Laura Huertas Millán and Sarker Protick: After Nature

This exhibition presents the works of Laura Huertas Millán (1983, Columbia) and Sarker Protick (1986, Bangladesh), the two winners of the first “After Nature: Ulrike Crespo Photography Prize 2024”, a new 80,000 euro prize that the Crespo Foundation in Frankfurt am Main awards together with C/O Berlin. The prize is awarded annually to two international artists who use photography and lens-based media to respond to the changing ecology of the present and explore new concepts of nature and art. It is dedicated to the photographer and philanthropist Ulrike Crespo.

Their joint exhibition Curanderxs (Laura Huertas Millán) and Awngar (Sarker Protick) was shown at C/O Berlin until January 2025 and opens at the Crespo Open Space, Frankfurt, on February 27th 2025 (until May 25th, 2025).

The exhibition is curated by Ben Livne Weitzman and Katharina Täschner.

In her multi-channel projections, Laura Huertas Millán examines the cultural, medicinal and ritual uses of the coca plant, long before the first production of cocaine in 19th-century Europe. She develops a speculative narrative based on the prohibition of the plant during the Spanish colonization of Latin America. The focus is on a group of femmes in the 17th century who secretly distributed coca leaves. In the absence of archival sources, the artist uses fiction to create a fragmentary narrative that sheds light on both the colonial exploitation of nature and the resistance to it.

Laura Huertas Millán is an artist and filmmaker with a PhD from Université PSL (SACRe) in Paris, developed at Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab. Her films have won awards at Locarno, FIDMarseille, and Doclisboa and screened at venues like Centre Pompidou, MAMM Medellín, and MASP São Paulo. She has also participated in biennials such as Liverpool, Sharjah, and FRONT International. She lives and works between Paris and Brussels.

Sarker Protick explores the profound human changes to the landscape of the Indian subcontinent. Looking at the historical territory of Bengal, which today extends across India and Bangladesh, he transfers the colonial history of the British Empire to the present through photographic investigation. He focuses on the expansion of railroad connections and coal mining in the 19th century. As he travels through Bangladesh and India, Protick uses precise and atmospheric visual language to create a photographic treasure trove that illuminates the global, geopolitical and historical dimensions of imperialism. 

Sarker Protick is a photographer, teacher, and curator. He studied at the South Asian Media Institute — Pathshala in Dhaka, where he now directs the international program. He is also co-curator of the Chobi Mela Festival, the longest-running photography festival in Asia. His works often address different notions of time and are rooted in Bangladesh and the historical region of Bengal. His work has been exhibited internationally and has received numerous grants and awards, including Foam Talent and the Magnum Foundation Fund. He lives and works in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

A dual catalogue was published by Hartmann Books in 2024.

Exhibition opening: February 27, 6pm
Tour led by artist Sarker Protick: February 28, 5pm, in English
Tour led by curatorial assistant Dalwin Kryeziu: March 15, 4pm, in German
Tour led by curator Ben Livne Weitzman: March 29, 4pm, in English
Tour led by artist Laura Huertas Millán: May 24, 4pm, in English

The 2024 Jury
Lewis Chaplin (co-founder, Loose Joints Publishing), Martin Guinard (curator, LUMA Arles), Hajra Haider Karrar (curator, SAVVY Contemporary), Iris Sikking (curator, Fotomuseum, Den Haag), Olga Smith (Newcastle University) as well as Christiane Riedel (Director, Crespo Foundation), Sophia Greiff (Co-Program Director, C/O Berlin) and Katharina Täschner (Junior Curator, C/O Berlin). The decision was unanimous and was based on the nominations of 15 international experts.

The 2025 winners
Lisa Barnard (1967, Great Britain) and Isadora Romero (1987, Ecuador) are the winners of the “After Nature. Ulrike Crespo Photography Prize 25.” The double exhibition will open at C/O Berlin on September 27, 2025, and will be on view at The Crespo Open Space in Frankfurt from February 2026.

The Crespo Foundation
Founded by psychologist, photographer, and philanthropist Ulrike Crespo (1950-2019), the foundation is based in the founder’s city of Frankfurt and runs, amongst other projects, an artists’ residency in Glenkeen Garden, Ireland. The Crespo Foundation has a twin focus on the social and cultural sectors.

Press
Sarah Greenberg, Evergreen Arts, T + 44 (0)7866543242 / sgreenberg@evergreen-arts.com
For images: ppanagopoulos@evergreen-arts.com