The Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2008 has been won by Slovak photographer Lucia Nimcova for her photo project “Unofficial“. Taking her home town as an example, Nimcova documented how time seems to have stood still since the fall of the Communist regime. The central theme of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, which has been held every year since 1979 in memory of the inventor of the Leica, Oskar Barnack (1879 – 1936), is the relationship between man and his environment. The closing date for entries to the 2009 contest is January 31st, 2009.

Leica Press Release

Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2008 goes to Slovak photographer Lucia Nimcova

Photographer Lucia Nimcova has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Leica Oskar Barnack Award for her photo project “Unofficial“. The pictures of the winning series were taken in 2007 in Slovakia. Taking her home town as an example, she documents how time seems to have stood still since the fall of the Communist regime. Even years later, people and places do not seem to have changed at all, almost as if time had passed them by unnoticed and without a trace. The Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2008 will be presented at the Arles photo festival from 8th – 13th July, 2008.

In the past few years, Lucia Nimcova has devoted herself to the study of life and development in Eastern Europe. Her research took her to the public archives of her home town in Slovakia. Looking at documents there, she noticed that nothing seems to have changed in the years after the Communist dictatorship and Slovakia’s joining the European Union in 2004. She went back to some of the places she remembered from her childhood and captured the fascination of a time apparently unaffected by change. She met people who still have the same public functions as years ago, places and institutions have stood still and the distant past even lives on in events and political discussions. Everything seems frozen in a time warp, overtaken by political and economic developments. And this is exactly the fascination of the winning series, which tells more of a story than a first glance reveals. The photographic search for traces of change is convincing in both form and content. The photographer captures everyday scenes with a wink, eliciting a smile from the viewer while at the same time setting him thinking.

The jury of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2008 was chaired by François Hébel (Rencontres d’Arles). Further jury members were Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (CEO Leica Camera AG), Karin Rehn-Kaufmann (Director of the Leica Gallery in Salzburg), Brigitte Schaller (Leica Fotografie International) and Gaëlle Gouinguené (Leica Camera Group).

The Leica Oskar Barnack Award will be celebrating its 30th birthday next year. The central theme of the competition, which has been held every year since 1979 in memory of the inventor of the Leica, Oskar Barnack (1879 – 1936), is the relationship between man and his environment. As the first successful 35mm camera, the compact Leica launched in 1925 made it possible to take lively reportage shots and became the tool of many photographers who had a lasting influence on photojournalism.

The preparation for next year‘s Leica Oskar Barnack competition will begin after the Arles festival. The closing date for entries is January 31st, 2009. Details will be published on the Leica Camera AG website www.leica-camera.com in the Culture section. The winning pictures will be shown here as well and the dates and venues of the exhibitions will be given. Besides a presentation at the stand of Leica Camera AG in the opening week of the Rencontres d’Arles festival, there are plans to exhibit the pictures in the Leica galleries.

Your Comments