Winners 2023: SINGLE PICTURES

Natalya Saprunova – Going to save themselves from the abnormal heat

The danger of judging art is that it creates the misconception that there are quantifiable elements of greatness. If anything, the technical perfection that we look for in sport is a hinderance when it comes to art. Natalya Saprunova’s winning photograph is the perfect example. There’s nothing special about the composition. Instead of the “golden ratio” or “rule of thirds” we see the subject plopped in the middle of the frame. But even this centeredness is imperfect with too little foreground and no separation between the heads and the background. But like the subject it depicts, Saprunova’s photograph is about real life, not perfection. It’s about four distinct but ordinary children standing in a specific but unexceptional location. And yet, for all of this specificity and ordinariness, there’s an aura of the archetypal. I’m reminded of August Sander’s iconic image of three young farmers and the classic illustration of the March of Progress from primate to man. Saprunova’s photograph simultaneously describes an average summer day while conjuring deep feelings about childhood and the passage of time.
Alec Soth / URBAN 2023 Jury President