Isabelle Le Minh receives the SPECTRUM Internationaler Preis für Fotografie der Stiftung Niedersachsen 2027

The French media artist and photographer Isabelle Le Minh will be honoured with the SPECTRUM Internationaler Preis für Fotografie der Stiftung Niedersachsen in 2027. The prestigious photography prize is endowed with 15,000 euros, a major exhibition at the Sprengel Museum Hannover and a publication. With her chosen techniques, Isabelle Le Minh repeatedly scrutinises the usability of photography as a credible representation of reality. In a reflexive way, she explores the very nature of photography, its subject-matters, uses, processes, its tools and protagonists, its rhetoric and history.

The award ceremony will take place on 30 July 2027 as part of the exhibition opening at the Sprengel Museum Hannover. The jury of the SPECTRUM Prize 2027 consisted of: Lavinia Francke (Stiftung Niedersachsen), Dr. Stefan Gronert (Sprengel Museum Hannover), Dr. Christina Leber (DZ BANK Kunststiftung), Prof. Dr. Bernd Stiegler (University of Konstanz) and Nadine Wietlisbach (Fotomuseum Winterthur).

From the jury's statement: 
‚With her mostly conceptual works, Isabelle Le Minh consistently expands the techniques of photography to include an enormous variety of different materials by making the history of photography her object of reflection in an accentuated and humorous way. […] Her media-reflexive approach, consistently evident in her roles as artist, curator and professor, offers a valuable framework for continually re-examining our engagement with photographic imagery.‘

Isabelle Le Minh was born in 1965 in Bad Salzuflen-Schötmar (Germany) and lives in Nogent-sur-Marne near Paris. She studied mathematics and materials science at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Caen (France) and began her professional career as a patent examiner in the early 1990s before switching to photography and studying again at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d'Arles. She graduated there in 1996 with a degree in photography. Isabelle Le Minh regularly presents her work in solo exhibitions and has received numerous awards. She teaches at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg. The artist is represented by Galerie Christophe Gaillard in Paris.

The SPECTRUM Internationaler Preis für Fotografie is awarded biennally by the Stiftung Niedersachsen to outstanding contemporary photographic artists. In 2025, the prize was awarded to the Norwegian artist Frida Orupabo. The Sprengel Museum Hannover is presenting her work in the associated exhibition until 20 July 2025.
Previous winners of the SPECTRUM Prize are Adrian Sauer (2023), Zanele Muholi (2021), Fiona Tan (2019), Rineke Dijkstra (2017), Hannah Collins (2015), Boris Mikhailov (2013), Bahman Jalali (2011), Helen Levitt (2008), Martha Rosler (2005), Sophie Calle (2002), John Baldessari (1999), Thomas Struth (1997) and Robert Adams (1994). 
The name SPECTRUM refers to the Hanoverian photo gallery SPECTRUM (1972–1991), one of the first photo galleries in Europe and the origin of the photo department of the Sprengel Museum Hannover.

About the Stiftung Niedersachsen:
As a state cultural foundation, the Stiftung Niedersachsen strengthens the diversity of culture in Lower Saxony (Germany) by supporting non-profit projects and helps to raise the profile of the region. The foundation supports around 200 projects each year. In addition, the foundation itself organises top-class cultural events and provides important impulses for the cultural scene with various funding programmes.

About the Sprengel Museum Hannover:
The Sprengel Museum Hannover is one of the most important museums for 20th and 21st-century art. With major collection displays and changing special exhibitions, a diverse educational program, and numerous events, the museum offers many opportunities almost daily to engage with modern and contemporary art. The Sprengel Museum Hannover holds a particularly prominent position in the field of photography: it is considered one of the leading venues for photographic art in Germany and beyond. With significant photographic collections, pioneering exhibitions, and a continuous engagement with the medium of photography, the museum sets standards in the presentation and communication of photographic art.

The jury of the SPECTRUM Internationaler Preis für Fotografie der Stiftung Niedersachsen has unanimously decided to honour the French artist Isabelle Le Minh with the prestigious photography prize in 2027. With her mostly conceptual works, Isabelle Le Minh consistently expands the techniques of photography to include an enormous variety of differ-ent materials by making the history of photography her object of reflection in an accentuated and humorous way.

She initially studied mathematics and graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Caen as a materials scientist. She later completed her education at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie d'Arles and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts with honours. It is precisely this combination of studies that continues to enable her to engage in a precise and considered reflection on photographic practices.

‘When I realised a few years ago that the digital revolution had decisively changed our relationship with photography, I decided to abandon my traditional practice of the medium.’ Says the artist. In doing so, she ‘no longer questions photography as a means of depicting the world, but art as a means of questioning photography.’

Isabelle Le Minh often takes works by other photographers and artists and transforms them into new material and thus into an expanded visual language. In her series, she refers to Henri Cartier-Bresson, John Baldessari and Hiroshi Sugimoto, among others, and finds a unique form for each approach, which often extends into the space as an installation.

‘By speculating on the nature of the image and questioning the means of photographic production through its history, myths or iconography, I try to reactivate the history of photography and renew its relevance in today's world. In this way, I address the changing concepts of photography with a touch of mockery, but also the concept of originality in a standardised world in which images proliferate.’

In choosing Isabelle Le Minh, the jury would like to honour her artistic work, which she has consistently pursued for 25 years and has been able to present in numerous exhibitions to date. Her media-reflexive approach, consistently evident in her roles as artist, curator and professor, offers a valuable framework for continually re-examining our engagement with photographic imagery.

For the jury: Dr Christina Leber

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