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We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Form Photo Award x photobasel 2026. This year, the standard of work is exceptionally high, reflecting the incredible talent and creativity of contemporary photographers from around the world. Each winning artist brings a unique perspective, a fresh aesthetic, and thought-provoking ideas that challenge and inspire.
The top five winners will have their projects exhibited at photobasel in June 2026, during Art Basel Week, where they will be seen by thousands of visitors.
The Form Photo Award, supported by photobasel, Picter, and Form Magazine, is dedicated to discovering emerging voices in photography. It aims to foster global dialogue, intellectual exchange, and cross-cultural solidarity within the art community. Every winner represents a new vision.
The top five winners will have their projects exhibited at photobasel in June 2026, during Art Basel Week, where they will be seen by thousands of visitors.
The Form Photo Award, supported by photobasel, Picter, and Form Magazine, is dedicated to discovering emerging voices in photography. It aims to foster global dialogue, intellectual exchange, and cross-cultural solidarity within the art community. Every winner represents a new vision.
Form Photo Award 2026 Winners
Valentin taillade
Krista Svalbonas
Victoria Ruiz
Foteini Zaglara
Bharat Sikka
Krista Svalbonas
Victoria Ruiz
Foteini Zaglara
Bharat Sikka
Valentin taillade
Chantal
De l'amour à la mort
Le mouvement des quatre saisons
Chantal
De l'amour à la mort
Le mouvement des quatre saisons
Chantal
Even the clearest of our memories have somewhat blurred edges."
There is a complex relationship between photography, memory and truth.
The image appeals to both collective and individual memory. But what happens when this memory fades away, when the contours of memories become blurry? What remains of people whose
memory is eroding? Show more
Even the clearest of our memories have somewhat blurred edges."
There is a complex relationship between photography, memory and truth.
The image appeals to both collective and individual memory. But what happens when this memory fades away, when the contours of memories become blurry? What remains of people whose
memory is eroding? Show more
De l’amour à la mort
From Love to Death is a photographic series that explores the inner states experienced throughout an emotional cycle of love. It is neither a linear narrative nor a universal truth, but an intimate and sensory journey.
The images do not aim to depict love, but to translate its invisible movements: the dazzle of encounter, the softness of intimacy, the emergence of cracks, loss, and the slow transformation that follows collapse. Each photograph becomes a mental space, a fragment of memory or sensation, where color, light, and material replace descriptive language. Show more
From Love to Death is a photographic series that explores the inner states experienced throughout an emotional cycle of love. It is neither a linear narrative nor a universal truth, but an intimate and sensory journey.
The images do not aim to depict love, but to translate its invisible movements: the dazzle of encounter, the softness of intimacy, the emergence of cracks, loss, and the slow transformation that follows collapse. Each photograph becomes a mental space, a fragment of memory or sensation, where color, light, and material replace descriptive language. Show more
Le mouvement des quatre saisons
Valentin Fougeray subverts photography’s relationship with time by showing not the object of memory, but its failure. Working with the impossible nature of remembrance, his series captures blurred, trembling forms, as if the lens had failed to seize a memory and grasped only the space left by its disappearance. These fields of color resemble black holes generated by failing memory. Far from romanticizing oblivion, the work interrogates the precise moment a memory vanishes, overturning photography’s historical role as an inventory of beings and things. Here, stillness gives way to a frenzied pursuit of what is already gone. Show more
Valentin Fougeray subverts photography’s relationship with time by showing not the object of memory, but its failure. Working with the impossible nature of remembrance, his series captures blurred, trembling forms, as if the lens had failed to seize a memory and grasped only the space left by its disappearance. These fields of color resemble black holes generated by failing memory. Far from romanticizing oblivion, the work interrogates the precise moment a memory vanishes, overturning photography’s historical role as an inventory of beings and things. Here, stillness gives way to a frenzied pursuit of what is already gone. Show more
Born in 1989, France — Lives and works in Paris
Valentin taillade (actually named Valentin Fougeray) is a photographer and artist based in Paris. After initial training in architecture, he studied photography at Gobelins, where he refined an approach attentive to space, composition, and material and visual experimentation. Show more
Valentin taillade (actually named Valentin Fougeray) is a photographer and artist based in Paris. After initial training in architecture, he studied photography at Gobelins, where he refined an approach attentive to space, composition, and material and visual experimentation. Show more
Krista Svalbonas
Echoes of Resistance
Echoes of Resistance
Echoes of Resistance explores the connection between the Baltic Partisan movement and the landscapes that served as sanctuary and symbol for its fighters. At its core is a personal search: my great-uncle joined the Partisan resistance in Latvia and was killed for his involvement, yet the details of his life and death remain unknown. His story, passed down in fragments, shapes my approach to these forests as sites of both history and unresolved memory.
Although the Partisan movement shaped 20th-century Baltic history, few beyond the region know of it. After World War II, when the Soviet Union reoccupied the Baltics, tens of thousands retreated into the forests to wage a guerrilla war. Known as the "Forest Brothers," they built bunkers, carried out sabotage missions, and relied on civilians who risked their lives to provide food and shelter. Despite overwhelming odds, brutal reprisals, and mass deportations, they fought for nearly a decade, determined to preserve national identity. For many, the forests were not only refuge but a living symbol of resistance. Show more
Although the Partisan movement shaped 20th-century Baltic history, few beyond the region know of it. After World War II, when the Soviet Union reoccupied the Baltics, tens of thousands retreated into the forests to wage a guerrilla war. Known as the "Forest Brothers," they built bunkers, carried out sabotage missions, and relied on civilians who risked their lives to provide food and shelter. Despite overwhelming odds, brutal reprisals, and mass deportations, they fought for nearly a decade, determined to preserve national identity. For many, the forests were not only refuge but a living symbol of resistance. Show more
Krista Svalbonas holds a BFA in Photography and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies. Her work has been exhibited at various prestigious venues, including Paris Photo, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Spartanburg Art Museum in South Carolina, Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, Klompching Gallery, and ISE Cultural Foundation in New York. Show more
Victoria Ruiz
We Knew the World in Fragments of Color
We Knew the World in Fragments of Color
We Knew the World in Fragments of Color reflects on Victoria Ruiz’s experience of being born in Venezuela during political turmoil and leaving her native country for the United States at a young age.
