‘Untitled (Sosa With Orange Hula Hoop),’ 2019 by Tyler Mitchell, from the longlisted ‘I Can Make You Feel Good’ by Tyler Mitchell, from Prestel Publishing. Image: Provided by Kraszna-Krausz Photography and Moving Picture Book Awards
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘A Reflection of Contemporary Society’
As Publishing Perspectives readers will recall, the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation was formed in 1985 by the late Hungarian photographer Andor Kraszna-Krausz—the founder in 1938 of the Focal Press, an imprint of Taylor & Francis/Routledge based in media tech books.
Its 2021 Photography Book Award and Moving Image Book Award shortlists have been announced today from London (May 4). Winners are to be named on June 1 and 3, in association with London’s The Phographers’ Gallery near Covent Garden.
The Photography Book Award is intended to highlight books that “amplify unheard voices across the world and have a spirit of inclusion.” The Moving Image Book Award shortlist features what the program considers to be “original, innovative and rigorous books about film and cinema, exploring a diverse range of topics.”
The two winners are each to receive a purse of £5,000 (US$6,946).
On May 20, “The Photobook Sessions” are to be presented as a daylong program of talks about photgraphy book publishing, presented in association with Camberwell College of Arts, a constituent college of the University of the Arts London.
Brian Pomeroy
In a prepared comment, Brian Pomeroy, CBE, who chairs the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation, is quoted, saying, “It’s been fantastic to see such a strong year for submissions, and the eclectic range of genres that both longlists encompass.
“The awards are an important reflection of contemporary society, and the politics and cultural experiences from the previous year.
“Photography and moving image books continue to give a voice to people and communities across the world.”
Brett Rogers
And from Brett Rogers, who directs the Photgraphers’ Gallery, we read, “This year’s Photography Book Award nominations are once again emblematic of the unique way in which artists use the book form to explore innovative forms of storytelling, combining this with arresting design, production and text.
“Equally, each of the Moving Image Book Award nominees provoke us to rethink existing cinematic canons, providing deeply researched publications focussing on overlooked or marginalised subjects.”
In both categories, the intent is “to showcase innovative and coherent bodies of work with a focus on cultural relevance for our current times and in years to come.”
The jurors also place emphasis on criteria including each book’s design, texture and haptic qualities, and elements that indicate a collaborative approach between writers, artists, editors, and designers.
Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award Shortlist
From the shortlisted 2019 ‘Centralia’ by Poulomi Basu from Dewi Lewis. Image: Provided by Kraszna-Krausz Photography and Moving Picture Book Awards
- Centralia by Poulomi Basu (Dewi Lewis)
- Destiny edited by Myles Russell-Cook with contributors (National Gallery of Victoria)
- Dream is Wonderful, Yet Unclear by Maria Kapajeva (Milda Books)
- Sunil Gupta: From Here To Eternity by Sunil Gupta, edited by Mark Sealy MBE (Autograph Autograph in association with The Photographers’ Gallery and the Ryerson Image Centre)
Also longlisted for this award were:
- Constructed Landscapes by Dafna Talmor (Fw:Books)
- Encampment, Wyoming: Selections from the Lora Webb Nichols Archive 1899-1948 edited by Nicole Jean Hill (Fw: Books)
- Hayal & Hakikat: A Handbook of Forgiveness & A Handbook of Punishment by Cemre Yeşil Gönenli (Gost)
- I Can Make You Feel Good by Tyler Mitchell (Prestel Publishing)
- Road Through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial by Jessica Ingram (University of North Carolina Press)
- Santa Barbara by Diana Markosian (Aperture)
- The New Woman Behind the Camera by Andrea Nelson (National Gallery of Art, Washington)
- Unfixed: Photography and Decolonial Imagination in West Africa by Jennifer Bajorek (Duke University Press)
Jurors for this year’s Photography Book Award are Patrizia Di Bello, professor of history and theory of photography at Birkbeck, University of London; Anna Fox, British photographer and professor of photography at the University for the Creative Arts; and Jennie Ricketts, independent photography editor, curator, consultant and mentor.
Kraszna-Krausz Moving Image Book Award Shortlist
An example of Kabuki cinema featuring Onoe Matsunosuke with the onnagata actor Kataoka Chōsei in the role of the female character on the left, courtesy of the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, from ‘Dialectics Without Synthesis: Japanese Film Theory and Realism in a Global Frame’ by Naoki Yamamoto from the University of California Press. Image: Provided by Kraszna-Krausz Photography and Moving Picture Book Awards
- Dialectics Without Synthesis: Japanese Film Theory and Realism in a Global Frame by Naoki Yamamoto (University of California Press)
- Making Images Move: Handmade Cinema and the Other Arts by Gregory Zinman (University of California Press)
- On the Run: Perspectives on the Cinema of Med Hondo and 1970—2018 Interviews with Med Hondo edited by Marie-Hélène Gutberlet and Brigitta Kuster (Archive Books)
- The Process Genre: Cinema and the Aesthetic of Labor by Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky (Duke University Press)
Also longlisted for this award were:
- Against the Avant-Garde: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Contemporary Art, and Neocapitalism by Ara H Merjian (University of Chicago Press)
- Bombay Hustle by Debashree Mukherjee (Columbia University Press)
- Cinema Expanded: Avant-Garde Film in the Age of Intermedia by Jonathan Walley (Oxford University Press)
- Ends of Cinema edited by Richard Grusin and Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece (University of Minnesota Press)
- Nightmares in the Dream Sanctuary: War and the Animated Film by Donna Kornhaber (University of Chicago Press)
- Paris in the Dark: Going to the Movies in the City of Light, 1930–1950 by Eric Smoodin (Duke University Press)
Jurors in the Moving Image Book Award were Erika Balsom, reader in film studies at King’s College London; Steven Bode, director of Film and Video Umbrella; and Gideon Koppel, professor of film at Manchester School of Art.
‘Frame from Planet Z’ by Momoko Seto, France 2014, courtesy of the artist. From ‘Ends of Cinema,’ edited by Richard Grusin and Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, from the University of Minnesota Press. Image: Provided by Kraszna-Krausz Photography and Moving Picture Book Awards
More from Publishing Perspectives on publishing and literature awards programs is here. More from us on the United Kingdom’s book business is here.
More from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.