Sophie Ristelhueber's Eleven Blowups

The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, now in its 14^th year, rewards £30,000 to the photographer who has made the most significant contribution to photography in Europe between 1st October 2008 and 30th September 2009. Previous winners of the prestigious award include Richard Billingham and Rineke Dijkstra. The work of the four short-listed photographers is currently on show at the Photographers’ Gallery in London.

Opening the exhibition in the lower gallery is the work of French photographer Sophie Ristelhueber, which explores the effect of human conflict on architecture and landscapes. The diptych Vulaines I (1989) combines an image from the photographer’s childhood with an ambiguous interior. In the Eleven Blowups series, large chasms appear in roadways, smoke billows from beneath a bridge, a lone figure observes the destruction. There is an elegance and sensitivity to Ristelhueber’s imagery which is compelling. The power lies in the combination of such beauty with the shock of destruction.

British photographer Anna Fox documents the bizarre and ordinary, in images and text. Presented as one body of work are a selection of images from two of Fox’s ongoing projects, Back to the Village (1999 – ongoing) and Pictures of Linda (1983 – ongoing). The latter is a collaborative work with a friend of the artist, an 80’s punk musician, apparently playing dress-up for the camera in an array of stage outfits. The work incorporates the saturated colours of Martin Parr and is aesthetically evocative of the work Nan Goldin, yet it lacks a sense of empathy for its subject and provides no real insight into the relationship between subject and photographer.

A more successful work, My Mother’s Cupboard and My Father’s Words (1999), contrasts images of crockery and cleaning products with the words of a violent and threatening man. Reminiscent of Sophie Calle’s Exquisite Pain, the series of twelve works offers insight into the darkest corners of a relationship as only a family member can perceive.

From the Back to the Village series by Anna Fox

Zoe Leonard’s Portfolio from Analogue (1998-2006) owes much to the work of Walker Evans. Working with a Rolleiflex camera, Leonard focuses on the unremarkable and the overlooked, including hand-crafted signs in shop windows, refuse bins, in her square format low-fi images. The work, spanning eight years, has an impressive sense of continuity and vision, but is never truly engaging.

Likewise, the work of Donovan Wylie, the final nominee for the award, isn’t particularly original. Wylie’s work focuses on post-conflict Northern Ireland, where the photographer was born and raised. In a detached, objective style we are presented with a selection of images of a depopulated Northern Irish prison following its closure. We see prison walls and fencing, endless expanses of grey concrete and colourless sky. Like Leonard’s, the work is devoid of emotional effect.

The exhibition as a whole lacks drama and there is not much to provoke or to inspire debate. Frustratingly, the work doesn’t offer anything new. However, it is the work of Sophie Ristelhueber which appears the strongest and most innovative of the four nominees. The winner will be announced on 17th March.

The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2010 runs from 12th February until 17th April.

Admission to the exhibition is free.

www.photonet.org.uk