{"id":201479,"date":"2025-10-09T22:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T22:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/201479\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T22:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T22:37:10","slug":"the-2025-leica-oskar-barnack-award-winners-capture-the-complexity-of-the-human-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/201479\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2025 Leica Oskar Barnack Award Winners Capture the Complexity of the Human Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The winners of the 45th edition of the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award<\/a> are photographers Alejandro Cegarra and Serghei Duve. The two photographers prevailed over more than 300 others nominated by around 120 experts in nearly 50 countries. <\/p>\n

Born in Venezuela but now based in Mexico, Cegarra won the main award for his series The Two Walls. Meanwhile, German photographer Serghei Duve\u2019s series, Bright Memory, earned the photographer the LOBA Newcomer award. <\/p>\n

Alejandro Cegarra: The Two Walls \u2014 2025 Leica Oskar Barnack Award Winner <\/p>\n

For his award-winning long-term project, The Two Walls, Cegarra traveled and worked in the borderlands between the United States and Mexico. The black-and-white photo series focuses on the challenges that migrants and refugees face in the region, and the exceptional dangers they incur in search of a better life. <\/p>\n

\"AA migrant walks on top of a parked freight train known as \u2018The Beast\u2019 on the outskirts of Piedras Negras, Mexico 2023. From the series The Two Walls. | \u00a9 Alejandro Cegarra\/LOBA 2025 \"TwoEddie, Carolina and their four-year-old daughter Valentina, hide inside of an abandoned house before reaching the Rio Bravo in Piedras Negras, Mexico 2023. From the series The Two Walls. | \u00a9 Alejandro Cegarra\/LOBA 2025 <\/p>\n

Mexico was once considered safe for refugees, but in recent years, the country has worked closely with anti-immigration efforts in the United States, which has made the country significantly more inhospitable for refugees. <\/p>\n

Cegarra\u2019s powerful photographs turn the lens toward these migrants and their families who face horrendous conditions at the Mexican-U.S. border. <\/p>\n

\"AEddie, Carolina and their four-year-old daughter Valentina, hide inside of an abandoned house before reaching the Rio Bravo in Piedras Negras, Mexico 2023. From the series The Two Walls. | \u00a9 Alejandro Cegarra\/LOBA 2025 \"AAsylum seekers wait at the gates of the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (COMAR) for an asylum hearing. Tapachula, Mexico 2019. From the series The Two Walls. | \u00a9 Alejandro Cegarra\/LOBA 2025 <\/p>\n

\u201cI worked on this series from 2018 to January of this year and was always between the borders,\u201d Alejandro Cegarra says. \u201cI wanted to concentrate on the humanity and universally human emotions.\u201d <\/p>\n

The photographer took 35,000 images in total as part of his project, of which 20 were selected for the LOBA series. <\/p>\n

\"AEver Sosa carries his daughter on his shoulders as they cross the Suchiate River from Guatemala to Mexico, Mexico 2020. From the series The Two Walls. | \u00a9 Alejandro Cegarra\/LOBA 2025 <\/p>\n

Cegarra, born in 1989, began his photographic career in 2012 when he began working for Venezuela\u2019s largest newspaper, \u00daltimas Noticias. Since then, he has worked as a freelance photographer and been published in major newspapers and magazines like National Geographic, The New Yorker, TIME, and more. He also received the Getty Editorial Grant in 2017, the same year he moved to Mexico, and the Global Award for Long-Term Projects from World Press Photo in 2019 and 2024. <\/p>\n

\"BlackPortrait of Alejandro Cegarra | \u00a9 Elsa Acare <\/p>\n

Notably, Cegarra also won the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award in 2014 for his series, The Other Side of the Tower of David, a photo series about squatters in an unfinished high-rise in Caracas, Venezuela. <\/p>\n

This year, Cegarra was nominated for consideration by Colombian photographer Federico Rios Escobar. <\/p>\n

Serghei Duve: Bright Memory \u2014 2025 Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award <\/p>\n

Photographer Serghei Duve was born in 1999 in Chi\u0219in\u0103u, Moldova, but his parents took him and the rest of the family to Hanover, Germany, when Duve was just one. Although he grew up in Germany, his family\u2019s Russian culture remained an essential part of his childhood, and they spoke Russian in the family home. <\/p>\n

