Svava Tergesen (BFA 2020) and Jeff Downer (BFA 2018) are among two dozen Canadian artists recently named to the 2021 New Generation Photo Award longlist.

Though Svava and Jeff maintain very distinct practices, both encourage unusual encounters between the viewer and the everyday.

Combining elements of sculpture, collage and cooking, Svava’s interdisciplinary work “reimagines experiences of domesticity, gender and health,” according to a recent artist statement. In their series Crudités, Svava aims to “locate the point at which one thing becomes another entirely, interrogating the ways in which identity and truth are constructed.”

Jeff works in media including photography, printed matter and artist publications. His practice explores the “potency in the ordinary, creating images that portray the surreal in everyday life,” according to his bio. He cites “humour, melancholy and discrepancies” as thematic through-lines in his investigations of the ordinary.

The New Generation Photography Award supports early-career Canadians who work in lens-based art. Open to artists under 35 years of age, the award was established in 2017 by Scotiabank and the National Gallery of Canada.

Three winners, chosen from the longlist, will be announced on March 23, 2021. Each will receive a $10,000 cash prize. They will also be eligible to take part in a pair of 2021 exhibitions in Ontario: at the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto, and at the National Gallery in Ottawa, in the Fall.

Award recipients also receive mentorship under the National Gallery’s curatorial team, and have their work included in artist talks, gallery tours and educational programming. Winners will be selected by a jury. This year’s jury includes artist Noah Friebel (BFA 2018), a 2020 New Generation Award winner and ECU alum. Among members of the longlist nominating committee is artist Arni Haraldsson, associate professor at ECU.

“As with previous years, the New Generation Photography Award confirms the immense talent of an up-and-coming generation of artists in Canada,” says Andrea Kunard, chair of the jury and associate curator, photographs at the National Gallery of Canada. “The nominees impress with the high quality of their work and deep appreciation of the photographic medium. Subject matter and approach are diverse and lively, ranging from expressions of personal journeys to thoughtful explorations of pressing social issues.”

Congratulations to Svava, Jeff, and all the artists on this year’s longlist.