Foam Paul Huf Award: Subjective Worlds

Foam Paul Huf Award: Subjective Worlds

Daniel Shea (b. 1985) is the winner of the 12th edition of The Foam Paul Huf Award. The initiative celebrates emerging photographic talent, championing new perspectives by foregrounding international practitioners under 35 years old. Past winners approach contemporary social concerns through a range of methods, expanding the boundaries of the medium whilst foregrounding a shared human experience.

Shea contributes to this legacy. The artist’s most recent series, 43-35 10th Street, examines the topography of the city, reflecting on the landscape of late capitalism. Examining the everyday in New York, the practitioner combines his commercial experience with a documentary edge, creating visually arresting images which capture urban developments and contemporary life.

Other series by the artist include Blisner IL, a self-published photobook which follows the deindustrialisation of a fictional American coal town. As the jury report notes: “Shea presents us with a seductive and disconcerting world of concrete, steel and glass, which traverses the boundaries of fact and fiction.” Bodies of work such as Devil’s Lake expand this socio-political interest further, by responding to current events such as the recent US presidential election.

Previous winners include: Romain Mader, Daisuke Yokota, Momo Okabe, Daniel Gordon, Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs, Alex Prager, Raphaël Dallaporta, Alexander Gronsky, Léonie Hampton, Pieter Hugo, Mikhael Subotzky and Taryn Simon.

An exhibition of Shea’s work will be on display at Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, in late 2018. Find out more here.

Credits:
1. Untitled, from the series Devils Lake, 2016. Daniel Shea