Dior puts spotlight on emerging talent with photography prize

French fashion house Christian Dior is seeking out up-and-coming visual artists through a contest centered on some of the top photography schools around the globe.

The second edition of the Dior Photography Award for Young Talents has launched, asking applicants to depict the theme “woman-women’s face” with a focus on the terms “color,” “femininity” and “beauty.” Even before launching this prize last year, Dior has supported photography through a sponsorship of the Luma Arles photo archives program.

Fresh faces
Dior’s award is open to students and recent graduates from 11 schools including the Royal College of Art in London, the International Center of Photography in New York and the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts.

The contest, which is hosted by Luma Arles and was developed alongside photography school École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie, opened on Jan. 7.

Applicants were asked to submit a series of photos or videos on this year’s theme. After the submission period ends on March 11, a jury will pick one semifinalist from each school.

Among the jurors is Dior Parfum’s creative and image director Peter Philips and Dior Parfums’ chairman and CEO Claude Martinez.

The 11 laureates will have their work showcased at an exhibit that will run from July 1 to Sept. 22 at Parc des Ateliers in Arles, France. This showcase will also travel to other countries following the debut in Arles.

 

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For the Arles 2018 edition, in the south of France, #diortheartofcolor presented the first Dior Photography Award for young talents. Hosted by @luma_arles and in partnership with the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie, this 1st edition present the creations of students and young alumni from 8 international prestigious art schools. They were invited to create around a theme that is part of @diormakeup DNA: “Woman-women faces” and were lead by three key words: COLOUR, FEMININITY, BEAUTY.✨Enjoy! #diortheartofcolor #diorarles

A post shared by Dior Makeup (@diormakeup) on Jul 10, 2018 at 7:58am PDT

Dior's 2018 exhibition in Arles

One winner will be chosen and will receive a 10,000 euro grant from Dior, valued at about $11,300 at current exchange, as well as a creative commission from the brand.

In addition to the winner, Dior will be giving a special mention to the artist that best embodies the idea of joy, a theme prominent at the house. This photographer will have their work featured in an upcoming book about Dior and joy.

Beyond this emerging talent initiative, Dior has celebrated photographers through its marketing.

Christian Dior put a feminine lens on its spring/summer 2017 ready-to-wear collection to mark the milestone of its first female artistic director’s debut.

#TheWomenBehindTheLens gave nine photographers carte blanche to shoot the season’s fashions in their own way. Making their work more personable, the women were captured on film talking about their art for Dior as well as their feminist observations and opinions (see story).