Black & White Spider Awards™| The Jury

The International Award Honoring Black & White Photography

Jury

THE JURY

For twenty years Black & White Spider Awards has been committed to bringing you world-class Juries selected from the most influential names in the industry. Annually a new jury pool is created to ensure the program's reputation for recognizing first-movers, new emerging talent and current trends across the industry. Jury members are selected by exclusive invitation to join the international panel and sent ballots to log on, review the entries and nominate their selections. Only by having the greatest talent from both sides of the lens do we produce the intoxicating and diverse photography collections the awards is renowned for showcasing.

 

20TH ANNUAL JURY

ARTNET - London

Carys Lake Edwards, Specialist, Photographs

Artnet is the leading online resource for the international art market, and the destination to buy, sell, and research art online. Founded in 1989 with the goal of bringing transparency to the art world, artnet's comprehensive suite of products offers a variety of art market resources to our audience of collectors, dealers, and art enthusiasts. Carys Lake-Edwards joined Artnet with a BA in Art History from the University of York and with 13 years' experience in the fields of Fine Art Photography, Prints and Editions. Director for five years at Europe's leading photography gallery, Michael Hoppen Gallery, Carys has a passion for Contemporary and Post-War Japanese Photography. She advises private collectors and institutions globally and is always excited to discover artists who push the boundaries of photography whilst honoring the medium's traditional processes. Previous tenures have been held as Head of Editions for YBA artist, Marc Quinn, and Head of Sales for Eyestorm.

SOTHEBY'S - New York

Anabel Wold, Specialist, Photographs

Anabel Wold joined Sotheby's Photographs in 2024. Ms. Wold brings extensive knowledge of Contemporary Photography and experience in the art world, having held positions in galleries, artist studios, and auction houses since 2010. As Specialist, her role encompasses business getting, research, cataloguing, preparing auction estimates, in addition to all manner of appraisals. Prior to Sotheby's, Ms. Wold was the Associate Director at 303 Gallery, New York, and later joined Artnet as Photographs Specialist where she was immersed in the digital marketplace. Dynamically involved with 303 Gallery's program from 2012 to 2021, she worked closely with such artists as Stephen Shore and Dan Graham, while facilitating acquisitions and exhibitions with various museums, public institutions, and private collections. Prior to 303 Gallery, her career in the arts began with roles at Taryn Simon Projects, Gagosian Gallery, and Christie's. She has been featured as a panelist on collecting photography and has published interviews online. Ms. Wold holds a Bachelor of Arts in Art History with a minor in Business Studies from New York University.

GALERIE PETER KILCHMANN - Zurich

Thomas Ruettimann, Director

Swiss-born art historian Thomas Ruettimann moved to the United States in 2005 and lived in New York from 2008 until 2018. From 2008 to 2012, Ruettimann was employed at the global headquarters of the auction house Sotheby's in managerial roles in operations and specialist departments. In 2013, he joined the newly expanding art gallery Hauser & Wirth New York. There he worked closely with the present-day president and gained in-depth experience in the collaboration with some of today's most significant contemporary artists. Upon his return to Zurich in 2018, Ruettimann worked at Gallery Eva Presenhuber. In Spring 2023, he joined Galerie Peter Kilchmann Zurich/Paris.

PROJECT 14C -Jersey City

Diana Burroughs, Executive Director of Artist Residency

Project 14C is an incubator style residential community for 150 emerging artists of all creative disciplines, occupying 125,000 square feet in the heart of Jersey City's Powerhouse Arts District we offer subsidized live/work communal spaces for a 12-month periods and provide mentoring and networking opportunities. Diana Burroughs is Executive Director of Artist Residency at Project 14C. After graduating with a degree in history from the University of Wisconsin Ms. Burroughs spent two years in Egypt, where she taught in a private elementary school and successfully competed in the equestrian world (she won best dressage rider in Egypt), she returned to New York. There she worked at the American-Arab Association for Commerce and Industry. Ms. Burroughs returned to school and got her MA and PhD in Near Eastern Studies (China's relations with the Arab world) at Princeton. She worked for a number of years in the art world, where she was president of Jason McCoy Inc., a contemporary art gallery. In the mid-90s she left the art world and became involved in education, first as co-founder and executive director of PENCIL, then as Manhattan Deputy to the Chancellor of the Board of Education, and finally as the co-founder and executive director of TeachersCount. She returned to the art world in 2010 and was one of two senior directors at Marlborough Gallery in New York thereafter Art Consulting at Jason McCoy Gallery, New York and currently ED of Artist Residency at Project 14C.

