to artists 30 and under, specific to lens-based art.

The winners will each receive:

• A cash prize of $10,000.
• The opportunity to be featured in two group exhibitions.
• At the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, during the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival from May 1- June 9, 2019.
• At the Canadian Photography Institute PhotoLab, located at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, from September 27, 2019 – March 22, 2020.
• Award recipients will also be included in educational programming and present artist talks in September at the National Gallery of Canada.

2019 New Generation Photography Award Selection Process:

• To be eligible for the New Generation Photography Award, recipients must be exhibited artists working in lens-based art, aged 30 and under, and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
• The three recipients of the 2019 New Generation Photography Award were selected from the longlist by the award's jury, consisting of Canadian and international photography experts, artists, and leaders in the community.
• Ann Thomas, Interim Chief Curator/ Conservatrice en chef intérimaire, National Gallery of Canada/Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Chair of the Jury;
• Angela Grauerholz, Artist and past Scotiabank Photography Award winner (2015);
• Deanna Pizzitelli, Artist and past winner of the New Generation Photography Award (2018); and,
• Erandy Vergara, Independent Curator.
• The Award longlist was announced February 20, 2019. It included 23 young Canadian lens-based artists selected by the New Generation Photography Award Nomination Committee, a panel of 12 nominators who represent members of the arts community, including photography experts from arts universities and colleges across Canada.

2019 New Generation Photography Award Recipient Bios:

Luther Konadu
Luther Konadu is a writer and artist of Ghanaian descent. He's also a content contributor for the online publication Public Parking, a collaborative project for highlighting the working practices of emerging creatives. His studio activities are project-based and realized through photographic print media and painting processes. He acknowledges the legacies of these mediums as interpretive sites for generating new conventions and expanding fixed narratives. He recently showed work at New York City's Aperture Foundation and is presently a writer in residence for Gallery 44. He resides and works in Winnipeg.

Ethan Murphy
Ethan Murphy was born and raised in St. John's and is currently finishing his BFA at Ryerson University in Toronto. His photographs link identity and place by reflecting on the psychological impact of Newfoundland's rural environment. Murphy's work focuses on his experiences of leaving and returning to the island and his attempt to reconnect with its remote areas. Using photography as a mediator, the artist reconciles his relationship with identity and loss while examining the Newfoundland landscape post cod moratorium. His photographs function as personal documents that combine urban influence with a rural perspective.

Zinnia Naqvi
Zinnia Naqvi is a visual artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto and Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Her work uses a combination of photography, video, writings, archival footage and installation. Naqvi's practice questions the relationship between authenticity and narrative, while dealing with larger themes of post colonialism, cultural translation, language, and gender. Her works often invite the viewer to question her process and working methods. Naqvi's works have been shown across Canada and internationally. She recently received an honorable mention at the 2017 Karachi Biennale in Pakistan and was an Artist in Residence at the Art Gallery of Ontario as part of EMILIA-AMALIA Working Group.

Quotes:

"Through the New Generation Photography Award, Scotiabank aims to recognize the talented young photographers that inspire Canadians with their art form. The photographs of our winners enrich the communities where we live and encourage us to develop new perspectives. Congratulations to Luther, Ethan and Zinnia for this important achievement.
                - Laura Curtis Ferrera, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Scotiabank.

"The submissions to the award were a testament to the talent and lively interest in photography shown by these young Canadian artists. The jury members were most impressed with the high-quality of work received.  The winners display a thoughtful and personal connection to the medium all the while emphasizing the constructed nature of photographic imagery. The photographs express their story, history and journey within larger more complex social and cultural settings. It is fascinating to see this new generation of photographers use the medium to probe who we are as individuals within larger themes of community building and the significance of human connections."
          - Ann Thomas, Interim Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Canada and Chair of the Jury.

Learn more about the New Generation Photography Award and Scotiabank's commitment to the arts by visiting: http://www.scotiabank.com/arts.

Scotiabank believes the arts make Canadians richer. The New Generation Photography Award is one of the many ways Scotiabank acknowledges the importance of photography in Canada. Scotiabank is the title sponsor of the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, the largest photography festival in the world. In 2010, Scotiabank co-created the Scotiabank Photography Award with Edward Burtynsky, the largest annual peer-nominated and peer-reviewed award in Canadian contemporary photography, designed to elevate the careers of established artists. The New Generation Photography Award is furthering Scotiabank's commitment to the arts and to young people in Canada.

About Scotiabank:
At Scotiabank, we aim to support organizations that are committed to helping young people reach their infinite potential. Young people are our future leaders and Scotiabank's goal is to help ensure that they have the necessary skills and resources they need to support their success. Together with our employees, the Bank supports causes at a grassroots level. Recognized as a leader for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, in 2018, Scotiabank contributed more than $80 million to help our communities around the world.

Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a leading financial services provider in the Americas. We are dedicated to helping our more than 25 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 98,000 employees and assets of over $1 trillion (as at January 31, 2019), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

About the Canadian Photography Institute:
The Canadian Photography Institute (CPI) of the National Gallery of Canada is a creative and innovative centre dedicated to sharing, collecting, and questioning photography in all its forms. It brings people and communities together at the museum, online, and around publications to see, appreciate, and study photography.

The Canadian Photography Institute was established in 2015 and officially launched in October 2016. Its collections build upon the National Gallery's Photographs Collection. The Institute benefits from the unprecedented support of CPI's Founding Partner Scotiabank, the Archive of Modern Conflict - the Gallery's partner, and the National Gallery of Canada Foundation. For more information, visit: gallery.ca/cpi and follow CPI @canadianphotoinstitute.

About the National Gallery of Canada:
The National Gallery of Canada is home to the most important collections of historical and contemporary Canadian art. The Gallery also maintains Canada's premier collection of European Art from the 14th to the 21st centuries, as well as important works of American, Asian and Indigenous Art and renowned international collections of prints, drawings and photographs. Created in 1880, the National Gallery of Canada has played a key role in Canadian culture for well over a century. Among its principal missions is to increase access to excellent works of art for all Canadians. For more information, visit gallery.ca and follow us on Twitter @NatGalleryCan.

SOURCE Scotiabank