Congrats!

Sheila Pree Bright Wins Santa Fe Prize

April 12, 2006
By Daryl Lang

Sheila Pree Bright has been awarded the 2006 Santa Fe Prize for
Photography for her work documenting African-American life in the
suburbs.

The Santa Fe Center for Photography announced the award yesterday,
along with five finalists. Pree Bright, who lives in Atlanta, will
receive $5,000 and acceptance in Review Santa Fe portfolio review
conference.

Pree Bright's work was selected by juror Chris Pichler, publisher of
Nazraeli Press, who describes the pictures as "intelligent, thoughtful
and authentic."

"While they counter mainstream media representation of
African-American culture in the 21st century, these photographs are so
beautiful in their own right - masterfully composed, elegantly lit, saturated nearly
to the point of liquidity - that they are as interesting visually as they are conceptually,"
Pichler says in a juror statement.

Pree Bright says she set out to show a side of African-American life that is seldom seen in popular culture.

"In the media we always see the projected images of hip-hop; celebrities in the ghetto," she says. "I always thought the
African-American middle class was invisible."

Pree Bright graduated with an MFA in photography from Georgia State University in 2003. Her photos have been shown in group
and individual exhibitions and have been published in books, and she is participating in the upcoming Atlanta Celebrates
Photography festival. She says she plans to continue her current work and also focus on other ethic minorities in suburbia.

"I started with African-American culture first because that's what I know and that's what I am," she says.

The prize is designed to bring light to a new body of work. Nominations are made anonymously by curators, editors, publishers and
educators.

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Santa Fe Center for Photography
http://www.sfcp.org


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