LOBA 2019 – The Shortlist

The finalists for the Leica Oscar Barnack Award 2019 have been announced!

2,300 entries from 99 countries: as always, this year’s LOBA jury – headed by Karin Rehn-Kaufmann – must have been faced with some difficult decisions. Now, however, the finalists for the Leica Oscar Barnack Award have been announced. We present a brief overview of the selected series:

Mustafah Abdulaziz: Water
The American photographer explores the role of water for humanity, and our relationship with this vital natural resource

Francesco Anselmi: Borderlands
Anselmi portrays those living on the American side of the US-Mexico border wall

Enayat Asadi: Rising from the Ashes of War
A series highlighting the situation of Afghan and Pakistani refugees along the eastern Iranian border

Snezhana von Büdingen: Meeting Sofie
A poetic portrayal of the everyday life of Sofie, a teenager with Down syndrome

Mustafa Hassona: Palestinian Rights of Return Protests
Hassona, who lives in the Gaza Strip, documents the Palestinian protests on the Israeli border

Nanna Heitmann: Hiding from Baba Yaga
In sensitive images, Heitmann captures loners, dropouts and dreamers along one of the world’s longest streams

Rafael Heygster: I Died 22 Times
What constitutes the start of a war? Heygster searches for answers on the ‘playing fields’ that turn warfare into a leisure activity

Tomas van Houtryve: Lines and Lineage
Van Houtryve draws attention to a blind spot in American history: what we know as the American West was under Mexican rule until 1848

Tadas Kazakevicius: Soon to Be Gone
The photographer, who was born in Vilnius, casts a nostalgic eye over his home country of Lithuania

Michal Solarski: Rest Behind the Curtain
Dilapidated sanatoriums and holiday resorts from the Soviet era serve as the backdrops for Solarski’s offbeat scenes

Sebastian Wells: Utopia
Wells visited 24 refugee camps to explore both their symbolic meaning, and the reality of their inhabitant’s lives

Johan Willner & Peo Olsson: Heap
A long-term project dedicated to landscapes and their ever-changing forms, both overt and obscure

On 25 September, the winners and finalists will be honoured in a grand ceremony. All shortlisted and winning works will subsequently be presented at the New School for Photography in Berlin until 25 October 2019.

For further details visit the LOBA website at Leica Oscar Barnack Award.