Nominations by referrers 2024

François Hébel is a 65years old French manon the side of photographers since 42years.He is a producer, curator,of more than1000exhibitions, books, educationalinitiatives, slide and live shows on the five continents. François has realized very early collaborations in the careers of now major artistssuch as Martin Parr, Nan Goldin, JR, Robert Doisneau, Wang Qingsong, Paul Graham, Raymond Depardon, Annie Leibovitz, Sebastiao Salgado,Harry Gruyaert,Alfredo Jaar, Zanele Muholi, Henri Cartier-Bresson…Mr Hébel hasrealized several long termcollaborations. He has been the Director of Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson 2017/2022; the Initiator andArt Director of the first Month of photography of the Grand Paris April 2017; the Art director/co-Founder of theBiennale Foto/Industriain Bologna (Italy) 2013, 2015, and 2017;the Artdirector of “French protocol” program at Fiaf gallery, New-York 2015/2018; the former director of the Rencontres d’Arles photo festival (1986, 1987 and 2001/2014); the Co-founder or advisor of photo festivalsin Beijing (2010/2013)and New-Delhi (2010, 2011); the Former vice-president ofCorbis photo agency(2000/2001); the Former director of Magnum Photos Paris and International (1987/2000); and the Former director of Fnacstores galleries (1983/1985).Since January 2024 François is the Administrator of Retail and Connexions for French Railways SNCF subsidiary.

Gonzalo de Benito (Spain, 1989) is a cultural manager and curator of photography and video. He works as an international promoter and artist liaison for the Mexican photography gallery Patricia Conde, he is part of the team at the PROYECTOR International Videoart Festival and the co-founder of Kino Tonalá, an itinerant curatorial project with exhibitions in Mexico City, Madrid and Barcelona. He also actively collaborates with the Prado Museum Foundation in the promotion of its contemporary photography collection. Gonzalo currently lives in Madrid where he combines this work with a PhD research at the School of Humanities of the Carlos III University. His interest and field of research are the new forms of communication through images using technology and digital engineering, as well as the hybridization between photography and other sciences such as chemistry and architecture.

Art historian and historian and critic of photography, in 2004 she began her collaboration with the National Museum of Photography in Brescia of which she is now Curator, dealing with the archiving, cataloguing and conservation of heritage, and also with the organization of exhibitions and events.
Professor of History of Photography in the post-university Master of Photography Archives at the University of Trieste, currently she teaches History of Photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rimini.
She organizes conferences, courses, seminars and workshops dedicated to the history and culture of photography, deeply convinced that, to be a photographer, you need awareness and curiosity about past and contemporary photographic history.
She’s a portfolio reader at various festivals and events. She has given lectures at important events such as the Milano Photofestival, the Festival della Fotografia Etica and Phototrace.
She’s a tutor for project creation, from idea to development to editing. She’s an exhibition curator, and she writes critical texts for catalogues.

Menno Liauw, the founder and director of FUTURES, brings over two decades of expertise as a strategic consultant specializing in fundraising, branding, and reputation management. Menno also is the artistic director of EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival.the new International Festival of Photography, which every year will bring temporary exhibitions, a specialised fair, educational activities, meetings, artistic commissions and off-site events, starting in may 2024. His experience extends to collaborating with esteemed organizations such as Foam Amsterdam, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Furthermore, he has made contributions as a member of the Advisory Board for the Van Gogh Museum’s inclusiveness program. Menno’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found Unseen, an internationally renowned photography fair, and he served as a co-owner of Foam magazine. His continuous engagement as a guest lecturer at HKU University of the Arts showcases his commitment to fostering intellectual growth and creativity within the artistic community.

Paul Ninson is a Ghanaian visual artist – photographer, filmmaker, curator – & educator based in Accra, Ghana. In 2022, he founded the Dikan Center, a non-profit institution dedicated to equipping the next generation of creative leaders to transform Africa through the power of visual education. Paul attended the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York and gained his Director’s Fellowship. Before this, he graduated with a degree in Industrial Arts from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Recently graduated from Oxford Cultural Leadership program in UK. In 2023, CNN named Paul on Africa Voice as a Changemaker for his work at Dikan, recognizing it as an important contributor to Africa’s cultural visual arts and education landscape. The Center pioneers visual education through a multidisciplinary curriculum, as well as exhibitions that showcase photographic works of Africans, and the African diaspora. Dikan’s education platform offers certificate program that teaches investigative skills and technical knowledge with an emphasis on authenticity and originality. Immersive workshops provide the opportunity to learn from and experience formative men and women in photography from the African continent and beyond. As a leader in the field of visual education working to mentor, develop, and build the capacity of photography on the African continent through his work at the Dikan Center, Paul appears in publications including The Guardian, Forbes Africa, DW, Bloomberg and VOA BBC. He has spoken at various venues including the Open Society’s Global Convening for the Restitution of African Heritage, CUNY College, Heritage and Cultural Society of Africa’s (HACSA), and Babson College, and others. He has worked with BBBDO, AstraZeneca, Vivo Energy, Next Door and others. As well worked with Brandon Stanton at Humans of New York, where he served as a producer and photo editor. Recently Paul has been appointed as a scholar at University of Pennsylvania. In line with his dedication to the transformative power of visual education, Paul is involved in diverse educational initiatives and photo projects globally. His extensive portfolio of photojournalism & documentaries represents his broad practice.

