In the fourth edition of the Star Photobook Dummy Award, the 2024 international nominators presented more than 150 photobook dummies as candidates, from more than 45 countries and with a slightly higher number of women participants than men.
The jury of this contest’s fourth edition, composed by professionals with long experience in the sector, assessed the general high quality of all the proposals and selected eleven dummies on the shortlist, candidates to become a photobook thanks to the Star Award.
With the Star Photobook Dummy Award, Photographic Social Vision Foundation and its collaborators pay tribute to the loving creativity of the late graphic designer Inés Casals.
11 dummies opt for the Star Photobook Dummy Award
The shortlist is the following, in alphabetical order by the title of the projects:
A Muntagna, by Emanuele Occhipinti (Italia)
Nominated by Mimi Mollica.
How is to live around Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe and one of the largest in the world? The extraordinary normality of the lifes of people living there and their ambiguous relationship with the volcano, halfway between total devotion and constant fear for it.
Anhel de Llibertat, by Toni Privat (España)
Nominated by Silvia Omedes
A man walks through the sky. Some women desire much further. They are seeking the Interior freedom. They are trapped in the shapes, light and shadows. They are just looking for the freedom, like birds.
Catastrophe, Crisis and Other Family Traditions, by Jessamyn Lovell (EE.UU.)
Nominated by Amber Terranova.
“A memoir synthesizing photography, text and archival ephemera into an anthology of my family’s struggle with poverty on a small farm in rural Central New York, including periods of homelessness, food insecurity, and lack of appropriate health care”.
Make Me Beautiful, by Yufan Lu (CHN)
Nominated by Donald Weber
The author went to 30 aesthetic clinics and asked the ‘beauty designers’ to map out surgery plans on her self portrait. They meticulously pointed out her “flaws”, suggesting the most popular types of faces and told her that a face could be a “permit” to her dream life.
My Mirror Opened Up the Sky, by Jo Ann Chaus (EE. UU.)
Nominated by Mary VIrginia Swanson
The overarching theme in this work, illustrated by self-portraits made over seven years, references a woman’s psychological state of mind, as she awakens to declare her agency, at this later stage of life.
Our Hidden Room, by Mohamed Hassan (Egipto/Reino Unido)
Nominated by Louise Fedotov-Clements
The fragmented story of a complex yet loving relationship between the author and his father with bipolar disorder at a time when mental health issues were not fully understood, ultimately leading to his suicide.
Sana Sana, by Rosa Lacavalla (Italia)
Nominated by Martin Bollati.
Tells the slow and delicate process of recovery from emotional wounds, using as a mantra the verses taken from a popular Ibero-American chant sung to comfort children: Sana Sana (Heal Heal) / Colita de rana (Frog’s tail). Si no sanas hoy (If you don’t heal today) / Sanarás mañana (You will heal tomorrow).
Small Meteors, by Masina Pinheiro y Gal Cipreste (Brasil)
Nominada by Alexa Becker.
Two intertwined experiences: a stoning suffered in childhood for reasons related to gender and the experience of a body in transition in the face of a religious family and its own resignifications.
, te quiere, mamá, by Bárbara Traver (España)
Nominated by Gustavo Alemán.
Inspired by Vivian Gornick’s book Fierce Attachments, the author explores the relationships between mothers and daughters and the complex emotions that arise in them, seeking to promote greater understanding and empathy towards mothers and daughters all over the world.
The Nature of Things, by Balasz Turos (Hungría)
Nominated by Alexa Becker.
Humans are the only living beings who are aware of the finality of life. We are bound to accept this fact with total vulnerability. But how can the transient nature of our personalities be acknowledged in an individualistic society?
Umana Natura, by Jean-Marc Caimi y Valentina Piccinni (Italia)
Nominated by Tiffany Jones.
contemplation of the nature of mankind and its identity, centred on notions of belonging, transformation, birth and mortality.