July 19, 2021, Vancouver, BC – Capture Photography Festival is pleased to announce Ramona Jingru Wang as the recipient of its second annual Writing Prize. The Capture Writing Prize is a juried award to support emerging writers and broaden the discourse on lens-based art. Jingru Wang’s work will be published in Capture’s annual catalogue which will be released to coincide with the Festival in April, 2022.
“We are thrilled to have discovered Ramona’s rich, engaging prose which so successfully weaves the personal with the theoretical,” states Capture’s Executive Director, Emmy Lee Wall, “I’m looking forward to working with Ramona to develop her writing practice. This will be her first published text and we are honoured it will be in Capture’s catalogue.”
Jingru Wang states “I’m so happy and humbled to be chosen for the Capture’s Writing Prize this year! It is very encouraging to receive the support of Capture Photography Festival as an emerging artist looking to explore photography writing. I appreciate the Jury for the recognition of my work and I’m excited to share ideas and embark on a new journey of writing in photography.”
Ramona Jingru Wang (Chinese, b. 1995) is a photographer and artist based on the internet (and New York irl). Her work explores how images intervene with our reality and create connections among people and space, investigating how we care for each other through photographs. She studied at the International Center of Photography-Bard College, and graduated with an MFA in photography from the Pratt Institute, New York. She has been the recipient of the BARON Prize 2020 with her video work “wish you were not here”. When she’s not taking photos, she works as a model and has made an iPhone photo book called “the moon tonight is beautiful”
This year’s jury includes Heather Rigg, Curatorial Resident at Gallery TPW, and Jayne Wilkinson, independent curator, writer and former Editor-in-Chief at Canadian Art, and Capture’s Executive Director, Emmy Lee Wall.
Wilkinson states: “In her thoughtful, personal accounting of photography as a relational and caring gesture, the author offers fresh perspectives on the bonds formed around images. She asks how photographs can enact care, working through questions of control, consent, vulnerability and speculation. The text moves through a crisp enunciation of contemporary theory with recourse to personal annotation between the author and her grandfather—a challenge for any writer—bringing the reader into a space that is both intimate and highly relatable.”
Capture’s annual catalogue features editorial writing from a range of writers, curators and artists. Past issues have included texts by Grant Arnold, Katie Belcher, Susan Bright, David Campany, Douglas Coupland, Dean Daderko, Cliff Lauson, Gabrielle Moser, Kimberly Phillips, Cheyenne Rain LeGrande, Tania Willard, Jordon Wilson, and Jayne Wilkinson. Past issues of Capture’s catalogues can be viewed here.
Inquiries: [email protected]
ABOUT CAPTURE PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL:
Based in Vancouver, Capture Photography Festival is Western Canada’s largest photography festival and is dedicated to celebrating local and international photography and lens-based art. The Festival aims to showcase critically acclaimed artists, foster emerging talent, encourage active community participation, and initiate public dialogue about lens-based art. Every April, Capture features dynamic public installations, exhibitions from Vancouver’s leading galleries and institutions, and a comprehensive set of public programs including talks, tours, workshops, and film screenings.
Heather Rigg is the inaugural Curatorial Resident of the artist-run centre Gallery TPW in Toronto, and is half of the curatorial collective ma ma.
Jayne Wilkinson is a writer, editor and curator. She holds an MA in Art History and Critical Theory from the University of British Columbia and her writing blends research into environmental politics, surveillance, and the elemental cultures of the Anthropocene, with a focus on contemporary art and photo-based practices. Most recently she was editor-in-chief at Canadian Art and regularly contributes art criticism to a variety of publications and peer-reviewed journals.
Image courtesy of Ramona Jingru Wang
