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Terje Abusdal Wins Oskar Barnack Award
10 August 2017
Leica has announced Norwegian photographer Terje Abusdal has been awarded the Leica Oskar Barnack Award for his project Slash & Burn. In addition, Ukrainian photographer Sergey Melnitchenko has been awarded the Newcomer Award, given to professional photographers age 25 or younger.
Slash & Burn. Copyright 2017 by Terje Abusdal.
"I would like to congratulate Terje Abusdal and Sergey Melnitchenko, the winners of this year's Leica Oskar Barnack Awards, on behalf of the whole jury," expressed Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, art director and chief representative of Leica Galleries Intl. "Both photographers have shown that they have a truly special eye for seeing and portraying the interaction of people and their environments. They have surpassed a total of 2,700 competitors from 104 countries and have won over all members of the jury with their impressive portfolios."
The winners will be honored at a gala event in Berlin on Sept. 13. Abusdal will receive a cash prize of €25,000 (approximately $30,000) and Leica M-System equipment (camera and lens) valued at an additional €10,000 (approximately $12,000). Sergey Melnitchenko will receive a cash prize of €10,000 (approximately $12,000) and will also be presented with a Leica rangefinder camera and lens.
For more information see the news release below.
Terje Abusdal Wins the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2017
Sergey Melnitchenko is awarded the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award 2017
The winners of Leica Camera's 37th Annual Leica Oskar Barnack Award -- the internationally acclaimed photography competition -- have been chosen. In the main category, Norwegian photographer Terje Abusdal won for his project titled "Slash & Burn." Sergey Melnitchenko, from the Ukraine, earned the Newcomer Award, reserved for up-and-coming professional photographers age 25 or younger. By winning this prestigious competition, both Abusdal and Melnitchenko gain significant resources to continue their outstanding work.
"I would like to congratulate Terje Abusdal and Sergey Melnitchenko, the winners of this year's Leica Oskar Barnack Awards, on behalf of the whole jury," expressed Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director & Chief Representative Leica Galleries International. "Both photographers have shown that they have a truly special eye for seeing and portraying the interaction of people and their environments. They have surpassed a total of 2,700 competitors from 104 countries and have won over all members of the jury with their impressive portfolios."
The winners will receive their prizes at a gala event in Berlin on Sept. 13. Terje Abusdal, will be honored with a cash prize of 25,000 euros (approximately $30,000) and Leica M-System equipment (camera and lens) valued at an additional 10,000 euros (approximately $12,000). Sergey Melnitchenko will be honored with a cash prize of 10,000 euros (approximately $12,000) and will also be presented with a Leica rangefinder camera and lens.
Abusdal
Terje Abusdal's mysterious and expressive photography in "Slash & Burn" captures the story of the Forest Finns, a Norwegian ethnic minority group that leads a life in close touch with nature. His work began as a mere thesis project at the Danish School of Journalism and evolved into the award-winning portfolio we see today. During his three-years of research, Abusdal delved deeper and deeper into the lifestyle of the Forest Finns: one that balances tradition and mysticism, ethnic origins and clan culture, facts and fiction.
How can immaterial aspects such as culture be captured in pictures when the traditions are almost extinct? Taking this question as a starting point, Abusdal blurred the transitions between reality and fiction to an ever-increasing degree. "I added certain historical elements of the Forest Finns to the story -- such as fire, smoke, shamanism," explains Abusdal. "Each of these elements are more than just their physical existence; they explain who the Forest Finns are as a people." As a result, documentation and imagination are interwoven in his pictures in an intriguing and simultaneously organic way. His photographs radiate a suggestive power and unique spiritualism -- the consequences of a deliberate attempt to create a fictional universe, a magical world.
The photographer, born in Evje, Norway in 1978, works exclusively on freelance projects -- always precariously balanced on the knife-edge between truth and fiction. In 2014, he studied advanced visual storytelling at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus and later attended various master classes led by Simon Norfolk and Aaron Schuman. 2015 saw the publication of Radius 500 Metres, his first book of photographs. In his works, which can be seen in individual and collective exhibitions, he sets a particular focus on questions of identity and belonging. Terje Abusdal lives in Oslo.
Melnitchenko
Sergey Melnitchenko, the winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, won over the jury with his portfolio titled "Behind the Scenes," an extremely realistic and, in literal terms, unwashed portrayal of his subjects. The Ukrainian photographer's in-your-face proximity to dancers in a Chinese club show that everything in his work is hard reality. "It's about real life: our lives together as well as my life and experience," says Melnitchenko.
In his award-winning submission, judges saw the day dawning after a hot and humid night somewhere in China -- sweating transvestites, girls in bathtubs filled with beer, drunken artists and even more drunken guests. The cinematic imagery of Melnitchenko's portfolio has nothing to do with life in the spotlight; it tells stories of everyday life behind the scenes, with all the rough edges of show business. His portfolio, "Behind the Scenes," reveals much more than many would like to see: bruised and battered legs, scratches and scars, feet Raw from dancing and laddered stockings in the light of make-up mirrors. To deliver such insights, Melnitchenko, had to be a part of it all.
The photographer was born in Mykolaiv/Ukraine in 1991 and has been taking pictures for around eight years. He is a member of the Ukrainian Photographic Alternative, a collective dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Ukrainian photography. He privately published his series with the title "Loneliness Online" in 2013. His work has been shown in a wide range of individual and collective international exhibitions, amongst them, the Landskrona Fotofestival (2015), the OFF_festival Bratislava (2014) and in an art-book presentation in the course of his period as artist-in-residence for the Muzychi Expanded History Project, Kiev/Ukraine. Melnitchenko has been living and working in China for the past two years.
Additional Prizes
In addition to the two main categories, the work of the other ten finalists in this year's competition will be honored with prizes of 2,500 euros (approximately $3,000). The works of all twelve finalists will then be on view again from Sept. 14 to Oct. 15 in Berlin at the Neuen Schule für Fotografie (Brunnenstrasse 188-190, 10119 Berlin). The LOBA Catalogue, which features the winners and finalists' work in detail with comprehensive portfolios and interviews, will be published to accompany the exhibition.