The Hasselblad Foundation is pleased to announce that Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama is the recipient of the 2019 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography for the sum of SEK 1,000,000 (approx. USD 110,000). The award ceremony will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden on October 13, 2019. A symposium will be held on October 14, followed by the opening of an exhibition of Moriyama’s work at the Hasselblad Center, and the release of a new book about the artist, published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König.
The Foundation’s citation regarding the Hasselblad Award Laureate 2019, Daido Moriyama:
»Daido Moriyama is one of Japan’s most renowned photographers, celebrated for his radical approach to both medium and subject. Moriyama’s images embrace a highly subjective but authentic approach. Reflecting a harsh vision of city life and its chaos of everyday existence and unusual characters, his work occupies a unique space between the illusory and the real. Moriyama became the most prominent artist to emerge from the short-lived yet pro-foundly influential Provoke movement, which played an important role in liberating photography from tradition and interrogating the very nature of the medium. His bold, uncompromising style has helped engender widespread recognition of Japanese photography within an international context. Influen-ced by photographer William Klein, the writings of Jack Kerouac and James Baldwin, and the experimental theatre of Shūji Terayama, Moriyama in turn has inspired subsequent generations of photographers, not only in Japan, but also around the world.«
»Daido Moriyama’s depiction of life is uncensored and he is not afraid of neither the ugly nor the beautiful. He is truly a groundbreaking photographer and an inspiration to people from many creative fields, not just within the art and photography community. We are thrilled to be working with Daido Moriyama and his vast catalogue of images and publications and we hope to convey the richness of his continuous, obsessive scrutiny of the world in both our upcoming exhibition and catalogue.« say curators at the Hasselblad Foundation, Sara Walker and Louise Wolthers.
»An iconic figure of Japanese photography, revered worldwide for his radical aesthetic, Daido Moriyama is surely one of the most significant and influential photographers in history. For a whole generation of viewers, the chaotic rest-lessness and rough beauty of his classic images convey a universal urban psychology, a profound empathy for the alienation and dislocation common to all post-industrial cities. Daido Moriyama’s images seem envisioned rather than recorded – scenes from the modern, global metropolis of our collective imagination.« states Paul Roth, Director of Toronto’s Ryerson Image Centre and Chair of the Hasselblad Award Jury 2019.
"I am delighted about the news that I will receive the Hasselblad Award. I believe this award recognizes my lifelong commitment to photographing the streets and I look forward to taking many more street photographs. Thank you so much." Daido Moriyama
»2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the Hasselblad Foundation, and we find it very fitting that a photographer with such a wide appeal and long, diverse career as Daido Moriyama is this year’s award winner.« says Christina Backman, Director of the Hasselblad Foundation.
Cited from: http://www.hasselbladfoundation.org/wp/hasselblad-award-winner-2019/