Recognizing the work the photographers, who have already spent years building.
Photographers Rudi Waisnawa and Irene Barlian were recently named the inaugural recipients of the FOTO Bali Award, an annual award presented by Nuanu Social Fund (NSF) and initiated by FOTO Bali Festival—which is then, in turn, the international photography festival launched by Nuanu Creative City.
The two winners were chosen from nearly 100 applications, with each of them receiving IDR 22 million to support their practice, with no new project, proposal or deliverable attached.
“This year’s festival asked what remains after an image is made. For photographers like Rudi and Irene, what remains is years of work that is rarely paid for and too easily overlooked. We designed the award to recognise that labour on its own terms, without asking artists to turn themselves into project managers to earn it,” said Kelsang Dolma, Founding Director of the FOTO Bali Award and FOTO Bali Festival.
For Ida Ayu Astari Prada, Head of Nuanu Social Fund, meanwhile, “Nuanu Social Fund was built around humanity and nature, and these two works sit right at that intersection: one on how we care for the most vulnerable people in our communities, the other on what is happening to the land and sea we all depend on. Photographers who stay with these issues for years are doing social work. Backing them is central to why the fund exists, and it will remain so.”
Hope and Freedom
Category: A Work Rooted in and Dedicated to Bali
Rudi Waisnawa is a Balinese photographer who has spent twelve years working alongside people living with mental health conditions.
Since 2014, Rudi Waisnawa (I Kadek Rodi Artawan) has photographed people living with mental health conditions in Bali.
He uses the camera as a tool for advocacy against a stigma that keeps many of them out of sight. The project has since become a photobook, made with Nicky Hogan.
“I hope this recognition brings greater visibility and understanding to people living with mental health conditions, whose stories deserve to be heard with dignity,” said Rudi Waisnawa.
Land of the Sea
Category: Works that Highlight Indonesian Realities Outside Bali
Meanwhile, Irene Barlian is a documentarian recording how climate change is already reshaping Indonesian communities.
Irene Barlian began Land of the Sea in 2020. Supported by the National Geographic Society, the ongoing documentary project captures the lives of communities across Indonesia experiencing the direct impacts of the climate crisis, going beyond the numbers and projections that often dominate discussions around climate change.
The work was shortlisted for the 2022 Leica Oskar Barnack Award and has been exhibited at Objectifs, Singapore.
“Land of the Sea is a story about the impact of climate change in Indonesia, told through the perspective of the communities that reside along the region. It feels surreal, yet deeply honoring, to have received this award. Winning this award drives me to keep going, to keep telling the stories I care about most,” said Irene Barlian.
The award has two categories of equal weight, with recipients selected by Ng Swan Ti, Managing Director of PannaFoto Institute; Dr. Wiyu Wahono, Indonesian contemporary art collector; and I Made Bayu Pramana, photographer and academic at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) Bali.
The judging criteria were artistic strength, visual approach, conceptual depth and narrative coherence.
FOTO Bali Festival was founded in 2025 and has quickly become a meeting point for Indonesian and international photography.
Its second edition in 2026, AFTERIMAGE, drew nearly 700 submissions from more than 80 countries, showed 38 practitioners from 24 countries, and welcomed almost 25,000 visitors.