Born in the US and based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Roger Ballen is one of the most important photographers of his generation. He has published over 25 books and recently Thames and Hudson published his book Ballenesque, Roger Ballen – A Retrospective, a major book of his collected works. His photographs are collected by some of the most prominent museums in the world. 
His oeuvre, which spans five decades, began with the documentary photography field but evolved into the creation of distinctive fictionalized realms that also integrate the mediums of film, installation, theatre, sculpture, painting and drawing. Ballen describes his works as “existential psychodramas” that touch the subconscious mind and evoke the underbelly of the human condition. They aim to break through the repressed thoughts and feelings by engaging him in themes of chaos and order, madness or unruly states of being, the human relationship to the animal world, life and death, universal archetypes of the psyche and experiences of otherness. Through his unique, complex visual language, and universal and profound themes, the artist has made a lasting contribution to the field of art.
https://www.rogerballen.com/   Ballen has also been the creator of several acclaimed and exhibited short films that dovetail with his photographic series. Ballen was one of the artists that represented South African at the Venice Biennale Arte 2022. He is also the founder and executive director of the Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg, which opened to the public in March 2023. The Centre aims to promote an awareness of African related issues through exhibitions and educational programmes. Its first show, entitled End of the Game, explores the decimation of wildlife in Africa both through historical artefacts and Ballen’s photographs and installations.

Reporter, portraitist, established fashion photographer and art director, Toni Thorimbert began photographing at a very young age, documenting the social and political tensions of the 1970s. In the 1980s, his close collaboration with the most innovative periodicals of the time such as Max, Sette and Amica was instrumental in defining the new visual standard of the time.
The nineties marked his authorial maturity thanks to international editorial collaborations for Details, Mademoiselle, Wallpaper, Brutus, and in Italy for Io Donna, Rolling Stone, Style and the realisation of prestigious advertising campaigns. In 2006 he published Carta Stampata, a volume recounting his thirty years of fashion and portrait photography for the publishing industry, while Seduction of Photography ( 2017) and Proprio da dentro ti voglio e il tuo interno desidero mentre ti guardo ( 2019) are his most recent artist’s books produced in limited editions. He has taught photographic language at the IED in Milan, the Fondazione Studio Marangoni in Florence, the Fondazione Fotografia in Modena and the Master of Photography at Raffles in Milan. In 2021 he founded Scuola Thorimbert, a choice of lessons and workshops for highly personalised growth paths.
His artistic career has been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad.  In 2020, he was awarded the Arturo Ghergo Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

Veronica Nicolardi works on the conception and realization of cultural events, exhibitions, and photography festivals, overseeing all vital processes of production. She is focused on engaging audiences, from enthusiasts to tourists and local communities, and on creating innovative cultural programs. In 2016, she co-founded OTM Company, which operates in the world of photography in all its aspects and manifestations. Since 2021, she has been the director of Cortona On The Move, an international photography festival that serves as a reference point for industry experts and a national and international audience interested in contemporary culture. In 2022, she, along with cultural associations ONTHEMOVE and BESAFE, founded Yeast Photo Festival and assumed co-direction. In the same year, she co-founded OTM Gallery and serves as its curator.

Laura Sackett is the creative director and co-founder of LensCulture, one of the leading sites committed to discovering and publishing the best in the contemporary photography. She leads all aspects of design including strategy, brand, website, print, communications, screenings and exhibitions. Besides leading the creative direction for LensCulture, she also designs and co-curates LensCulture exhibitions and the online galleries. Laura is a frequent reviewer at portfolio reviews. She is a founding Board Member of PhotoAlliance, and earned an MFA in photography from the California College of the Arts. She currently lives in Berkeley, CA.

The founder of Podbielski Contemporary, describes himself a “citizen of the world”.
Of Polish and German descent (father was Prussian raised in Berlin, mother Polish raised in Vienna), born in Geneva and bearing an Australian passport, he is fluent in french, german and italian. A qualified architect (Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris), a passionate collector, he has become an art dealerand an active partner of Galleria Rubin from 2001 to 2009 -his main area of expertise was abstract painting, photography and site specific commissions.
His participation in numerous fairs (Art Cologne, Artefiera Bologna, Miart, Preview Berlin,Scope MIami) has allowed him to establish a qualified network of contacts among artists, galleries, curators and collectors. In order to best consolidate such acquired experience and face new challenges, he has launched Podbielski Contemporary in Summer 2011 in Berlin.