In 2004, the Foundation established the Victor Fellowship with the aim of encouraging continuing professional and artistic development at an institution of higher education outside the Nordic countries. During 2004 - 2008 one winner per year was selected for the Victor Fellowship. Starting in 2009 there will be two Victor Fellowships per year - one for United Kingdom and one for New York.

The winner of the fellowship is selected on the basis of a competition, in which 8 -10 nominated finalists participate in an exhibition at the Hasselblad Center. Internationally renowned experts, appointed by the Hasselblad Foundation, select the winners, whose names are announced at the opening of the exhibition.

The winner amongst the graduates from undergraduate programs is offered funding for a Master's program in the United Kingdom, either at the London College of Communication or at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham.

The winner in the group of applicants with postgraduate degrees receives financing for a five-month artist-in-residency program at Location One in New York City.

The fellowship sum for England is SEK 230,000 (approx. GBP 19,000) and for New York, SEK 300,000 (approx USD 41,100). The fellowship for each winner shall cover or contribute to tuition fees, travel costs and living expenses.

 

Application for the Victor Fellowships

Application forms and instructions for applicants may be ordered from the Hasselblad Foundation or downloaded here.

Application form

Instructions for the application

Information about London College of Communication

Information about University for the Creative Arts at Farnham

Information about Location One

2010 Victor Fellowship - master´s level

Lovisa Ringborg, from Gothenburg, who received a Master of Fine Art at the School of Photography, Gothenburg University 2008, has been selected to receive the 2010 Victor Fellowship in the group of applicants with postgraduate degrees.

The judges, Anne Williams, Programme Director for Photography, London College of Communication and Anna Fox, Photographer and Professor in Photography, The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham motivated their choice as follows:

The Masters level prize we have decided to award to Lovisa Ringborg. Lovisa originally trained as a painter and this is reflected in her approach to photography. Her carefully composed and executed photographs embrace photography's natural relationship to theatre exploring fragile and ambivalent states of mind about which the viewer can only speculate. These extraordinarily beautiful images entrance and intrigue the viewer. Lovisa, who is already an accomplished artist, will undoubtedly find New York a stimulating environment in which to further develop her work.

2010 Victor Fellowship - bachelor´s level

Nelli Palomäki from Helsinki, Finland, who received a Bachelor of Arts in Photography at Arts Academy at turku Univeristy of Applied Sciencest, has been selected to receive the 2010 Victor Fellowship amongst the graduates from undergraduate programs.

The judges, Anne Williams, Programme Director for Photography, London College of Communication and Anna Fox, Photographer and Programme Director for Photography, The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham motivated their choice as follows:

The Bachelors level prize this year is awarded to Nelli Palomaki for her compelling black and white portraits. Nelli is clearly naturally curious about people and the world around her. Finding her subjects in the streets and persuading them to be photographed she has created a series of haunting images. Eyes stare disconcertingly out of the carefully composed frames as if they have been drawn together as witnesses to an event; they possess an uncanny relationship to time. These are truly beautiful photographs in every respect and are reminiscent of some of the great portrait photographers.

2009 Victor Fellowship - master´s level

Mattias Ericsson from Umeå, who received a Master of Fine Arts at Umeå University 2009, has been selected to receive the 2009 Victor Fellowship in the group of applicants with postgraduate degrees.

The judges, Anne Williams, Programme Director for Photography, London College of Communication and Anna Fox, Photographer and Programme Director for Photography, The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham motivated their choice as follows:

The Master’s level prize we have decided to award to Mattias Ericsson whose prolific work seeks to photograph the everyday in a manner that works through both his life and photography itself. The work represents an extraordinary dedication to practice and the installation is exquisite: the combination of archival presentation and video montage reflects the non-linear relationship that we all have to our past and present. This work is both beautifully shot and exceptionally clever. Through his use of the fractured narrative Ericsson draws the viewer/audience into his search for capturing and re-capturing and re-capturing life alongside a questioning of the relationship his photographic practice plays in this.

2009 Victor Fellowship - bachelor´s level

Mårten Lange from Göteborg, who received a Bachelor of Arts in Photography at the School of Photography at Göteborg University 2009, has been selected to receive the 2009 Victor Fellowship amongst the graduates from undergraduate programs.

The judges, Anne Williams, Programme Director for Photography, London College of Communication and Anna Fox, Photographer and Programme Director for Photography, The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham motivated their choice as follows:

The Bachelor's level prize this year is awarded to Mårten Lange for his stunning black white photographs of banal spaces transformed, by his visual ability, into illusory monuments combining notions of abstraction and fact that reduce the subjects to a minimal recording and so makes us re think our perspective on the everyday. The photographs are perfectly composed and beautifully produced for the exhibition. Lange clearly has an exceptional understanding of the medium of photography and the significance of the photograph as a minimalist object in itself. 

The 2008 Victor Fellowship recipient

Preben Holst from Norway, who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art in Norway 2007, has been selected to receive the 2008 Victor Fellowship for his exhibition Still life.

