Elizabeth Bick will receive the 2016 Rudin Prize for Emerging Photographers and a $20,000 cash award. She is the third winner of the biennial prize from the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is given to an artist who has never had a solo museum show.
Bick received the honor over American Clare Benson, nominated by Arno Minkkinen; American Wesley Stringer, nominated by Michael Kenna; and Ukrainian Alexandra Hunts, nominated by Rineke Dijkstra. The museum’s photography committee made the final decision about the winner.
All four artists are currently featured in a group exhibition on view at the Norton through January 15, 2017. There museum visitors cast votes for their favorite photographer, selecting Stringer for the People’s Choice award. The Norton will add works from the show from all four artists to its permanent collection.
Rudin Prize nominees Wesley Stringer, Alexandra Hunts, Claire Benson, Beth Rudin DeWoody, nominee and winner Elizabeth Bick, and Norton executive director Hope Alswang. Courtesy of Jacek Gancarz
Formerly a classically trained ballerina, Bick merges her interests in dance and street photography. Her work examines the way crowds move through public space, focusing on both individual and collective movements in both the public and private spheres.
“In an age when anyone feels they can be a photographer, the Rudin Prize is more important than ever to recognize artists pushing the medium’s envelope,” said Norton photography committee member Beth Rudin DeWoody, whose father, Lewis Rudin, is the prize’s namesake, in a statement. “We are delighted to award the Rudin Prize to Elizabeth Bick and we hope everyone will support the work of all four nominees, as we look forward to their growth and next steps as artists.”
Elizabeth Bick, Street Ballet I (2015). Courtesy of the artist.
The prize’s inaugural winner was Los Angeles-based photographer Analia Saban, back in 2012. Israeli artist Rami Maymon took home top honors in 2014.