The thirty photobooks shortlisted for the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards 2012 were announced in The PhotoBook Review 003, Aperture’s biannual publication dedicated to the consideration of the photobook.
In November 2011, Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation joined forces for The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, celebrating the book’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. This year, the Awards focused on two major categories: First PhotoBook and PhotoBook of the Year.
The initial selection was made by Phillip Block, Deputy Director of Programs and Director of Education at the International Center of Photography; Chris Boot, Executive Director of Aperture Foundation; Julien Frydman, Director of Paris Photo; Lesley A. Martin, Publisher at Aperture Foundation; and James Wellford, senior international photo editor at Newsweek magazine. The selected photobooks will be exhibited at Paris Photo at the Grand Palais and at Aperture Gallery in New York; and will tour to other venues, to be determined.
A final jury in Paris, including Els Barents, Director of the Huis Marseille Museum for Photography; Roxana Marcoci, Curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and Curator of the Paris Photo 2012 Platform; Edward Robinson, Associate Curator of Photography at Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Thomas Seelig, Curator of the Fotomuseum Winterthur, Timothy Prus, Curator of AMC Books, will select the winners for both prizes, which will be revealed at the opening of Paris Photo on November 15, 2012. The winner of First PhotoBook of the year will be awarded $10,000.
Paris Photo is a leading international fair dedicated to nineteenth century, modernist, and contemporary photography. Held for the first time at the Grand Palais in 2011, Paris Photo will gather 127 French and international galleries from twenty-two countries, in November 2012. To complete this panorama of worldwide photography, a selection of twenty-three publishers and international specialized dealers will have a dedicated space at the fair. The fair welcomes 50,000 enthusiasts and photography collectors from all over the world. Paris Photo will launch Paris Photo Los Angeles at the Picture Paramount Studios on April 24–28, 2013.
Aperture, a not-for-profit foundation, connects the photo community and its audiences with the most inspiring work, the sharpest ideas, and with each other—in print, in person, and online. Created in 1952 by photographers and writers as “common ground for the advancement of photography,” Aperture today is a multiplatform publisher and center for the photo community. From its base in New York, Aperture produces, publishes, and presents a program of photography projects, locally and internationally.
The ten shortlisted titles for the 2012 Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook of the Year are:
History Repeating
Photographer: Ori Gersht
Publisher: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Texts by Al Miner (assistant curator, Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Yoav Rinon (professor of Comparative Literature at Hebrew University, Jerusalem), interview with the artist by Ronni Baer (William and Ann Elfers Senior Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). Image Courtesy MFA, Boston
Retinal Shift
Photographer: Mikhael Subotzky
Publisher: Steidl
“For me, photography has become a way of attempting to make sense of the very strange world that I see around me. I don’t ever expect to achieve that understanding, but the fact that I am trying comforts me.” Mikhael Subotzky
Edited by Ivan Vladislavic, book design by Michael Aberman and Emmet Byrne, 300 pages, 250 colour plates, 19 cm x 26 cm, clothbound hardcover. Retinal Shift is the first printed retrospective of Mikhael Subotzky's work. Image Courtesy Steidl.
Mikhael Subotzky was born in 1981 in Cape Town and is currently based in Johannesburg. The photographer is a member of the Magnum agency. Recent and upcoming Mikhael Subotzky's exhibitions: Grahamstown National Arts Festival, 28 June - 8 July 2012; Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth, 25 July - 5 September 2012; Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg, 20 September to 11 November 2012; IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 28 November 2012 to 9 January 2013; Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, Bloemfontein, 27 February to 29 March 2013; Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg, 15 April to 23 April 2013 (Mikhael Subotzky was the winner of the 2012 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art) ; University of Potchefstroom Art Gallery, Potchefstroom, 27 June to 2 August 2013.
