Announcing the 2020 PhotoBook Awards Shortlist
Photograph by Daniel Salemi
The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards welcome a new partner in DELPIRE & CO, who has joined forces with Paris Photo and Aperture to ensure the continuity of the awards in this most unusual of years. While the international photography community will not be able to gather in celebration at the Grand Palais this year, Paris Photo and Aperture are delighted to confirm that the prize continues. The exhibition of the shortlisted books will be hosted in Paris by DELPIRE & CO from November 5–28. The final jury will take place as planned, and the winner will be announced on Friday, November 13—including the announcement of the recipient of the $10,000 cash prize in the First PhotoBook category. The shortlisted books for 2020 will also be featured in Issue 018 of The PhotoBook Review, co-published with DELPIRE & CO. Additional selections from this special issue of The PhotoBook Review, guest edited by Dr. Deborah Willis, will be presented alongside the exhibition of shortlisted books in Paris.
The 2020 shortlist jury took place over the course of three days at Mana Contemporary in New Jersey, and involved the review of more than seven hundred submissions. Our thanks to the shortlist jurors, including Joshua Chuang (New York Public Library), Lesley A. Martin (Aperture Foundation), Sarah Hermanson Meister (MoMA), Susan Meiselas (photographer, Magnum Foundation), and Oluremi C. Onabanjo (independent curator and historian).
“Despite the fact that the usual rhythms of book perusal and discovery have been disrupted, it’s clear that the photobook community has continued to find ways to connect, and more importantly, to keep creating,” states the jury chair, Lesley Martin. Juror Oluremi Onabanjo asserts, “In 2020, the book and catalogue in contemporary photographic practice continues to evolve and unfurl in many different directions, while offering more audiences the opportunity to get involved and fall in love with books.”
The Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards were founded in 2012 to celebrate the photobook’s contributions to the evolving narrative of photography and comprise three major categories: First PhotoBook, PhotoBook of the Year, and Photography Catalogue of the Year. Below are the 35 books selected for the 2020 PhotoBook Awards Shortlist.
First PhotoBook
Stephen Berkman, Predicting the Past—Zohar Studios: The Lost Years, Hat & Beard Press, Los Angeles
Judith Black, Pleasant Street, STANLEY/BARKER, Shrewsbury, United Kingdom
Soumya Sankar Bose, Where the Birds Never Sing, Red Turtle Photobook (self-published), Kolkata, India
Maryna Brodovska, My Dear Vira, Self-published, Kyiv, Ukraine
June Canedo de Souza, Mara Kuya, Small Editions (self-published), Brooklyn
Ronghui Chen, Freezing Land, Jiazazhi Press, Ningbo, China
Ryan Debolski, LIKE, Gnomic Book, Brooklyn
Caroline & Cyril Desroche, Los Angeles Standards, Poursuite, Arles, France
Buck Ellison, Living Trust, Loose Joints Publishing, Marseille, France
Charlie Engman, MOM, Edition Patrick Frey, Zürich
Zahara Gómez Lucini, Recetario para la memoria, Self-published, Mexico City
Jessica Ingram, Road through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill
Janna Ireland, Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View, Angel City Press, Santa Monica, California
Francesca Leonardi, ’O Post Mio, Postcart Edizioni, Rome
Yael Martínez, La casa que sangra, KWY Ediciones, Lima, Peru
Sara Perovic, My Father’s Legs, J&L Books, New York
Fabio Ponzio, East of Nowhere, Thames & Hudson, London
Agnieszka Sejud, HOAX, Self-published, Wrocław, Poland
Diana Tamane, Flower Smuggler, Art Paper Editions, Ghent, Belgium
Efrem Zelony-Mindell, n e w f l e s h, Gnomic Book, Brooklyn
Stephen Berkman
Predicting the Past—Zohar Studios: The Lost Years
Hat & Beard Press, Los Angeles
Judith Black
Pleasant Street
STANLEY/BARKER, Shrewsbury, United Kingdom
Soumya Sankar Bose
Where the Birds Never Sing
Red Turtle Photobook (self-published), Kolkata, India
Maryna Brodovska
My Dear Vira
Self-published, Kyiv, Ukraine
June Canedo de Souza
Mara Kuya
Small Editions (self-published), Brooklyn
Ronghui Chen
Freezing Land
Jiazazhi Press, Ningbo, China
Ryan Debolski
LIKE
Gnomic Book, Brooklyn
Caroline & Cyril Desroche
Los Angeles Standards
Poursuite, Arles, France
Buck Ellison
Living Trust
Loose Joints Publishing, Marseille, France
Charlie Engman
MOM
Edition Patrick Frey, Zürich
Zahara Gómez Lucini
Recetario para la memoria
Self-published, Mexico City