OGILVY - New York

Wes Phelan Executive Creative Director

Wes Phelan is a South African ECD currently working at Ogilvy in New York City. Before this, Wes worked at Goodby Silverstein & Partners and previously Johannes Leonardo across a number of the agency's accounts, most notably on Adidas Originals and TripAdvisor. His work on these brands resulted in significant business growth and impact as well as a successful international awards tally with multiple Cannes Lions, including the first Grand Prix awarded in the new Music Entertainment category in 2017 for the Adidas 'Original is never finished' campaign. In Adweek's "2017 top 100", Wes was recognized as one of the top 22 creative directors "who is completely reimagining what's possible". Wes has been featured in the Cannes Game Changers book and exhibition, celebrating 60 years of advertising that has transformed the landscape of the creative industries. Phelan has an intense passion for film and has directed several commercials, short films, and music videos. Prior to joining Johannes Leonardo, his provocative ideas and talent saw him quickly rise to be one of South Africa's youngest creative directors at WPP company, Metropolitan Republic in Johannesburg. Ogilvy has been creating impact for brands through iconic, culture-changing, value-driving ideas since the company was founded by David Ogilvy 75 years ago. It builds on that rich legacy through Borderless Creativity - innovating at the intersections of its advertising, public relations, relationship design, consulting, and health capabilities with experts collaborating seamlessly across over 120 offices in nearly 90 countries.

DALLAS CONTEMPORARY - Dallas

Emily Edwards, Associate Curator

Dallas Contemporary is a non-collecting art museum presenting new and challenging ideas from regional, national and international artists. The institution is committed to engaging the public through exhibitions, lectures, educational programs and events. After more than 30 years in a few different homes on Swiss Avenue, the Contemporary moved into a refurbished metal-fabrication building between the Design District and the Trinity bridge site in late 2009. The new home on Glass Street has 20-foot ceilings and enough space to accommodate multiple exhibitions, as well as large art and sculptures. Dallas Contemporary attracts some 28,000 visitors each year and is focused on showcasing emerging Texas artists, and the best new national and international artists.

NUUD.BERLIN GALLERY - Berlin

Henner Merle, Owner/Director

nuud.berlin gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Henner Merle in 2019, after having already been the director and co-founder of the former gallery ZFF - Zentrum fur Fotografie in Berlin in 1997/98 and from 2016 onwards, staging numerous pop-up exhibitions under the name "Fine Art Berlin Project Spaces" at ever-changing locations. The focus of the gallery is on contemporary painting and photography, although most of the artists in the gallery are intertwined with the other medium in one way or another: Whether the painting has something photorealistic or the photography something painterly, whether photography is the basis and inspiration for painting or the artists have their creative origins in the other medium. The artists of the gallery are as diverse and multi-layered as the visitors to the gallery; this also creates a varied and colourful exchange among the artists which is reflected in the varied exhibitions. "nuud" is Estonian and means "now". The gallery shows current contemporary art. The art is to be shown, seen, made known and marketed "now". Artists want to show their new works "now", the gallery owner wants to present the latest work of his artists. [nue:d] is also a phonetic play on words, composed of the French "nue" and the English "nude", both meaning "naked". Artists turn their innermost selves outwards, bare their souls and feelings when they express and realise themselves with, through and in their art. They make themselves "naked" when they publish art. The gallery is intended to be an innovative place where new ideas are not only developed and realised together with the artists but also a place where people meet to freely exchange ideas and be inspired by art. It is Henner Merle's particular concern to take away the inhibitions of those who are new to art and to invite them to the gallery to let themselves be infected by the enthusiasm for art, either alone or in conversation.

