Quai Branly Museum Awards Photography Prize to Indian and Syrian Artists for Identity and Exile Projects
Paris, July 21 – The Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac has announced the recipients of its 2026 Photography Prize. Two artists, Abhishek Rajaram Khedekar from India and Sara Kontar from Syria, were honored for their deeply moving projects centered on themes of identity and exile. Additionally, a special mention was granted to Sudanese artist Ammar Yassir for his project, ‘I will never find home’.
Recognizing Extra-European Photographic Talent
Established in 2022, the Quai Branly Museum’s Photography Prize continues the institution’s long-standing commitment to contemporary photographic creation, particularly highlighting extra-European artists. This award has quickly become a significant event for documentary and experimental photography in the Île-de-France region, reaffirming the museum’s dedication to supporting diverse global artistic voices.
The 2026 Laureates: Abhishek Rajaram Khedekar and Sara Kontar
For the 2026 edition, the jury recognized Abhishek Rajaram Khedekar, an Indian photographer born in 1991 in Dapoli and based in New Delhi. Khedekar’s work is characterized by a hybrid approach, blending documentary photography with surrealist techniques such as collage. His projects aim to give voice to those on the fringes of society, often incorporating fictional elements, historical research, and archival images to challenge dominant narratives.
The second laureate is Sara Kontar, a Syrian artist and photographer born in 1996, who has been residing in France since 2016. Kontar’s multidisciplinary practice spans documentary and experimental photography, installation, video, and cinema. Through her art, she explores the intimate and collective dimensions of exile, migration, and memory, drawing from her personal journey as a refugee.
Projects Rooted in Narratives of Territory and Identity
Abhishek Rajaram Khedekar’s winning project, titled DAPOLI, Lost and Found, marks a return to his homeland. The photographer delves into the lives of a generation of young people from fishing families in Dapoli, on India’s west coast. His work documents the profound transformations of a region where the sea, once central to livelihoods and family heritage, no longer guarantees a future. Caught between rootedness and departure, collective memory and individual uncertainty, these young generations navigate changing landscapes and evolving identities.
Sara Kontar’s project, On the Edge of Home, began in 2023 and involved her traveling along the borders surrounding Syria. As a refugee in France, she seeks to draw as close as possible to a country she is now forbidden to enter. These border territories become a profound space for reflection on the concept of a border, viewed not only as a geopolitical limit but also as an intimate experience that profoundly shapes lives and the sense of belonging.
Both projects strongly align with the prize’s editorial vision: to highlight photographic practices that question marginalization, displacement, and social transformations across the globe. By honoring artists with unique trajectories and diverse aesthetics, the Musée du quai Branly reaffirms its mission to support engaged and pluralistic international photographic creation.
Further Information
The Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac is located at 222 Rue de l’Université, 75007 Paris. For more details on the prize and upcoming exhibitions, visit the museum’s official website.
Source: Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac
