Announcing the Winners of the 2018 PhotoBook Awards
Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation are pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 edition of the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, celebrating the photobook’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. “The choices we made reflect the chaotic and changing world in which we are living,” said final juror Hervé Digne. “I think both the shortlist selection and the final award winners offer a window on the world at large and on the world of photography and photographic books today.”
Winner of Photography Catalogue of the Year
The Land in Between
Ursula Schulz-Dornburg
Publisher: MACK, London
Ursula Schulz-Dornburg’s The Land in Between was selected for providing a strong platform for interviews, portfolios, and essays about an artist less well-known outside of her native country. The minimalist, elegant design and form are well matched to the content, emphasizing what Batia Suter describes as “the artist’s sharp vision.”
Winner of PhotoBook of the Year
Laia Abril
On Abortion
Publisher: Dewi Lewis Publishing, Stockport, UK
“In choosing Laia Abril’s On Abortion, the jury felt it was important to recognize a well-crafted statement on a topical and timely issue. The book offers a strong commentary on women’s reproductive choices, and uniquely visualizes the topic using archival imagery, contemporary photographs, and text.” —Azu Nwagbogu
Winner of First PhotoBook ($10,000 prize)
Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa
One Wall a Web
Publisher: Roma Publications, Amsterdam
“It’s a serious moment in history, and it felt urgent amongst the jury that we choose books that have gravity to them but also maybe a glimmer of hope, as in the selection of Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa’s One Wall a Web. This is a book that has complexity and embeds race in a larger narrative and a larger system—it demonstrates, if not a solution, at least a direction for further dialogue.” —Kevin Moore
Juror’s Special Mention
Pixy Liao
Experimental Relationship Vol. 1
Publisher: Jiazazhi Press, Ningbo, China
“In this current situation of post-#MeToo, and the ongoing debate around the binary opposition between the male and female gaze, Pixy Liao’s Experimental Relationship Vol. 1 is a very refreshing and blissful vision of intimacy, complicity, and collaboration between the sexes.” —Federica Chiocchetti
A final jury at Paris Photo selected this year’s winners. The jury included: Federica Chiocchetti, curator and founder of the Photocaptionist; Hervé Digne, president of Manifesto and the Odeon Circle; Kevin Moore, curator; Azu Nwagbogu, director of African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) and LagosPhoto Festival; and Batia Suter, artist.
This year’s shortlist selection was made by Lucy Gallun, associate curator in the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art; Kristen Lubben, executive director of the Magnum Foundation; Yasufumi Nakamori, PhD, incoming senior curator of international art (photography) at Tate Modern, London; Lesley A. Martin, creative director of Aperture Foundation and publisher of The PhotoBook Review; and Christoph Wiesner, artistic director of Paris Photo.
The shortlist was first announced at the New York Art Book Fair. The thirty-five selected photobooks are profiled in issue 015 of The PhotoBook Review, Aperture Foundation’s biannual publication dedicated to the consideration of the photobook. Copies will be available at Aperture Gallery and Bookstore. Subscribers to Aperture magazine receive free copies of The PhotoBook Review with their summer and winter issues.
