Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2008

In works ranging from documentary photographs of post-industrial landscapes, to investigative photojournalistic works and little stories with a universal scope, all the way to politically engaged photography, the four finalists shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2008—John Davies (UK), Jacob Holdt (Denmark), Esko Männikkö (Finland) and Fazal Sheikh (USA)—impress the viewer with a broad spectrum of motifs and styles. While John Davies investigates the radical transformation of cultural landscapes of Great Britain in the wake of industrial decline and the resulting social, political, and environmental changes, Jacob Holdt’s color photos tell a very moving story of human intimacy, poverty, alienation, violence, and resistance in the USA of the 1970s. Esko Männikkö presents a world, in carefully selected wooden frames, in which he treats animals, objects, and people with equal respect and childlike wonder. And in still close-ups, Fazal Sheikh traces the effects of the continuing prejudice against women in present-day Indian society. Thus once again this year, the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, as one of the most important awards for contemporary photography, encompasses a broad spectrum of motifs and styles.