Jessica Ingram
Road through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial
University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill
Janna Ireland
Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View
Angel City Press, Santa Monica, California
Francesca Leonardi
’O Post Mio
Postcart Edizioni, Rome
Yael Martínez
La casa que sangra
KWY Ediciones, Lima, Peru
Sara Perovic
My Father’s Legs
J&L Books, New York
Fabio Ponzio
East of Nowhere
Thames & Hudson, London
Agnieszka Sejud
HOAX
Self-published, Wrocław, Poland
Diana Tamane
Flower Smuggler
Art Paper Editions, Ghent, Belgium
n e w f l e s h
Gnomic Book, Brooklyn
Photography Catalogue of the Year
Anne Turyn: Top Stories, Elena Cheprakova and Kirsten Weiss, eds., Weiss Berlin, Berlin
African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other, Steven Evans, Max Fields, and Mark Sealy, eds., Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam, and FotoFest, Houston
Bill Brandt | Henry Moore, Martina Droth and Paul Messier, eds., Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut
Hommage à Moï Ver, The Ghetto Lane in Wilna (Schaubücher 27): 65 Pictures by M. Vorobeichic, Sigutė Chlebinskaitė, Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, and Nissan N. Perez, eds., Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Vilnius
Imagining Everyday Life: Engagements with Vernacular Photography, Tina M. Campt, Marianne Hirsch, Gil Hochberg, and Brian Wallis, eds., Walther Collection, New York, and Steidl, Göttingen, Germany
Anne Turyn: Top Stories
Elena Cheprakova and Kirsten Weiss, eds.
Weiss Berlin, Berlin
African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other
Steven Evans, Max Fields, and Mark Sealy, eds.
Schilt Publishing, Amsterdam, and FotoFest, Houston
Bill Brandt | Henry Moore
Martina Droth and Paul Messier, eds.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut
Hommage à Moï Ver, The Ghetto Lane in Wilna (Schaubücher 27): 65 Pictures by M. Vorobeichic
Sigutė Chlebinskaitė, Mindaugas Kvietkauskas, and Nissan N. Perez, eds.
Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, Vilnius
Imagining Everyday Life: Engagements with Vernacular Photography
Tina M. Campt, Marianne Hirsch, Gil Hochberg, and Brian Wallis, eds.
Walther Collection, New York, and Steidl, Göttingen, Germany
PhotoBook of the Year
Carolyn Drake, Knit Club, TBW Books, Oakland, California
Samuel Fosso, Autoportrait, Walther Collection, New York, and Steidl, Göttingen, Germany
Takashi Homma, Symphony—Mushrooms from the Forest, Case Publishing, Tokyo
Thomas Kuijpers, Hoarder Order, Fw:Books, Amsterdam
Adam Lach and Dyba Lach, How to Rejuvenate an Eagle, Self-published, Warsaw
Edgar Martins, What Photography & Incarceration Have in Common with an Empty Vase, The Moth House, Bedford, United Kingdom
Orbita, Glass Strenči, Orbita and The Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, Latvia
Gloria Oyarzabal, Woman Go No’Gree, Editorial RM, Barcelona, and Images Vevey, Switzerland
Luis Carlos Tovar, Jardín de mi Padre, Editorial RM, Barcelona, and Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Cemre Yeşil Gönenli, Hayal & Hakikat: A Handbook of Forgiveness & A Handbook of Punishment, GOST Books, London, and FiLBooks, Istanbul
Carolyn Drake
Knit Club
TBW Books, Oakland, California
Samuel Fosso
Autoportrait
Walther Collection, New York, and Steidl, Göttingen, Germany
Takashi Homma
Symphony—Mushrooms from the Forest
Case Publishing, Tokyo
Thomas Kuijpers
Hoarder Order
Fw:Books, Amsterdam
Adam Lach and Dyba Lach
How to Rejuvenate an Eagle
Self-published, Warsaw
Edgar Martins
What Photography & Incarceration Have in Common with an Empty Vase
The Moth House, Bedford, United Kingdom
Orbita
Glass Strenči
Orbita and The Latvian Museum of Photography, Riga, Latvia
Gloria Oyarzabal
Woman Go No’Gree
Editorial RM, Barcelona, and Images Vevey, Switzerland
Luis Carlos Tovar
Jardín de mi Padre
Editorial RM, Barcelona, and Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Cemre Yeşil Gönenli
Hayal & Hakikat: A Handbook of Forgiveness & A Handbook of Punishment
GOST Books, London, and FiLBooks, Istanbul
All photographs by Daniel Salemi.
Note: Given the jurors’ extensive engagement in the scholarship and production of photography books, the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards maintain a strict policy of recusal, in which the juror in question must remove themselves from the discussion of books in which they were directly involved; those books must be unanimously voted in by the remaining jurors.
