Tropical Trauma Misery Tour
by Rafael Roncato, NL/BR
PBM/MAS Prize
Intriguing and thought-provoking, the “Tropical Trauma Misery Tour” photobook of the Brazilian Rafael Roncato is a brilliant foray into the style of a detective novel, unfolding against the media spectacle surrounding Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro—The Myth. The focus on the pivotal year of 2018, marked by Bolsonaro’s stabbing during a polarized presidential campaign, sees the former president assuming a central role in an online political campaign where he maintains complete control over his narrative and self-presentation.
The book stands as a testament to creativity, audacity, and exceptional intelligence. I was thoroughly captivated by its enchanting and exotic style, adeptly exploring the intricate political narratives shaping our world. Through a captivating blend of creative elements and editorial tactics, this book emerges as a vital tool, encouraging individuals to widely disseminate its message while condemning the dangers associated with misinformation. The blending of reality becomes a mode of resistance, unfolding as a meta-drama within the realm of political farce. This magnificent piece serves as an ironic guide, decoding the intricacies of Brazilian politics and media manipulation. It not only visually captures the impact of events but also acts as a potent gauge of the blurred line between truth and political performance.
A must-see for those seeking a visual journey into the heart of contemporary Brazilian political discourse, and for other countries that are contagiously impacted by this powerful farce.
Ângela Berlinde,
artist, curator, researcher
Size: 10,8 x 16,9 cm
Pages: 306
softcover
Author: Rafael Roncato
Design: Mateus Acioli
Photography Firmly Enters the Everyday
by Anna Pylypyuk & Volodymir Shypotilnykov, UKR
This photobook emerges as a victor for its unique portrayal of everyday life in Soviet Ukraine through the lens of amateur photography. Featuring more than 370 anonymous images sourced from flea markets and online auctions, “Photography Firmly Enters the Everyday” provides a window into the social fabric during the communist project of the 20th century in Ukraine.
The collaborative work of photographers duo Volodymyr Shypotilnykov and Anna Pylypyuk enriches the narrative, collecting both the ordinary and extraordinary moments with depth and insight.
These photographs serve as more than mere images; they stand as tangible records of social existence, immortalizing the essence of a bygone era and offering invaluable insights into the complexities of the human experience.
Anastasiia Leonova,
publisher, art manager and curator, co-founder of IST Publishing house
Size: 23 x 28 cm
Pages: 160
hardcover, open spine
Authors: Anna Pylypyuk & Volodymir Shypotilnykov
Design: Yura Kolomiets
HUN
by Julia Mejnertsen, DK
“HUN” is an amazing book, that takes you on a ride trough nine chapters and leaves you shot with a bullet.
In “HUN” danish photographer Julia Mejnertsen brings together, in a congenial way, the realms of her mother’s hunting hobby and her own approach to photography. She is dissecting the different levels of her controversial relationship to hunting by depictions of animals and nature in zoos, sketches of Elephants and typological drawings of Dumbo, hunting scenes in Zimbabwe, conversations between mother and daughter and questions to the reader. In her own words: „to tell us a story about how white, Western societies have structured and shaped the world’s cultural understanding of nature“. It’s an excellent not only conceptional but highly visual investigation into her own family’s relationship. Her often sequential photography and her very subtle and psychological approach proves the book form to be ideal for such a great long-term photographic project.
Frederic Lezmi,
artistic director The PhotoBookMuseum
Size: 17,2 x 23,2 cm
Pages: 446
softcover, bullet hole in the back
Author: Julia Mejnertsen
Design: Ricardo Báez
BULLET
by Marco Marzocchi, IT
In his captivating photobook “BULLET,” Marco Marzocchi invites us on an intimate journey through the intricacies of his deeply personal quest for meaning. Consisting of 500 images of people, archives and landscapes, flanked by short texts, poems and material which has been gathered over several years, “BULLET” forms a summary of the 48 years which make up Marzocchi’s life until now. It is a search for the right questions to ask in order to make sense of past experiences.
