The two winners of the Leica Oskar Barnack Awards 2024 (LOBA) are Davide Monteleone and Maria Guțu, having been announced during a ceremony at Leica Headquarters on the evening of 10 October 2024. In the 44th edition of the prestigious photography award, the LOBA jury selected Italian-born, Swiss-based photographer Davide Monteleone with his series “Critical Minerals – Geography of Energy,” for the main prize, while Moldovan photographer Maria Guțu won the LOBA Newcomer Award for her “Homeland” series.
The two winning series were selected from a field of around 250 submissions, which had been previously presented to the LOBA jury by roughly 80 international photography experts from around 50 countries.
The winner of the Main category is Italian photographer Davide Monteleone, who won for his ongoing long-term study questioning the reorientation of the energy industry towards renewable sources, documenting their sometimes problematic effects. He will receive €40,000 and €10,000-worth of Leica equipment.
In the photographer’s ongoing, long-term study, he questions the current reorientation of the energy industry towards renewable sources, and problematises the resulting and complicated geopolitical, social and ecological effects, using the examples of copper, lithium, and cobalt mining in Chile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia. In his multi-layered series he shows the landscapes and industrial complexes, while making the people working there the central focus of his work.
Oskar Barnack Awards: Newcomer category
The Newcomer category was won by Moldovan photographer Maria Guțu, for her poetic and visual series questioning the meaning of roots and of home, following the economic migration of her own family along with large portions of the Moldovan population. Guțu will receive 10,000 Euros and a Leica Q3.
The winning series was proposed by Italian LOBA nominator Antonia Benedetta Donato.
In his statement, Davide Monteleone said: “The prestige of the award is indisputable, and I am happy my name will be listed among the incredible Masters of Photography who won it before me. I’m also excited about the visibility opportunities the prize will give the project and the story. It’s an important topic; I’m glad it’s receiving attention. The transition to green energy and the fair distribution of resources are critical issues. Any publicity for my project is welcome in this regard.”
Davide Monteleone: Critical Minerals – Geography of Energy
Davide Monteleone was born in Potenza, Region Basilicata, Italy, in 1974, and lives today in Switzerland. He holds a Masters in Art and Politics from Goldsmith University, London, and is a curator and teacher for many public and private institutions. In 2001, he began to live and work in Moscow.
His work as a visual artist and researcher encompasses the fields of image design, visual journalism and writing. For several years now, he has been focussing on climate issues, at the intersection between economics and geopolitics. Monteleone has published numerous books, writes regularly for magazines such as National Geographic, Time and The New Yorker, and his work has been exhibited widely.
He has been honoured with the National Geographic Storyteller’s Fund, the National Geographic Society Fellowship, the Asia Society Fellowship, the Carmignac Photojournalism Award, the EPEA Award, the European Publishers Award, and various World Press Photo Awards. His “Sinomocene” series has been shortlisted for LOBA. 2020.
Oskar Barnack Awards: Maria Guțu: Homeland
The Moldovan photographer’s personal story was the starting point for her touching portrait series. Guțu grew up with her grandparents because her parents – like many others in her homeland – had to move abroad for economic reasons. In the past twenty years, nearly a quarter of the small country’s population has left. Guțu’s poetic and visual narrative asks about the meaning of roots and of home, which have changed significantly over the years. The series was proposed for the LOBA Newcomer Category – directed at photographers up to 30 years in age – by Docdocdoc, School of Modern Photography, St. Petersburg.
Maria Guțu said in her statement: “I travel a lot to Moldova’s villages. The quiet places and people inspire me with their simple and natural way of life, connection with the land and animals. I identify with the children and teenagers I photograph: they experience the same reality of emigration of their parents, as I did. My work itself evokes a nostalgic yearning for family, the past, and simply life itself.”Maria Guțu was born in the Republic of Moldova in 1996.
She graduated from the Docdocdoc School of Modern Photography, St. Petersburg, in 2022. Previously, she had completed studies of Film at the Academy of Music, Theatres, and Visual Arts in Chișinău, Moldova. In 2019, she received a grant from the CDFD (Centre of Documentary Photography), Bucharest, Romania. In 2020, she was a finalist for the People Photography Award of The Independent Photographer. She has been a member of Women Photograph since 2021, and has already received numerous international nominations, with her work appearing in several group exhibitions.
Oskar Barnack Awards: The Jury
In her jury statement, Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director and Chief Representative Leica Galleries International: “On behalf of the whole LOBA 2024 jury (Dimitri Beck, Head of the Photography Department at Polka; Per Gylfe, Head of the Education Department at the International Centre of Photography (ICP); Ciril Jazbek, photographer from Slovenia and 2013 LOBA Newcomer Award-winner; Amélie Schneider, Head of the Picture Editorial Department at Die Zeit, Germany, and myself), I would like to heartily congratulate the two winners of the Leica Oskar Barnack Awards. Both series are as different as they are convincing, in their approach to the basic constant of the LOBA, which questions the relationship of people to the environment.”
Jury statement Dimitri Beck: “The LOBA is surely a milestone in the international photography scene and plays a key role in promoting good visual storytelling. Presenting a shortlist of twelve photographers and their works is important to explore the diversity of visions and stories happening nowadays.”
Jury statement Amélie Schneider: “In times of war, crises and social insecurity, photography remains the medium with which to reach and touch people’s emotions, and to make world events tangible.”
Jury statement Per Gylfe: “The LOBA plays a crucial role in the international photography scene by highlighting and celebrating exceptional photographic work from around the world, and also encourages the ongoing dialogue about the role of photography in society.” The LOBA is among the most highly endowed and prestigious awards in the field of photography: the winner of the LOBA receives 40,000 euros and Leica camera equipment valued at 10,000 euros, while the winner of the Newcomer Award receives 10,000 euros and a Leica Q3.
Read more about previous Oskar Barnack Awards
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Jonathan,
Thanks. I missed this on the press release, but she does sound remarkable. I will see if we can find some more reference material to make a further little article.
Jason
Thank you for this Jason. The Leica Celebration of Photography is a generally wonderful event, and this year was no exception. I think that it’s wonderful that Leica finances this every year, the exhibition at Leitz Park in Wetzlar is stunning, and all the winners and runners up were worthwhile and interesting.
One shouldn’t forget that at COP each year Leica install an existing photographer in their “Hall of Fame” this year it was Herlinde Koebl – someone I hadn’t heard of, but who has produced some wonderful work over a very long career. She is 85 and astonishingly fit and dynamic and did a wonderful q&a with Karin Kaufmann.