The Royal Photographic Society has announced its 2025 award winners, honoring exceptional achievements in photography through the world's longest-running photography awards program. This year's most prestigious honor, the RPS Centenary Medal, was awarded to British photographic artist Susan Derges for her outstanding contribution to photographic art. The awards recognize significant bodies of work across multiple categories, celebrating both established masters and emerging talents in the field.
Susan Derges, a Devon-based photographer, received the highest accolade for her groundbreaking camera-less landscape-based processes that explore the relationship between the body and nature. Her work "The Observer and the Observed No 6" from 1991 exemplifies her unique practice, showing her face distorted by a vibrating jet of water and strobe light. Another notable piece, "Full Moon Hawthorn" from 2003, demonstrates her innovative approach to photographic art that has influenced generations of artists.
Richard Billingham, renowned for his unflinching portraits of family life, was awarded a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship. Billingham gained international recognition for his project "Ray's a Laugh," which was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2001. One of his most memorable images from this series shows his mother working on a jigsaw puzzle, capturing intimate moments of domestic life with raw honesty and emotional depth.
The award for environmental responsibility went to Ragnar Guðni Axelsson, an Icelandic photographer who has dedicated four decades to documenting the remote regions of the Arctic. His work focuses on traditional lifestyles and the impact of climate change on Arctic communities, including the vital role of sled dogs in survival. One of Axelsson's best-known works features an evocative portrait of Icelandic farmer Gudjon on a black beach, while another striking image captures a husky in the snowy landscape of Thule, Greenland.
Omar Victor Diop, born in Dakar in 1980 and recognized as one of the most important Senegalese artists of his generation, received the award for achievement in the art of photography. His work challenges historical narratives and examines colonial relationships through contemporary lens. His 2014 self-portrait, based on a 1643 painting by Jaspar Beckx, depicts himself as Don Miguel de Castro, an emissary of Congo. Another powerful work from his project "Liberty, Thiaroye, Sénégal, 1944" interrogates the complex relations between African societies and Western powers.
Amak Mahmoodian, an Iranian artist in exile in the UK, won the photojournalism award for conceptual image-making that addresses displacement and identity. Her project "One Hundred and Twenty Minutes" (2019-2023) features dreamlike imagery and references the amount of time we spend dreaming at night. The work was created in collaboration with individuals exiled from their homelands, exploring themes of memory, loss, and adaptation.
The social impact award was presented to Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora, a renowned socially engaged portraitist whose work addresses community issues and generational trauma. Her series "A Place Called Home," commissioned by West Midlands Police in 2023, brought together young women and their families to explore intergenerational relationships. Her "Birmingham Lockdown" series documented people's lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a powerful portrait of Dr. Jaskaran Singh Mavi.
Raghu Rai, a legendary Magnum photographer known as "the father of Indian photography," received the award for editorial or documentary photography. Having documented everyday life in India for six decades, his work captures the essence of Indian culture and society. His 1999 image of preparations in Kolkata for the Hindu festival of Durga Puja exemplifies his distinctive style, while a 1979 photograph of a female laborer in Delhi demonstrates his commitment to documenting all aspects of Indian life.
The award for achievement in the art of photography for artists under 30 years went to Tami Aftab, whose work examines family, identity, and intimacy through a deeply personal lens. Her collaborative series for the book "Rice Is on the Hob" was produced with her father Tony, exploring themes of memory and family relationships. She photographed Tony in Lahore, examining his short-term memory loss through staged, humorous portraiture that balances tenderness with artistic sophistication, representing the next generation of photographic storytellers.