Impulsive snapshots and short written notes which gradually become poems intersected by archival material form a dense rhythm of questions, suggested answers and yet deeper questions. Marzocchi skillfully navigates through the complexities of his own narrative, using the qualities of photography as a medium to articulate the ineffable, to trace connections and draw conclusions through association.
“BULLET” is a nuanced exploration of not just Marzocchi’s life but also the universal quest for understanding and searching for meaning.
Lilli Weinstein,
photographer, project coordinator Dummy Award
Size: 20 x 25,8 cm
Pages: 320
softcover
Author: Marco Marzocchi
Vergissmeinnicht
by Amelie Sachs, DE
“Vergissmeinnicht“ by Amelie Sachs deals with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a menstrual disorder that affects up to 15% of women of childbearing age. Amelie herself suffered from this condition for ten years.
The diary-like realisation of this photo book gives us an intimate insight into her own medical history and how she deals with it. The outstanding dramaturgy, which is made up of subjective mood pictures, self-portraits, medical reports and diary entries, enables us to understand this suffering in an impressive way.
However, Amelie’s courageous work goes beyond the mere depiction of a personal story. She deliberately breaks with one of the many taboo subjects in the field of women’s health, which often remain in the shadows and receive too little public attention. With her unique perspective, Amelie not only manages to open up and inform this field through her artistic realisation, but also to show other women that they are not alone with such an illness.
Thank you Amelie for your courage in sharing this important topic with us. You have filled an important void and encouraged us all to speak more sensitively and openly about personal issues.
Thekla Ehling – photographer and professor of photography
Size: 13 x 19 cm
Pages: 112
softcover, rubber band
Author: Amelie Sachs
For the first time in the award’s history we printed a catalogue presenting (not only) this years shortlist. Nicolas Polli from Ciao Press put in his structuring design magic while Ufuk Şahin from MAS added that little extra silver plate on press. The result is amazing!
Distributed for free at all exhibiting events and venues, to design/photography faculties and of course at Rencontres d’Arles and Paris Photo.
Best seen in print – but alternatively as a download. Have a look!
generously supported by:
The 2023 Shortlist Jury
This year we gathered a highly interesting mix of jurors. Raging from a curator to a designer, from an art historian to a publisher and from a museum director to a printer the jury sifted passionatly trough all the books and after hard fights and discussion came up with an impressing lineup of dummies for this years shortlist.
* Anastasiia Leonova
is a publisher, art manager and curator, co-founder of IST Publishing house based in Ukraine. From 2014 to 2020 she ran a small independent art gallery of contemporary art in Kharkiv. With a background in sociology and art history she has a focus on photography and photobooks. Leonova is the curator of the BOOK CHAMPIONS WEEKEND festival and coordinator of the Eastern region of the UPHA (Ukrainian Photography Alternative).
* Anja Schürmann
is working as Permanent Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen (KWI). Her post-doc project deals with visual narration in the photobook. It examines visual narration in photobooks on both a narrative-theoretical and an aesthetic level of iconicity. She has written several essays on this topic and co-edited a thematic issue of the journal Fotogeschichte with Steffen Siegel. In 2016 she won the 1st prize of the international talent competition of C/O Berlin in the field of art criticism.
* Ângela Ferreira
aka Ângela Berlinde is an artist, photography curator and lecturer in various faculties in Portugal and Brasil. She was co-founder and artistic director of the Portuguese Photofestival Encontros da Imagem in Braga and very recently curated Solar FotoFestival in Fortaleza, Brasil. She is co-founder of the Portuguese Photobooks Observatory, an online ptafform dedicated to the study of Portuguese books.
* Nicolas Polli
is a photographer, graphic designer and the publisher of CIAO Press. After he founded Yet Magazine together with Salvatore Vitale he has started his own graphic design studio Atelier CIAO. Polli lives in Bienne, Switzerland where he is designing books for various photographers, publishers and festivals and has made himself a name as amateur pizzaiolo.