CLEMENGER BBDO - Sydney

Paul Meates, Executive Creative Director

Clemenger BBDO is a leading advertising agency based in Australia and New Zealand. They're part of the global BBDO network, which itself is one of the biggest ad agency networks in the world, under the umbrella of Omnicom Group. Clemenger BBDO specializes in creative advertising, brand strategy, digital marketing, and integrated communications. They're known for creating emotionally powerful and highly awarded ad campaigns, often with a focus on public service, social impact, and big brand storytelling. Clients include Samsung, Mazda, 7-Eleven, Kmart, Ben & Jerry's, Mars, Latitude Financial, Bupa, Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) and Asahi. Paul Meates is Executive Creative Director at Clemenger BBDO in Sydney.

RONCHINI GALLERY - London

Lorenzo Ronchini, Founder/Director

Since opening its doors in 2012 on Mayfair's historic Dering Street, Ronchini has brought new perspectives to the London contemporary art market by featuring young emerging artists, established artists who have not been exhibited in the UK, as well as artists whose achievements have yet to be fully acknowledged within the shifting geography of art history. Founded by Lorenzo Ronchini, the gallery evolved from years of private collecting with a focus on Minimalism, Spatialism, Conceptualism and Arte Povera - that continue to inform the gallery's aesthetic today. Ronchini prides itself on curating every exhibition with a scholarly approach, which engages contextual and subjective issues that have not been previously addressed. It has hosted the first London exhibitions of Conrad Marca-Relli, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Franco Angelii, Will Cotton, Jacob Hashimoto, Katsumi Nakai, Berndnaut Smilde, Paolo Scheggi, Rebecca Ward, and Jens Wolf, amongst many others. It has now established itself as a forerunner amongst top London galleries and has presented at international art fairs including: Frieze London and New York, The Armory Show, Art Brussels, Dallas Art Fair, Art Dubai, EXPO Chicago, Untitled Miami, Zona Maco (Mexico City), and MiArt (Milan), amongst others, making Ronchini for many years one of the top 20 galleries internationally for fair attendance. In addition to the exhibition and fair program, Ronchini publishes artist monographs and exhibition catalogues featuring essays by some of the most lauded voices in the art world, engaging and contextualising the artists that they represent within the wider market. Ronchini also collaborates with museums, foundations, and curators from around the world to develop greater understanding and broader interest in the work of its artists. The gallery offers a focused environment in which its artists can be viewed in a rigorous context.

PERTH INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS - Perth

Gemma Ben-Ary, Curator

Housed in an iconic heritage building in the heart of Perth, PICA is the place to experience the very best of local, Australian and international contemporary arts in Western Australia. Over its 30 plus-year history, PICA has operated as both a producing and presenting organisation, delivering an annual program of changing exhibitions, seasons in contemporary dance, experimental theatre, new music and live art as well as a range of artist-in-residence programs. PICA works with artists who are trail-blazers, exemplars, innovators and change-makers, and acts as a site for challenging and timely conversations. Its programs are carefully curated, ensuring connections are forged not only between artists and audiences but across art forms, cultures and geographies. For artists, audiences and other communities it serves, PICA is a meeting place, a provocateur, a resource and most importantly a partner in the realisation of big and new ideas.