Rachael, MoniquePhotographer: Sophie Calle
Publisher: Xavier Barral
(based on a true story)
Photographer: David Alan Harvey
Publisher: Burn Books
City Diary
Photographer: Anders Peterson
Publisher: Steidl
Book of BooksPhotographer: Stephen ShorePublisher: Phaidon
A landmark two volume limited edition collection of work by one of the world's greatest photographers. Image Courtesy Phaidon
Two Thousand Light Years From Home
Photographer: Pietro Mattioli
Publisher: Kodoji Press
Table of Power 2
Photographer: Jacqueline Hassink
Publisher: Hatje Cantz
She
Photographer: Lise Sarfati
Publisher: Twin Palms
A Head with Wings
Photographer: Anouk Kruithof
Publisher: Little Brown Mushroom
The twenty shortlisted titles for the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation First PhotoBook are:
Uncle Charlie
Photographer: Marc Asnin
Publisher: Contrasto
Afronauts
Photographer: Cristina De Middel
Publisher: Cristina De Middel
Concresco
Photographer: David Galjaard
Text: Slavenka Drakulić and Jaap Scholten
Publisher: David Galjaard
Summer Weather
Photographer: Michael Jang
Publisher: Owl and Tiger
Watching
Photographer: N&D
Publisher: Random Number 11
Jeddah Diary
Photographer: Olivia Arthur
Publisher: Fishbar
Metsästä, From the Woods
Photographer: Anne Golaz
Publisher: Kehrer Verlag
Sans titre, M. Bertillon
Photographer: Stéphanie Solinas
Publisher: RVB Books
Cette Montagne, C’est Moi
Photographer: Witho Worms
Publisher: Fw:
The Wrong Side: Living on the Mexican Border
Photographer: Jérôme Sessini
Publisher: Contrasto
Hired Hand
Photographers: Stuart Bailes, Bea Fremderman, Ingo Mittelstaedt, Athena Torri
Publisher: Vandret PublicaMons
Celebrity
Photographer: Kenji Hirasawa
Publisher: Bemojake
Cruising
Photographer: Chad States
Publisher: powerHouse Books
C.E.N.S.U.R.A.
Photographer: Julián Barón
Publisher: Editorial RM
Singular Beauty
Photographer: Cara Phillips
Publisher: Fw:
Dive Dark, Dream Slow
Photographer: Melissa Catanese
Publisher: The Ice Plant
A Natural Order
Photographer: Lucas Foglia
Publisher: Nazraeli Press
Interrogations
Photographer: Donald Weber
Publisher: Schilt
7 Rooms
Photographer: Rafal Milach
Publisher: Kehrer Verlag, Treemedia
Ama
Photographer: Nina Poppe
Publisher: Kehrer Verlag
In addition to the prize and the exhibitions of shortlisted books, Paris Photo at the Grand Palais in Paris will also host the exhibition Livre ouvert, featuring prints of Bernd and Hilla Becher, presented alongside the works from the exhibition Bernd & Hilla Becher-Printed Materials, 1964-2012. As always, the fair will dedicate a space to publishers and specialist booksellers, and present newly listed titles, old and rare books, as well as limited editions. Numerous signing sessions with photographers are organized during the five-day event.
Publishers Attending Paris Photo 2012
AKAAKA Japan
APERTURE United States
ANTICUARIA POEMA 20 Argentina
BOOKSHOP M Japan
CHLOE ET DENIS OZANNE France
CONTRASTO Italy
DIRK K. BAKKER BOEKEN Netherlands
FILIGRANES France
FLORENCE LOEWY France
HARPER’S BOOKS United States
HATJE CANTZ Germany
IRVING ZUCKER ART BOOKS United States
KEHRER VERLAG Germany
LES EDITIONS DE L’ŒIL France
LIBRAIRIE 213 France
MACK United Kingdom
MICHAEL SEKSIK France
OLIVER J WOOD United Kingdom
ONLY PHOTOGRAPHY Germany
RM Mexico
STEIDL Germany
TISSATO NAKAHARA France
XAVIER BARRAL France
Paris Photo
Thursday, November 15 - Sunday, November 18, 2012
Grand Palais - Avenue Winston-Churchill - Paris
Website: www.parisphoto.com
Aperture Foudation Website: www.aperture.org