Utilising handcrafted full-body suits — drawing from Latin American cultural symbolism, spirituality, and a strong chromatic language — the artist stages a sequence of photographs in which the subjects convey meaning against a coloured backdrop.
Across this series, she represents successive stages of Venezuela’s recent reality, each carrying its distinct historical and emotional weight. Meanwhile, through performative self-representation, her internal world unfolds as one shaped by fragmentation and tension resulting from displacement. Show more
Utilising handcrafted full-body suits — drawing from Latin American cultural symbolism, spirituality, and a strong chromatic language — the artist stages a sequence of photographs in which the subjects convey meaning against a coloured backdrop.
Across this series, she represents successive stages of Venezuela’s recent reality, each carrying its distinct historical and emotional weight. Meanwhile, through performative self-representation, her internal world unfolds as one shaped by fragmentation and tension resulting from displacement. Show more
Victoria Ruiz is a Venezuelan multidisciplinary artist and Central Saint Martins graduate (2022) working across photography, sculptural garments, and live performance. Rooted in activism and the carnivalesque, her practice explores identity, cultural resistance, and Afro-diasporic spirituality.
She is currently a resident at Sarabande: The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation, where she continues to expand her multidisciplinary practice.
She is currently a resident at Sarabande: The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation, where she continues to expand her multidisciplinary practice.
Foteini Zaglara
An ongoing collection comprised of self-portraits since 2018. Each anthropocentric photograph states a story, revealing the different aspects of the individual’s personality and subjective identity. The idea of the project coincides with the syntactic oddity of Rimbaud 's famous phrase "Je est un autre" - I is another, as through introspection we manage to "objectify" ourselves by experiencing our "being" as something detached from us. The process of placing the self in the story and identity of another personality ("persona") is fascinating and at the same time revealing, as each personality acquires its own entity, without necessarily being identified with elements of the artist’s own personality. The intense presence of the directorial element combined with the use of creative props, make up, and vintage clothing enhance the narration and dramatic perspective of the images.
Foteini Zaglara is a (self-)portrait photographer born in 1995 in Athens, Greece. She studied at the University of Ioannina, in the Department of Early Childhood Education. Her work explores themes of fantasy and surrealism, using photography as a storytelling medium to delve into emotions, identity, and social issues. She has received recognition in numerous international photography competitions and was included in the 30 Under 30 Women Photographers list, and her work has been exhibited worldwide.
Bharat Sikka
Ripples in the Pond
Ripples in the Pond
In Ripples in the Pond, the artist undertakes a nuanced exploration of Makharda, a peripheral township on the outskirts of Kolkata, West Bengal. Situated within a landscape marked by over twenty tranquil ponds, Makharda emerges not merely as a geographic locale but as a site of complex temporal and socio-cultural convergence. Through a process-based photographic inquiry, the artist renders visible the entanglements between memory, modernity, and the slow violence of infrastructural encroachment. Show more
Bharat Sikka was born and raised in India, where he began his photographic practice before studying at the Parsons School of Design, NY. Sikka’s long-term photographic projects have centered on the cultural residues and societal transformations within India, rendered with the visual language and material forms of contemporary art photography. His work subtly speaks to India’s history and regionality (of Kashmir, in Where the Flowers Still Grow), premiered at Kochi Biennale 2017, the tide of globalization (Matter) exhibited at Unseen, and masculinity (Indian Men) first showed at Artist Space, NY 2003. For Unseen 2019, Sikka created an installation version of The Sapper - his detailed and layered portrayal of his father. Show more
Form Photo Award 2025 Jury
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Sven Eisenhut-Hug__________Co-Founder and Founding Co-Director of Art Salon Zürich, and the Director and Co-Founder of photo basel GmbH—Switzerland's first international art fair dedicated exclusively to photography. Held annually during Art Basel week, photo basel features approximately 40 international galleries showcasing a wide range of photographic practices and artists. Under Eisenhut-Hug’s leadership, the fair has successfully expanded to Berlin and Miami, becoming a pivotal event on the international art calendar. Widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in photography
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Elwira Spychalska__________Art historian specializing in modern art and photography. She has been part of photo basel for the past eight years and has served as the fair’s curator for its tenth edition. In addition to her curatorial work, she has collaborated with other art fairs such as Art Salon Zurich and works in art museums in Basel, where she continues to engage with contemporary art practices. Her passion lies in creating meaningful encounters between artists, collectors, institutions, and audiences — supporting photography in all its diverse forms and contexts
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Dimitri Bogachuk__________Founder of Form. Gallery / Publishing / Magazine - co-founder of Photo Kyiv Fair, artist and curator he graduated from the National Academy of Culture and Arts in Kyiv, where he majored in art expertise. Numerous of photography educational programs he share his experience to audience and create a powerful base and ecosystem for young talented wave of young photographers - some of them now established photographers exhibited in galleries, museums, fairs around the world, including Fotografiska and Center Pompidou, Paris.
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