ART GALLERY OF ALBERTA - Edmonton

Lindsey Sharman, Curator

Lindsey Sharman has been the Curator of the Art Gallery of Alberta since 2018. She has studied Art History and Curating in Canada, England, Switzerland and Austria, earning degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of the Arts, Zurich. From 2012-2018 she was the first curator of the Founders Gallery at the Military Museums in Calgary, an academic appointment through the University of Calgary. She edited the publication The Writing on the Wall with the University of Calgary Press and has contributed to Galleries West Magazine, n.paradoxa, and most recently her essay The Scent of Death was published in C Magazine. Her primary area of interest is sensorial art experiences. Curatorial projects of note include TRENCH, a durational performance by Adrian Stimson; the nationally touring retrospective The Writing on the Wall: Works of Dr. Joane Cardinal Schubert; Pay de Devil Brang Brang Pay de Devil, an exhibition by Curtis Santiago; ROYGBIV with Shoplifter, Kapwani Kiwanga, Anri Sala, and Rodney LaTourelle and Louise Witthoft; Dance Party with artists Phil Collins, Brendan Fernandes, Jeffrey Gibson, Cindy Mochizuki, Adrian Piper, Jeremy Shaw, Barbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca; and the award-winning exhibition, Scents of Movement, Scents of Place. Located in the heart of downtown Edmonton, the Art Gallery of Alberta is a vibrant hub for visual arts. For 100 years, the AGA has celebrated creativity and cultural exchange, showcasing the rich tapestry of Alberta's artistic talent alongside ground-breaking international exhibitions.

GSA GALLERY - Stockholm

Stefan Andersson, Chairman/Owner

GSA Gallery (previously named Galleri Andersson/Sandstrom) was founded in 1980 and is today owned and operated by Stefan Andersson. The gallery focuses on international contemporary art and represents both well-established names and young emerging artists. Since 1994, the gallery has worked together with real estate company Balticgruppen in Umea to arrange one of Europe's most important sculpture parks, Umedalens Skulpturpark. In 2016 we initiated a project together with the Royal Djurgarden Administration where we, during summer of 2016-2018, presented solo exhibitions at Djurgarden in Stockholm with artist Tony Cragg followed by Eva Hild and Jaume Plensa. The gallery has a unique and diverse exhibition programme in Stockholm and participates in a number of international art fairs.

AUCKLAND ART GALLERY - Auckland

Julia Waite Curator

Julia Waite is curator at Auckland Art Gallery with a focus on the development of modern art in New Zealand, global modernisms and documentary photography. She has a Masters in Art History from the University of Auckland, a Masters of Museum and Heritage Studies from Victoria University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Otago. Julia co-curated Gordon Walters: New Vision, and Freedom and Structure: Cubism and New Zealand Art 1930-1960, both touring exhibitions with associated publications.

DAVID HILL GALLERY - London

David Hill, Founder/Director

David Hill Gallery opened in West London in 2015. Exhibitions have included Sanle Sory's first solo show in 2017, Mario Carnicelli's sharply observed mid-1960s American street photography, which also debuted at the gallery, and Baldwin Lee's critically acclaimed large-format series of African American life in the Southern States in the 1980s.In 2020 David collaborated with fellow curator and art historian Carrie Scott to show the work of Brooklyn's Harold Feinstein. Continuing to work together, their next show was the critically acclaimed Tete-a-Tetes - West African Portraiture from Independence into the 21st Century. This showcased the work of four artists working in post-colonial West Africa; Sanle Sory, Malick Sidibe, Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou and Benin's Rachidi Bissiriou. In 2022 Scott and Hill presented the debut exhibition Ben Hassett's Beer Soda Lotto series, a portrait of Los Angeles shot in the mesmerising light of city's morning golden hour. David Hill Gallery has an eye for meaningful, yet often overlooked and unseen, works representative of cultural and political shifts.

GALERIE CLEMENTINE DE LA FERONNIERE - Paris

Clementine de La Feronniere, Founder/Director

Founded in 2011, the gallery Clementine de la Feronniere and Maison CF publishing house were created with the aim to support the work of its photographers on a long-term basis. The gallery represents James Barnor, Martin Parr, FLORE, Peter Mitchell, Juliette Agnel and Guillaume Zuili. Based on the Ile-Saint-Louis in central Paris, it hosts an average of ?ve exhibitions per year. The gallery actively works with museums in France and abroad to acquire and exhibit the works of its artists. Since 2017, it has extended its activity to the management of photographic archives, starting with the conservation and representation of James Barnor's life and work. Maison CF specialises in the production of photography books. In 2021, Maison CF opened the doors of its own space. Adjacent to the gallery, the bookshop holds its own curatorial programme in correspondence with the gallery exhibitions.

