The Prix HSBC pour la Photographie is designed to promote the "new generation of photographers.” It is open to photographers of any age or nationality who haven’t yet printed a monograph. It was created in April 1995 under the aegis of the Fondation de France. 
A first selection from nearly 500 entries representing over 10,000 pictures was made by Rafael Doctor Roncero, Artistic Director of this 2012 edition. Renewed annually, his mission consists of reducing the competition to 12 portfolios to be judged by the executive committee who will then select two laureates.

Rafael Doctor Roncero calls his selection “12 ways to think about photography through 13 photographers. (Indeed). “This selection is an exceptional way for the art critic that I am to discover new talents otherwise difficult to find elsewhere… the twelve viewpoints that I have selected represent a catalog of photographic language possibilities, an open and expandable catalog, these twelve visions could undoubtedly be 20, 30 or even 100 depending on the diversity of interpretations…”.

The Executive Committee, comprised of HSBC representatives as well as cultural and artistic personalities, selected the two laureates. 
They include Leonora Hamill, of dual French and British nationalities, for her work “Art in Progress” and French photographer Eric Pillot for “In Situ”.

Their first monograph will be published by Actes Sud and will be featured in the “Prix HSBC Pour la Photographie Collection”. A traveling exhibition of their work will be on display in four cultural centers in France or abroad while HSBC France will acquire at least 6 prints from each laureate for the HSBC collection for a total of 5000 euros.

Leonora Hamill was born in Paris in 1978. A graduate of the Royal College of Art of London, she currently divides her time between London and Milan. Artistic Director Roncero comments on her work “Art in Progress 2012” it is “a vast exercise in cataloging space: art schools and their artists’ workshops; For several years and around the world, Hamill took pictures of these places where people learn art differently. Frequenting these workshops does not show how the artist will interpret the society he or she inhabits…”

Éric Pillot was born in the Pas-de-Calais in 1968 and currently lives and works in Paris. After studying science (École Polytechnique, math aggregation) he switched to photography as intern and assistant to Bernard Plossu, Paul den Hollander and Jean-Claude Bélégou.

Roncero describes “In Situ” like a “photographer contemplating animals” and wrote: “It is not the first time an artist chose to observe the animals kept in captivity for our amusement. His work is nothing other than the revelation of the injustice inflicted by our society on subjects for which there is very little or no legislation and authorizing atrocities under the pretext that it is for our diversion during our free time. Real and seemingly fictional animals mix in order to reduce the living to a nearly decorative state…”

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr