BES Photo 2012

Organised in partnership with the Museu Coleção Berardo, the BES Photo prize is an annual initiative that aims to reward artists that work in the field of photography. Ever since its very first edition, in 2004, BES Photo has gradually established itself as one of Portugal’s most prestigious contemporary art awards. The reputation of this event has been enhanced by the great talent revealed by the works exhibited and the merit of the award-winning artists in previous editions – Helena Almeida, José Luís Neto, Daniel Blaufuks, Miguel Soares, Edgar Martins, Filipa César and Manuela Marques.

In 2011 the award has reached a new impetus as it was extended to include artists from Portuguese-speaking countries. 2012 gives continuity to this internationalisation effort. For this eighth edition of the award a selection jury has nominated Duarte Amaral Netto (Lisbon), Mauro Pinto (Maputo), Rosângela Rennó (Rio de Janeiro) and the collective Cia de Foto (São Paulo). The works of these artists, all of them original, were assessed by an award jury consisting of Dirk Snauwaert (Brussels), Dominique Fontaine (Montreal) and Ulrich Loock (Berlin) ant the winner of the BES Photo 2012, announced on April 17 2012 was Mauro Pinto.

The exhibition then traveled once more to Brazil, opening at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo on June 16 2012.