Joel Meyerowitz to obtain Outstanding Contribution to Photography title by Jose Antunes

Recognised for his various and expansive physique of labor, and its extraordinary affect on the visible vocabulary of pictures, Joel Meyerowitz was chosen as this 12 months’s recipient of the Sony award.

Sony introduced that the photographer Joel Meyerowitz is the recipient of the distinguished Outstanding Contribution to Photography title of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026, which honours the folks that have formed the historical past of the medium. Meyerowitz is recognised for his various and expansive physique of labor, and its extraordinary affect on the visible vocabulary of pictures.

The Outstanding Contribution to Photography award recognises the voices behind essentially the most groundbreaking photographic work of our time. As its nineteenth recipient, Joel Meyerowitz joins a distinguished checklist of names together with Mary Ellen Mark (2014), Martin Parr (2017), Graciela Iturbide (2021), Edward Burtynsky (2022), Sebastião Salgado (2024) and Susan Meiselas (2025).

To mark the award, a particular retrospective of works by Joel Meyerowitz might be proven in Londn, as a part of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition. The particular presentation of Meyerowitz’s work, together with new video and audio installations, might be proven at Somerset House, London from 17 April – 4 May 2026.

This showcase presents an perception into the spirit and curiosity that has characterised his follow for the previous six many years. Through video and audio installations, Meyerowitz invitations guests to see from his vantage level, recalling the sense of surprise he skilled seeing the scenes in his pictures for the primary time. In a number of specifically commissioned new video and audio installations created in collaboration with award-winning filmmaker Chris Ryan, the photographer displays on the method of the making of particular pictures, in addition to charting the trajectories of his life, tracing the steps and inventive turning factors which have led him to the present level.

The exhibition will moreover current emblematic works from throughout Meyerowitz’s profession together with his early avenue pictures from New York and his travels to Europe, his ‘field photographs,’ targeted on the colors, objects and patterns throughout the body, images from his time in Cape Cod, and his protection of Ground Zero.

An early proponent of color pictures, Joel Meyerowitz was instrumental in bringing this technique to widespread recognition and use, and is credited for increasing its international appreciation, establishing it as a advantageous artwork follow. His work because the early Sixties has made him a number one determine within the historical past of twentieth century pictures.

Joel Meyerowitz’s follow is marked by his observant eye, finely tuned to the currents and textures of life. His work reveals a fascination with life occurring round him, and a outstanding intuition for framing pictures which can be directly revealing and enigmatic, imbued with magnificence and wit. Meyerowitz’s images direct the viewer’s gaze to the parallel and interconnected tales that outline a second. The topics of his images are wide-ranging, from his iconic depictions of the bustle of metropolis life, to his depictions of coastal life and the huge seascapes of Cape Cod, by way of to his pivotal collection documenting all of the work inside Ground Zero within the aftermath of 9/11, and his current self-portraiture. Over the years, Joel Meyerowitz has captured the surprises that may be discovered by trying rigorously on the scenes that encompass us, and that might be mirrored on the presentation at Somerset House.

Born in New York City, USA in 1938, Joel Meyerowitz studied portray and medical drawing at Ohio State University earlier than working as an promoting artwork director. After watching the Swiss-American photographer Robert Frank shoot an promoting venture for him in 1962, Meyerowitz instantly stop his job and went out onto the streets with a borrowed digital camera and two rolls of color movie, and launched into a profession that will make an indelible mark on the medium. While his early work was in color, he later added Black and White to his pictures. Meyerowitz’s work kinds an integral a part of the American photographic canon – it has appeared in over 350 exhibitions in museums and galleries internationally, and has been printed in 57 monographs.

Commenting on his acceptance of the award, Joel Meyerowitz says: ‘I am honoured to be selected as this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography recipient. The images I’ve made over time present the world as I see it, and the moments of magnificence, humour and enjoyable that may be discovered in every single place, if we take the chance to look. I hope this exhibition will encourage guests to look once more at their environment and have interaction with all the life that unfolds round them.’

Meyerowitz, who just lately appeared in a video selling the brand new Leica M EV1, might be introduced along with his award on the annual gala ceremony in London on 16 April 2026, throughout a night of celebrations the place the general winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 might be introduced.