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Special Guest: LOBA Touring Exhibition
Special Guest: LOBA Touring Exhibition
May 7, 2026
Alejandro Cegarra: A migrant walks atop a parked freight train known as “The Beast”. On the outskirts of Piedras Negras, Mexico 2023, from the series The Two Walls © Alejandro Cegarra/LOBA 2025
The Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) is one of the most highly regarded international awards in the field of photography, with a history spanning 45 years. After last year’s successful cooperation, Leica Camera continues its partnership with the REM’s Zephyr – Space for Photography in Mannheim. The exhibition, which is displayed in the REM’s magnificent Atrium, features the two winning projects of the 2025 Leica Oskar Barnack Award, as well as selected excerpts from the shortlist. Comprising a total of around 50 works, the presentation highlights socially relevant themes in moving images, and offers insights into current developments in contemporary photography.
Alejandro Cegarra was chosen as the main winner of the 2025 edition. In his black-and-white series, The Two Walls, the Venezuelan photographer, who is now based in Mexico, addressed the inhumane conditions in the Mexican border region of the USA. The LOBA Newcomer Award went to Serghei Duve. In his deeply personal series, Bright Memory, the German photographer (b. 1999 in the Republic of Moldova) conveys his family’s close connection to their old homeland of Transnistria – a breakaway region whose independence has not been internationally recognised.
The exhibition also features selected images by Arlette Bashizi, Lynsey Addario, Xiangjie Peng and Gideon Mendel. Their shortlisted series document and reflect on some of the key challenges of our time – from the consequences of the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the fate of a young girl battling cancer in Ukraine, the growing freedom of the queer community in China, and the worldwide increase in devastating flood disasters as a result of the global climate crisis.
Katrin UllmannAlejandro Cegarra was chosen as the main winner of the 2025 edition. In his black-and-white series, The Two Walls, the Venezuelan photographer, who is now based in Mexico, addressed the inhumane conditions in the Mexican border region of the USA. The LOBA Newcomer Award went to Serghei Duve. In his deeply personal series, Bright Memory, the German photographer (b. 1999 in the Republic of Moldova) conveys his family’s close connection to their old homeland of Transnistria – a breakaway region whose independence has not been internationally recognised.
The exhibition also features selected images by Arlette Bashizi, Lynsey Addario, Xiangjie Peng and Gideon Mendel. Their shortlisted series document and reflect on some of the key challenges of our time – from the consequences of the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the fate of a young girl battling cancer in Ukraine, the growing freedom of the queer community in China, and the worldwide increase in devastating flood disasters as a result of the global climate crisis.
LOBA 2025+-
LFI Special Edition – Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2025 More
Alejandro Cegarra: A migrant walks atop a parked freight train known as “The Beast”. On the outskirts of Piedras Negras, Mexico 2023, from the series The Two Walls © Alejandro Cegarra/LOBA 2025
Serghei Duve: Shooting practice with an air rifle. Tiraspol, Transnistria, Republic of Moldova 2024, from the series Bright Memory © Serghei Duve/LOBA 2025