Exhibition Review: The Libraryman Award
Anamnesis © Aliki Christoforou
Aliki Christoforou, a Belgian architect-turned-photographer, was named as the winner of the 2021 Libraryman Award for her story of pain, loss and strength through adversity.
The Libraryman Award was created in 2019 to complement the publisher’s contemporary photobook and is judged by a different jury every year, consisting of seasoned professionals with a wide array of experience behind and beyond the camera. Each submission is part of a larger series that tells an overarching story and involves a creative and compelling narrative.
Azerbaijan Wrestlers © Sophie Stafford
Christoforou’s submission, taken from her series “Anamnesis,” is the result of an extended stay in the hospital after an accident. She decided to record her experience but had little to no recollection of it afterward. The silvery images reflect her cloudy memory and failure to recall those moments, while the development of the images illustrates both her desire to forget and the importance of remembering. The wires in frame were likely connected to her hospital bed: a regular sight, lost to the pain and cloudy haze that enveloped her stay.
Girraween, Northern Territory, Humpty Doom, 2016 © Liss Fenwick
Four other photographers were shortlisted for the award: Joséphine Douet of France, Liss Fenwick of Australia, Sophie Stafford of the United Kingdom and Oliver Lwowski of Denmark.
Douet captured a scene of Denmark’s flag being held up by brooms and shovels from “The Breath of Leviathan,” a commentary on the severe erosion of Vendsyssel’s coasts in the northernmost part of the Jutland Peninsula. Fenwick submitted a photograph of rusted cars abandoned in a lake from her series “Humpty Doom,” an exploration of the rural Humpty Doo, her hometown in the Northern Territory. Stafford showed an athletic man standing with his fists raised, wearing pants with “Azerbaijan” emblazoned on them from her “Azerbaijan Wrestlers” series. Lastly, Lwowski photographed a woman on public transportation staring out the window, her eyes blurred by dirt and scratches on the glass.
© Oliver Lwowski
The breath of Leviathan © Joséphine Douet
Christoforou’s winning photograph will be featured in Libraryman’s catalogue and distributed worldwide. The other finalists’ photographs can be viewed on the competition’s website.