\"APortrait of Serghei Duve | \u00a9 Alexander Duve <\/p>\n

At age 10, Duve received a camera for his birthday, which quickly turned into a passion. Duve has been studying in the Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography department at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts since 2021. His photographic work primarily centers around identity and origin, often relating directly to his own experiences and connections to his roots. <\/p>\n

\"TwoValera and Artjom argue about the war in Ukraine. Tiraspol, Transnistria, Republic of Moldova 2023. From the series Bright Memory. | \u00a9 Serghei Duve\/LOBA 2025
\n \"AValera on the sofa in his living room. Tiraspol, Transnistria, Republic of Moldova 2023. From the series Bright Memory. | \u00a9 Serghei Duve\/LOBA 2025 <\/p>\n

Bright Memory explores Duve\u2019s family\u2019s connections to Transnistria, a fascinating territory that declared its independence from Moldova in 1990. The region remains unrecognized internationally and is supported only by Russia. <\/p>\n

Through his images, Duve seeks to visualize the sentiment that is captured by the Russian expression, \u201cbright memory.\u201d This term refers to how everyday life is shaped by nostalgia and division. <\/p>\n

\"AFamily shooting with an air rifle. Tiraspol, Transnistria, Republic of Moldova 2024. From the series Bright Memory. | \u00a9 Serghei Duve\/LOBA 2025 \"AnSaying goodbye before the flight back to Germany. Tiraspol, Transnistria, Republic of Moldova 2024. From the series Bright Memory. | \u00a9 Serghei Duve\/LOBA 2025 \"ASasha and Kira on their last evening before he begins his military service. He would like to move to Europe. Tiraspol, Transnistria, Republic of Moldova 2023. From the series Bright Memory. | \u00a9 Serghei Duve\/LOBA 2025 <\/p>\n

The Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award is available to young photographers up to the age of 30. Duve\u2019s series was nominated by the Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography department at the Hochschule Hanover \u2014 University of Applied Sciences and Arts. <\/p>\n

Cegarra and Duve Bested Very Talented Competition <\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s Leica Oskar Barnack Award jury reached their decision with close consideration and a deep appreciation for photography\u2019s social impact,\u201d says Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director and Chief Representative of Leica Galleries International. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlejandro Cegarra\u2019s path is particularly moving: As a former winner of the Newcomer category, he returns with his impressive series The Two Walls, \u2014 a work which highlights the topics of division, migration, and human dignity with vivid imagery. His graduation from newcomer to the main category is a first in the history of the award and shows how photographic voices grow and are becoming more urgent than ever.\u201d <\/p>\n

Felix Hoffmann, Curator at Foto Arsenal Vienna adds: \u201cThe LOBA has established itself as a key reference point for the international photography scene, embodying quality, diversity, and social relevance. The wide range of topics was striking this year: from very personal stories to global social issues.\u201d <\/p>\n

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Leica I, the first mass-produced 35mm camera. So this 45th edition of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award coincides with Leica\u2019s expansive \u201c100 Years of Leica: Witness to a Century\u201d celebration. <\/p>\n

The Leica Oskar Barnack Award is among the most renowned photography competitions in the world. Consequently, both Cegarra and Duve received a significant prize in addition to the immense honor. Cegarra has earned a 40,000 euro cash prize and a Leica camera kit worth 10,000 euros for winning the main award. Meanwhile, Duve\u2019s Newcomer Award comes with 10,000 euros and a Leica Q3<\/a>. <\/p>\n

All of the LOBA series are now on exhibit at the Ernst Leitz Museum Wetzlar with support from WhiteWall. Following the show in Wetzlar, the winning photos will go on tour at various Leica Galleries and photography festivals worldwide. <\/p>\n

Leica Oskar Barnack Award, Alejandro Cegarra, and Serghei Duve <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The winners of the 45th edition of the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award are photographers Alejandro Cegarra and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[125826,449,458,459,64,63,25671,22279,5428,460,134,5717,67852,125827,125828,2184,125829,59518,40002,2016,125830,15262],"class_list":{"0":"post-201479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-alejandrocegarra","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-au","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-award","15":"tag-competition","16":"tag-contest","17":"tag-design","18":"tag-entertainment","19":"tag-germany","20":"tag-leica","21":"tag-leicaoskarbarnackaward","22":"tag-loba","23":"tag-mexico","24":"tag-moldova","25":"tag-photocontest","26":"tag-photojournalism","27":"tag-russia","28":"tag-sergheiduve","29":"tag-unitedstates"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}