THE Arles meetingsan international photography festival, organize each year the Book pricea prestigious competition that rewards excellence in photographic editing. For this 2024 edition, 122 works were pre-selected among the 700 received; here are the books that were distinguished by the Author’s Book Prizethe Historical Book Prizeand the Photo-text book price.
Winner of the Author’s Book Prize: The Last Safe Abortion by Carmen Winant (SPBH Editions)
The Author’s Book Prize was awarded to the book The Last Safe Abortion of Carmen Winant. A wide book with a spiral binding: an originality that in no way overshadows the theme of the project. Carmen Winant relied on a dozen personal and institutional archives many American regions to constitute a job quasi-historically.
It was necessary to trace the fifty years during which abortion was still legal in the United Statesfrom 1973 to 2022, and report on the daily lives of all those involved. A photography vernacular highlighted through an outstanding editorial projectwhich allows us to see the importance of care work through all seemingly banal actions: answering the phone for appointments, sterilizing equipment, organizing community events, etc.
Special mention also to the book On The Geography of Green of Linarejos Morenopublished in 2023 by Editorial RM, exploring the landscape of abandoned drive-ins from Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana in the United States, through a decolonized and gender-sensitive perspective. Designed by Hermanos Berenguer and Linarejos Moreno, the book includes studies of other specific contexts, offering critical reflection on landscape identity and knowledge production.
Winner of the Photo-Text Book Prize: You don’t die by Marie Sumalla and Ghazal Golshiri (GwinZegal and Tipping Expected editions)
The book, published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition presented during Visa pour l’image 2023, You don’t dieconstitutes a powerful photographic and political gesturein tribute to Mahsa Jina Amini. This year he was awarded the Photo-text book pricethus paying a vibrant tribute to this young woman who died in a hospital in Tehran, three days after her arrest and the violence suffered by the police.
Through the photographs and texts of journalists Marie Summalla and Ghazal Golshiri, the book retraces the weeks which followed this tragedy, marked by protests of the Iranian people. He took to the streets, chanting what has become an international and historic slogan: “Woman, Life, Liberty”.
Special mention was made to the book State of Emergencya self-published project by the photographer Max Pinckerswith texts by Hans Theys, Rose Miyonga, Julius Kimari, Wangui Kimari and Suhayl Omar. Published in Brussels in 2024, the book is designed by Rudy Latoir. It is a documentary project produced in collaboration with “veterans of the Mau Mau war and Kenyans who survived colonial atrocities”.
Winner of the Historical Book Prize: ’89 Tiananmen the Kan Tai Wong (Zen Photo Gallery)
A great book with full page black and white photographs…35 years after the Chinese government’s violent repression against Tiananmen Square studentsthe photographer Kan Tai Wong returned to his archives to constitute an essential book. The power of his photography lies both in its strength aestheticand in his character documentary absolutely uniquewhich earned the book ’89 Tiananmen the Historical Book Prize.
More than a hundred photographs allow us to report on a major event in the history of China, still willingly invisibilized by the current government. Notably, the book is not not available for sale in ChinaHong Kong or Macau. This is an essential work, produced by a photographer deeply involved and concerned by its subject.
The jury also awarded a special mention to the book The memories of othersa work by photographer Akihiko Okamurawith texts by Trish Lambe, Pauline Vermare, Masako Toda, Seán O’Hagan and Kusi Okamura. Published in 2024 by Atelier EXB in Paris, the book is designed by François Dézafit. It highlights the little-known work of the photographer who documented the Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 1985 in a unique way, in color and with sensitivity.
All these works are to be discovered in your best photo library.
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