ARTFACTORY CLUB - Vienna

Dr. Stefan Kallinka - Director

The ARTFACTORY CLUB is a contemporary art gallery in Austria and was established in 2014. It is dedicated to the promotion of Avant-Garde Art of contemporary European artists, providing original fine art to established and emerging collectors. The ARTFACTORY CLUB is specialized in the world-famous artists Gerhard Richter, Franz Gertsch and Helmut Ditsch. Their works stand out for the high quality and impressive power they perform on the viewer. An important characteristic of the ARTFACTORY CLUB is the realisation of exhibitions at public spaces with free entry to provide art to all interested people, regardless of their social background. Therefore the art gallery organized the Gira Nacional in cooperation with Helmut Ditsch in 2014, an exhibition tour which the Argentinian artist originally started in 2010 in his home country. During the tour his paintings were shown in several cities in the interior of Argentina with hundreds of thousands of visitors. After a successful first year the ARTFACTORY CLUB decided to open a second branch in Vaduz, Liechtenstein in 2015. In 2016 the ARTFACTORY CLUB started exhibiting at international art fairs.

DAVID CLARKE - London

David Clarke, Curator, Fine Art Photography Specialist

David Clarke has been a fine art photography professional for over 30 years. Head of Photography for the Tate Gallery from 1994 to 2014, he oversaw management of 11 staff at 5 Tate sites and the implementation of his main objective, to digitize and publish all works of art in the Tate Collection. The Collection consists of over 90,000 paintings, sculptures and works on paper. David was also ultimately responsible for all photography carried out at Tate, including scientific, press, promotion and the image management systems which make the images accessible to staff and public alike. Mr Clarke's personal work has been exhibited at galleries and museums from London to Beijing. He is also a founding member for the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography which is an international membership organization founded to support and promote fine art photography.

DIANE RUGGIE - Chicago

Diane Ruggie, Creative Director, Writer, Editor

Award-winning Chicago-based creative director, writer and editor with 30 years of experience creating standout brand personalities for top marketers across the globe, primarily in the food, fashion, home furnishing and philanthropic categories. She has won more than 40 of the advertising industry's most prestigious international awards and is profiled in the book Copywriting: Successful Writing for Design, Advertising and Marketing. Brand Expertise for: Soft Surroundings, Payless ShoeSource, LensCrafters, JCPenney, Playtex/Hanes, Frontgate, Aveeno, Janssen Cosmetics, Sephora, Sears, Unilever, Henkel, Bally Shoes, McDonald's, Safeway, Sargento, General Mills, Anheuser-Busch, Tyson, Wrigley, Dell Computers, Nokia, Discover Card, Disney Home Video, Rubbermaid, American Cancer Society, Alzheimer's Association and Chicago Field Museum.

GOLDSMITHS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Conrad Hechter, Correspondent

Conrad Hechter studied film-making and photography in Sydney where he ran a school for foreign students and revelled in the exceptional light quality of Terra Australis. Moving to USA Conrad worked as Gallery Director at Michael Shapiro Gallery, San Francisco and David Aden Gallery in Santa Monica. He was the Business Director of FotoFactory Press and helped curate numerous catalogues and shows. He was correspondent for Studio Magazines (Black + White and Blue) and is currently based at Goldsmiths, University of London.

CENTRO PORTUGUES DE FOTOGRAFIA - Porto

Bernardino Castro, Director

Bernardino Castro is Director of the Portuguese Center of Photography (CPF). A visiting professor at the Universidade Portucalense in the Specialization Course in Documentary Sciences; Senior Archival Technician at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto and on the General Archive of the Porto City Council. Author and collaborator in communications and publications in the areas of archiving and photography, Mr. Castro also guests as a Jury member in various photography programs and competitions. The Portuguese Photography Center aims to ensure the valorisation, conservation and legal protection of photographic heritage by supporting policy-making, archival technical treatment and promoting access to photographic information for the benefit of present and future generations as a source knowledge for cultural, social and economic development.