The judges, Anne Williams, Programme Director for Photography, London College of Communication and Anna Fox, Photographer and Programme Director for Photography, The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham motivated their choice as follows:

Preben's work is a remarkable depiction of childhood that emerges from personal memory yet enters into a territory that touches on our collective memory - or rather fantasy - of childhood. He works, as he says himself, somewhere between anxiety and tranquility. What is conveyed, so successfully, is a sense of the ambiguity of an almost Edenic world, aware of its own imminent demise. This body of work stands out because it is conceptually engaging as well as highly accomplished aesthetically, both in terms of its photographic quality and its skilful use of installation, bringing to life the fascinating multi layered narrative running through the work.

Preben Holst will now pursue one year of postgraduate academic studies in United Kingdom at either The London College of Communication, London or at The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham with the prize sum of SEK 200,000 to cover tuition fees, housing, etc.

The finalists were 9 nominated candidates. Their work was displayed, along with the work of last year's recipient Anna Linderstam, in the exhibit New Nordic Photography- Common Grounds at the Hasselblad Center from June 14 to August 24, 2008.

The 2007 Victor Fellowship Recipient

Anna Linderstam from Stockholm, who completed the degree Bachelor of Arts in photography at the School of Photography, University of Gothenburg, in 2005, has been selected to receive the 2007 Victor Fellowship for her exhibition Room 111.

The judges, Anne Williams, Programme Director for Photography, London College of Communication and Karen Knorr, Photographer and Senior Lecturer, The University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham gave the following citation for their choice:

Anna has produced a series of powerful portraits that challenge and unsettle the viewer, yet this is only one of a number of projects forming a sustained investigation of psychological portraiture. She has a research based work process that we can see has the clear potential to develop in a number of different directions.

Anna Linderstam will now pursue one year of postgraduate academic studies in the United Kingdom at either London College of Communication, London or at University College for the Creative Arts in Farnham with the prize sum of SEK 200,000 to cover tuition fees, housing, etc.

The finalists were 10 nominated candidates. Their work was displayed together with the work of last year's recipient Daniel Andersson, in the New Nordic Photography at the Hasselblad Center during summer 2007.

The 2006 Victor Fellowship Recipient

Daniel Andersson, who will graduate in June 2006 from the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, has been selected to receive the 2006 Victor Fellowship for his exhibition Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes.

The judges, Anne Williams, Programme Director for Photography, London College of Communication and Anna Fox, Programme Director for Photography, The University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham gave the following citation for their choice:

Daniel's work demonstrates a fascination with the widest possibilities of photography. It is an experimental and intriguing body of work that speaks loudly of his curiosity about the world, it is humorous and intelligent and proposes a way of looking at that world that is highly unexpected.

Daniel will now pursue one year of postgraduate academic studies in the United Kingdom at either London College of Communication, London or at University College for the Creative Arts in Farnham with the prize sum of SEK 200,000 to cover tuition fees, housing, etc.

The finalists were 10 nominated candidates. Their work was displayed together with the work of last year's recipient Hyun-Jin Kwak, in the exhibit New Nordic Photography at the Hasselblad Center during summer 2006.

The 2005 Victor Fellowship Recipient

Hyun-Jin Kwak, who will graduate in June 2005 from the University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, has been selected to receive the 2005 Victor Fellowship for her exhibition Girls in Uniform.

The judge, Mr. Timothy Persons, Director of Professional Studies at University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland gave the following citation for his choice:

"My choice of Hyun-Jin Kwak is based upon the totality of concepts, combined with technical excellence. I honour the courage it takes to face, challenge and learn from the visible and invisible uniforms we all wear, whatever society we live in."

Hyun-Jin Kwak will now pursue a one year individually tailored programme of studies at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland for the sum of SEK 150,000 to cover tuition fees, housing, etc.

The finalists were five nominated candidates, and their works were displayed, together with the work of six other Swedish photographers, in the exhibit New Swedish Photography at the Hasselblad Center during summer 2005.

The 2004 Victor Fellowship Recipient

Pernilla Zetterman, a 2002 graduate of the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm was selected as the first recipient of this new stipend "The Victor fellowship" for her exhibition Closeness and Power.

The judge Timothy Persons, Director of Professional Studies at University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland gave the following citation for his choice:

In my choice of Pernilla Zetterman I felt she best connected the concept to the reality of the presentation, creating the whole picture. Her work abstracts the idea from the notion of what we think we are looking at. With that insight, we can re-evaluate the perception of ourselves.

Pernilla Zetterman will now pursue a one-year tailor-made program at the School of Visual Culture, University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland, with the prize sum of SEK 150,000 to cover tuition fees, housing, etc.

The finalists, five nominated candidates, participated in an exhibition where their works were displayed alongside those of six other Swedish photographers: New Swedish Photography, at the Hasselblad Center during spring 2004.