MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work 2023

The MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work is a biennial competition that supports contemporary visual research on the themes of industry and work and gives voice to emerging photographers from around the world. The finalists of the seventh edition are Farah Al Qasimi (UAE), Hicham Gardaf (Morocco), Lebohang Kganye (South Africa), Maria Mavropoulou (Greece), Salvatore Vitale (Italy). Their projects focus on the radical transformations taking place in the world of work today: the coexistence of Western culture and Arab culture in an industrial urban centre in the United States; the survival of an ancient profession, the street vendor, in the frenzy of a big city like Tangier; the evocation between fantasy and reality of the life of lighthouse keepers in South Africa; the creative possibilities claimed by new Artificial Intelligence software; the exploitation - and imaginary revolt - of gig economy workers.

The works of the protagonists of the 2023 edition are flanked in the catalogue by the works of all the finalists of the six previous editions, forming a large, multiform exhibition that celebrates the MAST Foundation's fifteen years of commitment to the organisation of the Grant for young photographers. The result is a sort of world tour through images that allows us to discover realities and themes that are unknown or distant but surprisingly interconnected to our lives and work, and that gives us the chance - as art always does - to cast our gaze on a future that is approaching at great speed.

The images are introduced by the critical texts of five international curators and an introductory essay by Urs Stahel, curator of the MAST PhotoGallery.