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Marie Schwarze receives HfG Fotoförderpreis 2022 of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation

Release date:
18 Jul 2022
| Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation

Marie Schwarze receives HfG Fotoförderpreis 2022 of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation


The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation has awarded the HfG Fotoförderpreis 2022 to Marie Schwarze for her project “I’m here to open you”. The prize is given annually to students of the Offenbach University of Art and Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach am Main, HfG) who are working with the medium of photography. As part of its commitment to young artists, the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation has been awarding the €3,000 prize since 2010. The award ceremony took place during the traditional HfG open house tour in Offenbach on 15 July. This year’s jury members were photographer Barbara Klemm, Prof. Bernd Kracke, president of the Arts Academy, and Anne-Marie Beckmann, Director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation.

In their statement, the jury wrote: With her work “I'm here to open you”, Marie Schwarze succeeds in finding a visual form of expression for her personal dealings with chronic pain and illness, while at the same time making this experience comprehensible to others. In beautifully staged still lifes, she shows damaged objects onto which she has physically transferred her pain, e.g. through stitches or cuts. The almost clinical and colour-intensive studio atmosphere stands in an exciting contrast to the damaged objects, plants or fruits, whose vulnerability becomes palpable, although one does not actually attribute any sense of pain to them. In “I'm here to open you”, Marie Schwarze finds images for an “invisible” and elusive subject. Her presentation is complemented by a lovingly designed artist’s book, which allows a more intimate access to her motifs.

Marie Schwarze was born in Wiesbaden in 1996 and has been studying at the HfG with Prof. Martin Liebscher since 2017.

Furthermore, the jury gave a special mention to the work “Inner Monologue. Part 1. Chaos” by Mike Schäfer. In this first section of the ongoing project, he uses the medium of photography to deal with his memories and emotions, finding a universal visual language that goes beyond personal experience and feeling. 

Mike Schäfer studies in his tenth semester with Prof. Martin Liebscher.

About the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation 

The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation is a non-profit organisation based in Frankfurt/Main that is dedicated to collecting, exhibiting and promoting contemporary photography. It is responsible for the further development and presentation of the Art Collection Deutsche Börse, which now comprises over 2,200 photographic works by around 150 artists from 30 nations. In its exhibition space in Eschborn near Frankfurt/Main, it shows several exhibitions a year that are open to the public. Supporting young artists is a particular concern of the foundation, which promotes them in many ways: with awards, scholarships or through participation in the talent programme of the Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Foam. Together with the Photographers’ Gallery in London, it awards the renowned Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize every year. Furthermore, the foundation supports exhibition projects of international museums and institutions as well as the development of platforms for academic dialogue and research on the medium of photography.