SMUDAJESCHECK GALERIE - Munich

Charlotte Smuda-Jescheck, Founder/Director

Smudajescheck was founded in 2009 by Charlotte Smuda-Jescheck. The gallery is located in a quarter of the Munich Maxvorstadt, which is still characterized by the historical mixture of craft, service, living and gastronomy. The gallery program focuses on contemporary, non-figurative positions. When selecting the artists, we judge both the conceptual approach and the quality of the workmanship of the works. Art should and can be aesthetic. We strive for continuous trusting cooperation with our artists. The gallery also offers a stage for a large number of other artists through projects, which include the Artnews series. Good art needs discourse and development.

METRO GALLERY - Santiago de Compostela

Javier Blanco, Founder & Director

Founded and managed by Javier Blanco, METRO was born in 2007 to promote contemporary art and energize cultural life, occupying a space of mediation between the artist's studio and the collector, between the creator and the consumer of culture. With a multidisciplinary program, it focuses on the promotion, exhibition, dissemination and sale of the work of current artists, paying special attention to emerging artists and carrying out a regular program with exhibitions of painting, sculpture or photography, meetings with artists or attendance at art fairs.

PAOLA ANSELMI CONTEMPORARY ART - Perth

Paola Anselmi, Curator and Arts Writer

Paola Anselmi is a Perth-based curator, arts writer and consultant. The City of Perth Arts & Cultural Development Coordinator from 2009-2014, Paola is a contributor to Australian arts publications such as Object, Artlink, Eyeline and Broadsheet and Scoop magazines. She has held curatorial and research roles at the Art Gallery of WA, Royal Perth Hospital Art Collection, Centre for Contemporary Art, Luigi Pecci, Prato, and undertaken numerous public and private collection development projects, as well having an established public art coordination practice, developing major projects locally and regionally throughout Western Australia.

SILVAN FAESSLER FINE ART - Zug/Switzerland

Silvan Faessler, Director

Silvan has been working in leading positions in the international art market since 1994, amongst others in the position of director of a renowned European art gallery for Classic Modern and Russian avant-garde, as well as specialist of Post War and Contemporary Art at Christie's International. He founded the Silvan Faessler Fine Art in Zug/Switzerland, in spring 2006. Silvan is a member of the board of the Swiss Art Trading Association since 2012 and holds a mandate as consultant to a Swiss auction house. He is also active in cultural foundations as conservator and exhibition curator, member of art foundation boards and art prize juror. Silvan published articles specialized in art of the 20th Century, and he is a co-author of the biographic encyclopedia of Swiss Art edited by the Swiss Institute for fine arts, Zurich.

CHIARA / BADINELLA - Milan

Chiara Badinella, Art Advisor & Appraiser

Chiara Badinella is an independent consultant for Gurr Johns, one of the largest, oldest, and most trusted independent advisory and appraisal firms in the world. Ms. Badinella holds a MA Distinction in Art History and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, with specialization in Contemporary Art, from the University of Genoa, a MA in Art Business from Sotheby's Institute, London and has completed academic courses in Emerging Art Markets and Marketing the Visual Arts. Before focusing on art advisory, Ms. Badinella co-founded and directed Brand New Gallery in Milan, listed in the best 500 galleries worldwide as per Modern Painters Magazine and as a gallerist, created and developed art management software for galleries, collectors and institutions. An accredited Member of the Appraisers Association of America and of the CRSA (Catalogue Raisonne Scholars Association), New York. Appraisals are compliant with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), the highest professional standards promulgated by The Appraisal Foundation. Chiara Badinella is an Appointed Expert and Appraiser for Modern and Contemporary Art for the Chamber of Commerce of Milan. Combining a deep expertise in the global art market and an established network of galleries, dealers, auctioneers, and collectors, Ms. Badinella assists individuals and corporations in collection development, management, and appraising and attends international art fairs, such as Art Basel, FIAC, Frieze, Armory, Art Brussels, Tefaf, and ADAA.

GALERIE BUGADA CARGNEL - Paris

Claudia Cargnel, Founder

Founded by Claudia CARGNEL and Frederic BUGADA in 2002, BUGADA & CARGNEL (formerly known as COSMIC GALERIE) occupies 500 sq. meters in a freehold industrial building, a former garage form the early 30s and represents French and international emerging or established artists.