Wetzlar, 3 September 2019. The winner of this year’s Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) is Mustafah Abdulaziz. The ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer’ has been awarded to Nanna Heitmann. The complete portfolios from the categories ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award’ and ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer’ can now be viewed at www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com.

Around 2,300 photographers from a total of 99 different countries submitted entries to the LOBA competition in 2019. A brief overview of the twelve finalists can be found here on PiB.

The winner and finalist series of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2019 will be on display at the New School for Photography Berlin (Neue Schule für Fotografie Berlin) from 26 September to 25 October 2019. Supported by ILFORD Imaging Europe and HALBE-Rahmen.

Winner 2019: Mustafah Abdulaziz

Mustafah Abdulaziz’s approach to his monumental series is his way of processing his understanding of water as a universal theme. For over eight years now he has been travelling the world, searching for metaphorical or striking images that capture the significance that water can have. When considering the work involved in the series, Abdulaziz offers a glimpse into his particular way of thinking and how the project came about.

“‘Water’ is a long-term photographic project about how human beings interact with the natural world and what this means for our civilization and our future. In this sense, it is my first endeavour of such magnitude. My visual approach to the work on ‘Water’ could be distilled down to naturalism and simplicity in perspective and scale. I’m incredibly wary of unnecessary complexity and try to limit the tools I use in order to come up with creative, and what I believe to be honest, methods for observing a topic that spans every aspect of human experience.”

“This project is my way
of exploring the world.”

Read more about his series “Water” on www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com.

Winner Award Newcomer 2019: Nanna Heitmann

Kingdom of Myths: The Yenisei River is one of the longest rivers in the world, and it was the guiding line that Nanna Heitmann followed through Siberia. She speaks about the ideas that lie behind her “Hiding from Baba Yaga” series.

“My mother comes from Russia; but Russia, apart from Moscow, was just a large, blank space on the map. So, I decided to do a semester abroad in Tomsk, Siberia. The way I imagined Russia was defined by Soviet children’s films and Slavic fairy tales; and they also inspired my story, “Hiding from Baba Yaga”. Baba Yaga is an important figure in Slavic folklore. She is an unpredictable and dangerous witch who lives in a little hut in the middle of the forest. For my project, I borrowed a Russian Jeep, packed it with camping equipment, and drove towards the Tuva Republic in the south of Siberia. I had some inspired images in mind and places I wanted to see along the way. I received support from the mother of a friend, who was working there as a geologist, and who helped me connect with people and find locations. Visually speaking, Russian painters were a great source of inspiration: Ivan Bilibin, an illustrator of Russian fairy tales; and Mikhail Nesterov, whose symbolic pictures at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow used to amaze me as a child.”

“I viewed my journey as a documentation of life along the river, and about the mythology of the region.”

Read more about her series “Hiding from Baba Yaga” on www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com.

The jury members of this year’s LOBA were:

Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director & Chief Representative Leica Galleries International (Austria)

Enrico Stefanelli, Director of the Photolux Festival (Italy)

Milena Carstens, Director of Photography at ZEITmagazin (Germany)

Max Pinckers, Photographer & winner of the LOBA 2018 (Belgium)

Steve McCurry, Photographer & founder of ImagineAsia (USA)

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The winners and finalists of the LOBA will be honoured in the course of a formal ceremony in Berlin on 25 September. The portfolios of all twelve finalists will then be on view from 26 September to 25 October 2019 at a major exhibition in the ‘Neue Schule für Fotografie’, Brunnenstrasse 188-190, 10119 Berlin. Supported by ILFORD Imaging Europe and HALBE-Rahmen.

The LOBA Catalogue 2019, presenting the winners and finalists in detail with comprehensive portfolios and interview, will be published to accompany the exhibition.

With prizes amounting to a total cash value of around 80,000 euros, the LOBA is one of the segment’s most prestigious photographic competitions. The winner in the main category will be honoured with a cash prize of 25,000 euros and Leica M-System equipment (a camera and lens) valued at an additional 10,000 euros. The winner of the Newcomer Award will be honoured with a cash prize of 10,000 euros and will also be presented with a Leica rangefinder camera and lens. In addition to the two main categories, ten further submissions to the competition will each be honoured with prizes of 2,500 euros.

Exhibition: Sep 26 — Oct 25, 2019

Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) 2019
@ Neue Schule für Fotografie Berlin

Brunnenstr. 188-190, 10119 Berlin
[District: Mitte | Borough: Mitte]

Opening hours: Mon – Sun 2 – 8 pm

Admission free