photography award 2026
In On the Edge of Home, Sara Kontar explores the impact of exile on a sense of belonging, memory, and identity. A refugee in France, she has been traveling along the borders surrounding Syria since 2023, seeking to get as close as possible to a country she is now barred from entering. These border territories become the setting for a reflection on the border, viewed not only as a geopolitical boundary but also as an intimate experience that permanently shapes people’s lives. By photographing these landscapes situated on the threshold of her homeland, the artist seeks to evoke a sense of “quasi-presence”: being just a few kilometers away from a land that has become inaccessible, attempting to see it, approach it, or even touch it through the image, without ever being able to reach it. Through this gesture, On the Edge of Home explores what it means to belong to a place to which one cannot return and offers a sensitive reflection on borders, distance, and the invisible bonds that continue to unite a territory with those who are separated from it.
