It Is My Party, Too.

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Philip Ringler and James Saxon, United States
• Studio
  Relaxing Realism

"It Is My Party, Too" is a photographic series that reflects on the emotional and cultural complexities of the American birthday ritual. Featuring 44 formal portraits of James Saxon posed with symbolic industrial “cakes,” the project explores themes of social obligation, performance, and personal identity. Drawing from James’ January 1st birthday and continuing a 2011 series, the work invites viewers to reconsider the meaning of celebration, the weight of tradition, and the quiet resistance found in ritual repetition.