The Hasselblad Award is an international photography prize, awarded for the first time in 1980. It has been presented annually since then, with the exception of the year of Erna Hasselblad’s death 1983.

The Hasselblad Award is granted to “a photographer recognized for major achievements”. This may be an individual who has made a pioneering achievement in photography, who has had a decisive impact on one or more younger generations of photographers, or who has implemented one or more internationally significant photographic projects. Today the award comprises the sum of SEK 1,000,000, a gold medal and a diploma. In conjunction with the award ceremony, an exhibition of the work of the award winner opens at the Hasselblad Center.

Each year, the Board of Directors of the Foundation appoints an award committee of nationally and internationally prominent experts in photography. The committee nominates 3-5 candidates, after which the final decision regarding the award winner is made by the Board of Directors of the Hasselblad Foundation.

The Hasselblad Award is the most important prize in photography in the world today, and the award ceremony has become an international event of unique prestige, with award winners of great international renown.

The Hasselblad Foundation is pleased to announce British photographer Paul Graham as the recipient of the 2012 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography for SEK 1,000,000 (approximately GBP 95,000, US$150,000), The award ceremony will take place in London on March 8, 2012. An exhibition of his work, Paul Graham – 2012 Hasselblad Award Winner will open on October 26, 2012 at the Hasselblad Center at the Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden, in connection with which, one or more seminars will be arranged with the award winner.

The Foundation’s citation regarding the decision to award the 2012 prize to Paul Graham is as follows:

Paul Graham is one of the most brilliant photographers of his generation. During the course of his nearly 40-year career, he has presented an extremely focused body of work, at once perfectly coherent and never monotonous. In images both sensitive and subtly political, he makes tangible the insignificant traces of ″the spirit of the times″ we do not normally see. With his keen awareness of the photographic medium, he has constantly developed innovative forms of working with all aspects of photography. This makes him a profound force for renewal of the deep photographic tradition of engagement with the world.

This year’s award committee, which submitted its proposal to the Foundation’s board of directors, consisted of:

Clément Chéroux (chair), Photography Historian, Curator Department of Photograpy, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, Ekaterina Degot, Art Historian, Art Critic and Curator, Moscow, Russia Ute Eskildsen, Professor, Head of the Department of Photography and Vice-Director, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany.
Gao Shiming, Curator, School of Intermedia Art, China Art Academy, Hangzhou, PR China,Roberta Valtorta, Scientific Director, Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Milan, Italy.

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.perrine1@orange.fr