JH Engström is honoured with the award for his photographic project titled Tout Va Bien
The depiction of the relationship between man and their environment in a series of photographs captured with incisive powers of observation is and remains the mission of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Leica Camera AG is presenting the prestigious awards for the 35th time and now, in 2015, has increased the value of the cash prizes once again. The winners of this year’s competition have now been chosen.
First place in the main category, honoured with a cash prize of 25,000 euros and a Leica M camera and lens, goes to JH Engström for his series titled Tout Va Bien.
Tout Va Bien does not handle a concrete subject in the traditional sense. The Swedish photographer JH Engström intends his project to be seen much more as visual poetry – a photographic narrative with strong autobiographical elements. Despite this, it does not exclusively depict aspects of his own life. Tout Va Bien is a sequence of widely differing images. The winning series includes both portraits and landscapes, as well as bizarre snapshots like the photograph of the birth of his twins. The photographer also switches between exposures in black and white and colour. Engström plays with contrasts and leaves it to viewers to find their own ways of reading and interpreting each picture. The complete project comprises 90 images and will be published in book form by Aperture in July.
