SELF PUBLISH RIGA 2021

First Prize – “An Ordinary Story” by Nadezhda Ermakova (Russia)

Jury’s comment on Nadezhda Ermakova's "An Ordinary Story":
For this year’s dummy competition we received 112 submissions from 35 countries and many of them were very high-quality, accomplished photobooks which could be printed tomorrow. However, the winner – “An Ordinary Story” by Nadezhda Ermakova is the most dummy-like dummy of them all. It is roughly made, but contains great photography and an intimate and touching story of a mother-son relationship and growing up, intertwining photography and text. Its nostalgic feel is emphasized by the raw design and yellowed pages, reminiscent of old books and soviet aesthetics. The story might come across as slightly naïve, but perhaps this warming sensation of real human interaction, radiating very strongly from this book, is exactly what is needed after a year-and-a-half struggle with the pandemic.

 

Best of Baltic – “Half Houses” by Inga Navickaitė-Drąsutė (Lithuania)

Alexey Murashko on Inga Navickaitė-Drąsutė’s “Half Houses”:
“In “Half Houses” Inga Navickaitė-Drąsutė has turned Kaunas’ local architectural phenomena into a historical reference and acute metaphor of tragedy and irreparable loss. A defamiliarization of everyday urban landscape elements combined with the power of photography and the simple yet thoughtful layout of the dummy instantly involves readers. The separate text pieces contribute to the context while not overshadowing the visuals. The care taken during printing and production of the dummy adds to the overall impression. We consider this submission a great concept that could be developed into an expanded and complete photostory.

TOP 10

“How to raise a hand” by Angelo Vignali
“Witch Hunt Vol. I – The Banished of Balsapuerto” by Christo Geoghegan
“Such a Place is the Space Within a Screen” by Gedvilė Tamošiūnaitė
“Half Houses” by Inga Navickaitė-Drąsutė
“Down a Stream” by Jenica Heintzelman
“Elusive Rainbow” by Kazuhiko Matsumura
“Noema” by Michael Swann
“An ordinary story” by Nadezhda Ermakova
“Rules for Fighting” by Paola Jimenez
“nosex_noglory” by Petra Kroon

Full shortlist

“Atlas of voids” by Kathleen Alisch;
“Komfort Skulptur” by Tine Bek Hansen;
“Meat, Fish and Aubergine Caviar” by Alex Blanco;
“You don’t belong here more than anything else: a field study in universal abandonment” by Linda Boļšakova;
“Pomegranates grow in winter” by Anna-Tia Bus;
“Anamnesis” by Aliki Christoforeu;
“ichfolgedessen” by Steffi Drerup;
“Isolation (Self)” by Joanna Epstein;
“Almost Transparent Island” by Maki Hayashida;
“Sommerspiele” by Uta Genilke;
“Analysis and Other Sorceries” by Indra Gleizde;
“Wall” by Alper Goldenberg;
“Duplicates” by Rūta Kalmuka;
“Searching for Sergei” by Josef Kovac;
“Namur” by Rahier Pierre;
“My first telik” by Anna Pylypyuk and Volodymyr Shypotilnykov;
“The Maze” by Evgeny Pustarnakov;
“Nomad” by Anna Reivilä;
“The White Line” by Rosa Rodriguez;
“Oseyev” by Vladimir Seleznev;
“Post No Bills” by Filips Šmits;
“Expired in 2014” by Ieva Ozoliņa;
“I Thought of You as Gold but You are Such a Pain” by Mirjam Waehlen;
“Under the Yuzu Tree” by Feiyi Wen.

JURY

Bruno Ceschel (Italy) – founder and director of Self Publish, Be Happy, a visiting lecturer at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, and École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL).
Evita Goze (Latvia) – curator of ISSP Gallery and SELF PUBLISH RIGA, independent writer, photographer.
Milo Montelli (Italy) – founder and director of the independent publishing house Skinnerboox.
Alexey Murashko (Latvia) – book designer, typographer.
Daria Tuminas (Russia / the Netherlands) – researcher, photographer and curator. Previously head of Unseen Book Market and the Dummy Award at Unseen Amsterdam. Curator at FOTODOK.