The Atlas Group, a project by Walid Raad has been awarded the “Deutsche Boerse Photography Prize 2007”. The 30,000 prize aims to reward a living photographer of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution to the medium of photography in Europe in the previous year, either for a significant exhibition or publication. The prize showcases new talent and highlights the best of international photography practice and is one of the most prestigious in the world of photography.
The Atlas Group was undertaken by Walid Raad between 1989 and 2004 to research and document the contemporary history of Lebanon. However, the authenticity of the photographic and video documents in this archive is continuously queried, leaving the viewer uncertain how history can be told and visually represented.
The international Jury, which is set up each year, determined the winner out of the four finalists under the chair of Brett Rogers, Director of the Photographers’ Gallery. The Jurys’ members where: Krysztof Candrowicz (Poland), Director of the Lodz Art Center; Shirana Shahbazi (Iran), artist and winner of the Photography Prize 2002; Urs Stahe (Switzerland), Director of the Fotomuseum Winterthur and Anne-Marie Beckmann (Frankfurt), Curator of the Art Collection Deutsche Boerse.
“Walid Raad’s work opens up new possibilities for reinterpreting photography’s role in the construction of ‘history’ especially in connection with his main project on the Lebanese Civil Wars,” says Brett Rogers, the Director of the Photographers’ Gallery. “He demonstrates a new form of conceptual practice, one that combines the poetic with the political, and yet remains playfully engaging.”
“The Photography Price has once again succeeded in bringing together the most important and interesting representative of the European photographic scene,” adds Anne-Marie Beckmann, responsible for the Arts Sponsorship Programm of Deutsche Boerse. “Photography plays a key role in our company culture. The “Deutsche Boerse Photography Prize” is a very important part of our commitment to the medium.”
Deutsche Boerse has sponsored this prestigious prize since 2005. The prize as originally set up in 1996 by The Photographers’ Gallery in London to promote the best of contemporary photography. The focus is on the promotion of young talents and the acknowledgement of outstanding works of international Photographic Art. Previous winners of the “Deutsche Boerse Photography Prize” are Robert Adams (2006) and Luc Delahaye (2005).