Lisa Barnard
In her prizewinning project proposal, Lisa Barnard takes Thomas Nagel’s influential essay What Is It Like to Be a Bat? as her starting point to explore the question of how technology shapes human perception and affects our relationship to the environment. Drawing on a wide array of image-making processes, she presents her expansive artistic research into the topic of echolocation, which reveals unexpected connections between animal consciousness, driverless vehicle technologies, lithium mining, and nuclear test sites.
Isadora Romero
Isadora Romero uses three case studies in Ecuador for her prizewinning research into the cohabitation of humans and forests in the past, present, and future. She questions the colonial view of tropical rainforests, combining classical documentary photography, organic materials, and experimental development processes as an example of a thriving relationship between the environment and its inhabitants. Her collaborations with scientists and local communities create a nuanced narrative about the forest’s spiritual, political, and ecological dimensions.