AIMIA AGO Photography Prize awarded to Dave Jordano

AGO supporters and photography lovers gathered in Walker Court to celebrate this year’s AIMIA AGO Prize finalists and congratulate award winner, Dave Jordano. Based entirely by public vote, Jordano receives C$50,000 in addition to a six-week, fully funded residency in Canada. Runners-up Annette Kelm, Owen Kydd, and Hito Steyerl will each receive a six-week residency in 2016 and $5,000 to support their artistic practices.

Certainly, all the work on display was striking and compelling, but it was Jordano’s poignant documentary photography, capturing life in Detroit, that captured the hearts of exhibit goers and received the most votes.

Visibly moved by the award, Jordano addressed the crowd with much gratitude, and reminded all of us that Detroit, while amidst a shocking transformation, is still a city 700,000 strong. Many photographers and journalists focus on the abandonment and decay of Detroit; Jordano zooms in on the life, the living.

The AIMIA AGO Prize exhibit runs at the AGO until January 3rd. Don’t miss an opportunity to see some of the world’s most interesting contemporary photography.