Maroesjka Lavigne was awarded first prize in the category professional landscape photography in the Sony World Photography Awards. This photographer from Ghent made quite an impression with her series Land of Nothingness which captured Namibia's ever-changing nature.
Maroesjka Lavigne won an award at the Sony World Photography Awards for her series Land of Nothingness (Land van het niets), with which she transports her audience to desolate salt plains, desert dunes and the scorched earth in Namibia. “I wanted to show a place in the world where nature still reigns, where animals still have the upper hand over people. Land of Nothingness demonstrates he emptiness and tranquillity of this scarcely populated area”, explains Lavigne.
Lavigne’s work had already been on display at the Robert Mann Gallery in New York even before her recent award. The 27-year old photographer was previously invited to exhibit her series of photos and book called Ísland with which she won international acclaim. At the time Lavigne had only just graduated with a masters in photography from the Royal Academy for Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent. Meanwhile her work, which has also been exhibited in Japan and South Korea, has also been featured on several pages in some leading magazines including The New York Times Style Magazine and the talent edition of the FOAM Magazine.
Her award in the Sony World Photography Awards 2016 is another step in Lavigne’s career. This year organisers of the ninth edition of the competition received over 230,000 entries from 186 countries, making it one of the world's most respected and influential photography competitions. The Sony World Photography Awards is an initiative from the World Photography Organisation that aims to support independent photographers on an international level.
