Image © Eva O'Leary

Eva O'Leary, Teresa Eng, and Pascale Arnaud are all in the running for the prestigious prize at the French festival, which runs from 26-30 April

It’s one of the most interesting prizes for emerging photography, with previous winners including Sølve Sundsbo, Anouk Kruithof, and Lorenzo Vitturi – it’s the Grand prix du jury photographie at the International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères, France, and the 2018 finalists are: Eva O’Leary (Ireland, USA), Teresa Eng (Canada), Pascale Arnaud (France), Laetitia Bica (Belgium), Sarah Mei Herman (Netherlands), Allyssa Heuse (Philippines, France), Jaakko Kahilaniemi (Finland), Csilla Klenyánszki (Hungary), Sanna Lehto (Finland), and Aurélie Scouarnec (France).

The ten shortlisted photographers will present their work at a group show at the Villa Noailles from 26 April-27 May; the winner will be announced during the festival, which takes place from 26-30 April. The photography jury this year was chaired by the photographer Bettina Rheims, and also included Jed Root (agent and founder at Artists & Company, New York), Ezra Petronio (editor at large, artistic director and photographer on Self Service magazine and Petronio Associates, Paris), Alessia Glaviano (photography editor, Vogue Italia, Milan), and (Daragh Soden, photographer, London, winner of the Grand prix du jury photographie in Hyères, 2017).

The shortlisted photographers were selected on 24 January from 700 entries from 50 nationalists, from which a long list of 48 photographers was drawn up. The ten photographers will be commissioned to shoot two new series as part of the prize – one for the Still Life Prize, using accessories and jewellery loaned by the festival’s partners (who include Chanel, Chloé, and LVMH), and another for the American Vintage Photography Prize, using the brand’s fashion collection.

The International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Fashion Accessories in Hyères was founded in 1986 by Jean-Pierre Blanc, director of the Villa Noailles – initially focussed just on fashion, the festival expanded to include photography in 1997, and to include fashion accessories in 2017. The current artistic director of photography for the festival is Raphaëlle Stopin, who is also art director for ArtLigue (artligue.fr). Villa Noailles is an early Modernist house, built by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens for art patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles between 1923 and 1927.

http://villanoailles-hyeres.com/festival-2018/index.php?content=fr/concours