And/or Book Awards 2009 shortlist announced

[Michael Pritchard]

The two shortlists have been announced for the 2009 And/or Book Awards, the UK’s leading prizes for books published in the fields of photography and the moving image. A winner from each category will share a prize fund of £10,000. They will be announced during an awards ceremony at the BFI Southbank, London, on Thursday 23 April. The shortlisted titles for the 2009 And/or Photography Book Award are: • Brought to Light: Photography and the Invisible, 1840-1900 by Corey Keller, Jennifer Tucker, Tom Gunning and Maren Gröning (Yale University Press) • From Somewhere to Nowhere: China’s Internal Migrants by Andreas Seibert (Lars Müller) • Susan Meiselas: In History edited by Kristen Lubbin (Steidl) • The World from my Front Porch by Larry Towell (Chris Boot) The shortlisted titles for the 2009 And/or Moving Image Book Award are: • Photography and Cinema by David Campany (Reaktion Books) • Fight Pictures: A History of Boxing and the Early Cinema by Dan Streible (University of California Press) • Performing Illusions: Cinema, Special Effects and the Virtual Actor by Dan North (Wallflower Press) Over 150 titles were submitted across the two categories for the awards, which have been narrowed down to a final seven books by the two judging panels chaired by Martin Parr (Photography) and Mike Dibb (Moving Image). The judges were looking for works which make a significant contribution to the understanding of photography and/or the moving image and which use photographs as more than a means of illustration. The photography shortlist includes: a book which steps back to a time when the new visual technologies of photography, x-rays and microscopes captivated scientists and the public alike; a photo essay by Andreas Seibert investigating the lives of China’s internal economic migrants; an in depth look at Susan Meiselas’ esteemed career in socially engaged documentary photography; Larry Towell’s personal photo album comparing his family life in rural Ontario with his photojournalist work the world beyond. Martin Parr comments: “It is reassuring that despite the internet and the credit crunch, so much effort and care goes into the making of these books, all of which reflect the application and passion of individual photographers or curators.” The moving image shortlist includes: David Campany’s missing history of the connections and influences between photography and cinema; a revelatory investigation into the importance of boxing films in early cinema by Dan Steible; Dan North’s exploration of the essential role of illusion to the process of movie making. Mike Dibb comments: “When I first worked in cinema there were so few books available on the subject, now I am amazed that there are so many. We all agreed on the shortlisted titles though, which all demonstrate insightful academic analysis, written clearly and without jargon.”