* Ufuk Şahin
studied photography at Hofstra University, NY. Since 2007, he has been part of the core team at MAS printing house as the second-generation manager and partner. In 2010, he founded MASA, a publishing house specializing in facsimiles, photobooks and art-books; which has since published more than 40 books. He is a photography enthusiast and an avid photobook collector.
* Frederic Lezmi
is a photographer, designer and photobook curator. He is artistic director of The PhotoBookMuseum in Cologne, wich he co-founded together with Markus Schaden in 2014. Lezmi teaches photobook design at various universities and faculties in Germany (FH Dortmund, FH Hannover and DHBW Ravensburg).
Jury Statement:BULLETPROOF BOOKS
The Timeless Power of Photobooks and the Greatest Hits of the Dummy Award
We love with passion the Book, the Photography, and definitely the feverish combination of the two. The power and popularity of the photobooks its timeless. The phenomenon has lasted now for more than twenty years and it´s exciting to say the genre continues to flourish more than ever, as brave photographers challenge the format in innovative ways, offering us a level of ingenuity, experimentation, consciousness, and sophistication that had rarely been achieved before.
One of the most sparkle vitality of the photobook dummy is that arrives still in potency, directly from the brain & heart of the artist, without filters, fresh of desires and also with wonderful mistakes. This is the vitality point of the dummy which rests essentially on a combination of risks of talented artists, generating a territory in which photography expresses its true narrative potential. While some build on traditional formats, others push to deliver the most unique and intimate art experiences imaginable, where the books are vacillating between the art objects, sculpture installations or literature pocket books. Many of the books address plural themes, as gender borders, personal stories, examine the dramatic war conflicts or lift underrepresented voices. In contrast, other titles stand out as reprieve from these turbulent times.
The 2023 Photobook Dummy Award collection embraces the different approaches and latitudes which seeks to uncover a huge laboratory for search of meaning to face turbulent times, offering a playful, reflective and sharply visual experience.
Ângela Berlinde & the jury of the Dummy Award 2023
The World Tour 2023
Two boxes with the 50 shortlisted dummy travel the world! To 18 venues, festivals or initiatives in 15 countries on 3 continents. Worldwide dummy exposure guaranteed!
Tour dates
Format Festival, Derby, England → 16.03 – 9.04.2023
Officine Fotografiche, Rome, Italy → 1.04 – 20.04.2023
Grisart, Barcelona, Spain → 26.04 – 30.05.2023
Photoszene Köln / The PhotoBookMuseum, Cologne → 12.05 – 25.05.2023
Fotofestiwal, Łódź, Poland → 15.06 – 25.06.2023
Lumenvisum, Hong Kong → 26.06 – July 16.07.2023
Rencontres Arles, France (Reception) → 06.07.2023
PhotoIreland, Dublin, Ireland → 13.07 – 16.07.2023
CCP, Melbourne, Australia → 11.08 – 26.08.2023
JIP Fest, Jakarta, Indonesia → 9.09 – 25.09.2023
Istituto Italiano di Fotografia, Milano, Italy → 21.09 – 15.10.2023
Photobook Week Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark → 01.11 – 5.11.2023
Reminders Photography Stronghold, Kyoto, Japan →03.11. – 12.11.2023
Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo, Japan →18.11.2023 – 27.11.2023
KA – Space for Visual Culture and Artistic Thinking, Ankara, Turkey → 9.11. – 19.11.2023
NOKS Art Space, Istanbul, Turkey → 25.11.– 03.12.2023
Photobook Festival, Leipzig, Germany → 09.03. – 10.03.2024
Mystetska biblioteka, Lviv, Ukraine → 2.04.-18.04.2024
subject to change – check latest tour dates on Instagram
If you are organising a festival or run an institution or art space and you are interested in hosting the Dummy Award Shortlist please get in touch with . We are especially looking forward to add locations in Africa and North/South America to our world tour.
