Since 2012, the award for the book of the year, created by Paris Photo and and Aperture Foundation, has honoured the contribution of the book to the evolution of photography. For 2015, institutions, publishers and photographers could register on line between May and September. There were more than 1000 registrations form 60 countries. A jury of five people proceeded with the final selection from a shortlist of 35 works.
The following awards were made.
Prize for the Book of the Year: Illustrated People by Thomas Mailaender from Archive of Modern Conflict / RVB Books. The book taken from a performance work by Thomas Mailaender. The artist chose 23 original negatives from the Archive of Modern Conflict, then placed them on the skin of models before exposing them to a powerful UV lamp, thus revealing a fleeting imag eon the skin. The artist photographed each of these models. It is these prints, interspersed with photographic documents, that Thomas Mailaender has brought together in this work.
Prize for a First Book: You Haven’t Seen Their Faces by Daniel Mayrit from Riot Books. Using London’s video surveillance system, the author looked for images of 100 people taken to symbolise those responsible for the financial crisis of 2007 – 2010. I presented this book in June 2015 on Kaleidoscope. (http://www.mep-fr.org/2015/06/24/le-choix-de-la-librairie-20/)
Prize for Photographic Catalogue of the Year: Images of conviction. The construction of visual evidence by Diane Dufour (Introduction) and others, published by BAL and Éditions Xavier Barral. In this catalogue, photography itself is placed in the row of witnesses. Published on the occasion of an exhibition shown at BAL, in Paris, this book is a passionate historical study of the way in which photography has shaped the official versions of the truth.
The jury awarded a special mention to the publication of Deadline by Will Steacy.
• Aperture
It was in 1952 that the first edition of the quarterly review Aperture appeared. It was founded by a small group of photographers and critics (Minor White, Dorothea Lange, Barbara Morgan, Ansel Adams, Nancy and Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris and Dody Warren). Since becoming a publishing house Aperture has also published some 500 titles.
– My Last Day At Seventeen
Doug DuBois
• Mack
Michael Mack founded his publishing house in 2011 and has published about a hundred books.
– Hanezawa Garden
Anders Edstrom
– The Home Front
Kenneth Graves
• Hatje Cantz Verlag
Hatje Cantz Verlag was born from Verlag Gerd Hatje founded in 1945 near Stuttgart and which started to publish photography in the middle of the 1950s. In 1990 Gerd Hatje sold his publishing house to the printers Cantz. The publisher has published about a thousand books in fifty years.
– 25 Ans Ostkreuz Agentur der Fotografen
– Notes for an Epilogue
Tamas Dezso
• Taschen
Taschen is a German publishing house founded by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne in 1980.It is known for its high quality art books as well as for its works on themes on the margins, such as erotic photography. In contrast to its “economic” publications, Taschen publishes works which are larger sized than normal and very expensive.
– Bettina Rheims Collector
• EXB Editions Xavier Barral
Éditions Xavier Barral has published, since 2002, works on the players in the art world. Each one of its approximately one hundred published works is an individual object.
– Agnès Varda : Varda / Cuba
• Textuel
Textuel was created in 1995 by Marianne Théry and has published about 80 titles.
– Le Grand Incendie
Samuel Bollendorff
– L’image partagée. Histoire de la photographie numérique
André Gunthert
• Contrasto
Contrasto (Rome and Milan) has become, since 1995, with the driving force of Roberto Koch, an important publishing house.
– Basilico Milano
Gabriele Basilico
• Librairie Actes Sud
Actes Sud, the publishing house founded in 1969 by Hubert Nyssen and which he bequeathed to his daughter Françoise in 1977, has become under the guiding hand of Jean-Paul Capitani, an important actor in the publication of books on photography.
– Une collection.
Maison Européenne de la Photographie
INFORMATION
http://www.parisphoto.com
