SCôP Exhibition | 《天·地·人：徕卡奥斯卡·巴纳克摄影奖40周年特展》即将开幕

Shanghai Center of Photography (SCoP) is delighted to present in collaboration with Leica the exhibition “People and Place: Leica Oskar Barnack Award 40th Anniversary”. The exhibition selects 2020 LOBA winners, whose works are displayed together with a snapshot overview of the award’s four-decade history from 1980 till now in a selection of images from past winners. This is the first time that LOBA exhibition tours to China.

“LOBA is definitely one of the most prestigious photography awards. It’s incredible to look back at its history, which – considering the talented award-winners – is like looking at the history of photography.”

Alessia Glaviano, Brand Visual Director VogueItalia

“I was impressed by the high quality level of the submissions. I was touched by the great awareness of the photographers‘ eyes and hearts. With unique stories, they used very individual and creative ways to deal with the important issues of our times.”

Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Executive Vice President Leica Galleries International

“The range of subject matter, aesthetics and execution of the winning images feels unique to the LOBA. There’s always an emphasis on interesting storytelling, and Leica as a brand is synonymous with quality and style, with a well-earned place in photographic history.”

Caroline Hunter, Picture Editor of The Guardian Weekend magazine

“The first thing is the durability and consistency of the LOBA; the 40th anniversary is special, and for photographers that validation over four decades means all the more. The other thing is the association with a camera maker that has played a big part in the history of photography. The roll call of previous LOBA winners is really impressive.”

Azu Nwagbogu, Founder and Director of the Lagos Photo Festival and the African Artists’ Foundation

40 Years of History

Exploring the relationship between

humanity and the environment through photography

LOBA was launched in 1980 to celebrate the centenary of Oskar Barnack’s birth and the contribution of a photographic pioneer who invented the first Leica camera. From 1914, Barnack used the prototype camera he developed – today known as the Ur-Leica -- to take photographs. Through the large series’ of images he produced, Barnack became one of the earliest photographers to document the relationship between man and the environment. From the launch of the award, the aim was to celebrate photographers with a “keen talent for observation that vividly expresses the relationship between humanity and the environment”. Looking back over the forty years of its history, the LOBA award captures the shifting world of photojournalism in all its diversity and humanist concerns.

Previous winners have included now world-renown photographers such as Sebastião Salgado, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Wendy Watriss, Jane Evelyn Atwood, David C. Turnley and Max Pinckers. Many careers received a decisive boost as a result of the LOBA.

Timeless Spirit

Seeing the trend of the times with LOBA 2020

“People and Place: Leica Oskar Barnack Award 40th Anniversary” presents the eight shortlisted photographers of LOBA 2020, whose works explore our current relationship with nature and social environments by their extraordinary perception and unique visual expression.

As the highlight of the exhibition, the winner of LOBA 2020 is the Italian photographer, Luca Locatelli, whose series “Future Studies” questions the need for permanent economic growth, using images to open up the debate about our relationship to nature and technology by presenting technologies that are damaging the present alongside those intended to offer alternatives for the future. Winner of the LOBA 2020 Newcomer award is the Portuguese photographer Gonçalo Fonseca. Photographing the lives of those most affected by recent the housing crisis in Lisbon, Portugal, his series “New Lisbon” reveals the dramatic social change that occurs through inner city gentrification, and the explosion in property prices that follows.

The works of all photographers on the 2020 LOBA shortlist represent the strengths of the photographic medium. The combined values of social documentary with a keen aesthetic appeal to the eye and the mind. This, together with the geographic diversity of the photographers, their backgrounds and interests, and the diverse ways in which they express their response to topics, gives LOBA a place in the present, as well as in history.

SCoP is delighted to work with Leica to host the exhibition “People and Place：Leica Oskar Barnack Award 40th Anniversary”. We hope this will be a great opportunity for visitors to access the history of photography, and to gain insight into our times through the visions of a young generation of photographers. The glimpse of past winners that is included makes for a journey through documentary photography and photo-journalism over the recent 40 years.

“People and Place: Leica Oskar Barnack Award 40th Anniversary” will open on November 28 at SCoP. Look forward to your visit!