Don Tyson Prize
2026 Don Tyson Prize Winner Tyler Mitchell
Tyler Mitchell (b. 1995, Atlanta) is an artist, photographer, and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. In 2017, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Television from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. He constructs images that offer new narratives about beauty and desire. His practice explores the intersection of historical themes and fictionalized future possibilities. Mitchell's aesthetic is defined by a portrayal of Black life that foregrounds tenderness, camaraderie, and self-determination, frequently drawing inspiration from the pastoral landscapes and domestic scenes of his suburban Georgia youth. In 2018, he made history as the first Black photographer to shoot the cover of American Vogue, for Beyoncé’s appearance in the September issue.
Mitchell’s work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Brooklyn Museum; Cleveland Museum of Art; Columbus Museum of Art at the Pizzuti; Detroit Institute of the Arts; Foam, Amsterdam; Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, New York; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the world: The New Black Vanguard (Aperture Gallery, New York); I Can Make You Feel Good (Foam, Amsterdam and International Center of Photography, New York); Social Works II and Chrysalis (Gagosian, London); Ghost Images (Gagosian, New York); and Domestic Imaginaries (Museum of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia). In 2024, Mitchell presented solo exhibitions at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the North Carolina Museum of Art, Winston-Salem. Wish This Was Real, Mitchell’s first exhibition in Germany, was presented at C/O Berlin in 2024 and traveled to four European institutions, with its final stop at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, in 2025–26. Mitchell’s photography has been published widely in magazines, including Aperture, Dazed, i-D, Interview, M Le Monde, Vanity Fair, American and British Vogue, W, WSJ, and Zeit Magazin.
He has collaborated commercially with brands such as Gucci, Loewe, Ferragamo, Moncler, JW Anderson, and Marc Jacobs. He has published two monographs of his work: I Can Make You Feel Good (Prestel, 2020) and Wish This Was Real (Aperture, 2025). His honors include the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator at the 2024 British Fashion Awards and the Center for Photography at Woodstock’s Photographer of the Year Award (2025).
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About the Don Tyson Prize
“My father, for whom the prize is named, was a believer in education, American history, and the American spirit,” said John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods. “This type of accolade for the work being done to advance American art would have been very meaningful to him.”
Founded as a biennial $200,000 award in 2016, Mitchell is the first recipient of what will now be an annual award in the amount of $250,000. The Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art celebrates meaningful contributions to the field of American art. Awarded to individuals and institutions working in any medium, its recipients are innovators who are changing the way the public looks at, thinks about, or experiences American art.
The Tyson family established the biennial award in 2016 in honor of the late Don Tyson, former chairman and CEO of Tyson Foods. Recipients of this prize are creating risk-taking work that raises awareness, challenges preconceived notions and removes barriers. The prize is an important expression of Crystal Bridges’ continued commitment to increasing access to art for all and broadening the public’s understanding of what American art can be.
Past winners include Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit-Unangax̂) (2024), Deborah Willis (2022), Project Row Houses (2020), vanessa german (2018), and the Archives of American Art (2016).