CPW announced that Qiana Mestrich is the winner of the 2025 Saltzman Prize. The Saltzman Prize recognizes the extraordinary achievements of an emerging photographer whose recent work has garnered wider visibility and whose distinctive voice contributes fresh perspectives to the ongoing dialogue surrounding photography and visual culture. Qiana Mestrich will receive a $10,000 award, the 2025 CPW Vision Award for Emerging Photographer, and a solo exhibition of her work at CPW in 2026.
Qiana Mestrich is an interdisciplinary artist, photo historian, and writer based in the Hudson Valley. Her autobiographical artwork and research engages issues around Black and mixed-race identity, motherhood/mothering, and women’s corporate labor. In 2007, she founded the blog Dodge & Burn: Decolonizing Photography History, an arts initiative that advocates for photographers of color. Mestrich’s book based on this blog, Decolonization and Diversity in Contemporary Photography: The Dodge & Burn Interviews, was published by Routledge earlier this month.
“Receiving the Saltzman Prize, especially after over a decade dedicated to photography-based art, is a deeply moving honor,” Mestrich said. “To have my work recognized by such a distinguished jury is truly humbling. As a New York-based artist, CPW has become an invaluable pillar of support, fostering the growth of my personal work and various projects. I’m profoundly grateful to be woven into the enduring legacy of this remarkable art institution.”
The Saltzman Prize’s nine other shortlisted artists are: Rapheal Begay, Window Rock, Arizona; Samantha Box, Bronx, New York; Harlan Bozeman, Little Rock, Arkansas; Lucia Gorostegui, Madrid, Spain; Margot Kalach, Mexico City, Mexico; Dakota Mace, Madison, Wisconsin; Rene Matić, London, UK; Lindsay Perryman, Brooklyn, NY; and Donavon Smallwood, New York, New York.Lindsay Perryman, Brooklyn, New York; and Donavon Smallwood, New York, New York.
These shortlist candidates were nominated by a team composed of Marvin Heiferman, curator and writer; Candice Hopkins, Executive Director of Forge Project; Tyler Mitchell, photographer; Elena Navarro, Director of Espacio V; Sasha Wolf, Executive Director of the PhotoWork Foundation. From their ten nominations, the final selection was made by a jury that included Dawoud Bey, photographer; Lucy Sante, writer; and Stephen Shore, photographer.
As winner of the 2025 Saltzman Prize, Qiana Mestrich will receive the 2025 CPW Vision Award for Emerging Photographer, to be presented at the 2025 CPW Vision Awards in Kingston, NY, on May 10, 2025.
The Saltzman Prize was created in 2024 by CPW Trustee Lisa Saltzman, in collaboration with CPW, to honor emerging photographers and to pay tribute to her parents Ralph and Muriel Saltzman, passionate collectors, devoted arts patrons, and philanthropists. Keisha Scarville was the inaugural recipient, recognized for her powerful exploration of belonging and place.
Scarville’s exhibition Recess is currently on view at CPW through May 24, 2025.
“I established The Saltzman Prize to support and give opportunity to emerging artists,” said Lisa Saltzman. “The nominees are well deserving of this prize, they are really talented and the calibre of nominators and judges speaks to the merit of the prize. My partnership with CPW is fruitful and it is great that I can further CPW’s important mission. The impact of the prize is clear. My parents’ influence has led me to do what I do and I am forever grateful to them.”
“We are absolutely thrilled to honor Qiana Mestrich with this distinguished award, and we thank the jury for their wise selection. In her visual work, Qiana creates highly innovative collages that cleverly highlight neglected histories of women’s labor, racism, and mothering,” said Brian Wallis, executive director of CPW. “At the same time, we are deeply grateful to our esteemed trustee Lisa Saltzman for her vision and generosity in establishing the Saltzman Prize, which continues to shine a light on extraordinary emerging photographers. This award not only celebrates artistic excellence but also provides crucial support to voices that push the boundaries of photography and visual storytelling.”
About CPW
Founded in 1977 as the Center for Photography at Woodstock, CPW is a not-for-profit arts organization with a dual mission: to support artists working in photography and related media, and to engage audiences through creation, discovery, and learning. At the heart of CPW’s mission is programming that is community-based, artist-centered, and collaborative. To foster public conversation around critical issues in photography, CPW offers exhibitions, workshops, artists’ residencies, and access to its Digital Media Lab workspaces. In 2022, CPW relocated from Woodstock to Kingston, NY. Now open: CPW’s newly renovated headquarters – including a photography museum, and an educational and community center– in a 40,000-square-foot factory building at 25 Dederick Street.
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