Festival MESS: Photographer Paul Lowe awarded for contribution to the culture of remembrance

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - This year's recipient of the special recognition Modul Memorije 2020, the Award for Contribution to the Culture of Remembrance, is British photographer Paul Lowe.

Paul Lowe is a photographer with a fascinating biography. His photographs have been taken all over the world, including photo stories about the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, famine in Africa, the aggression against Bosnia and the siege of Sarajevo, wars in the former Yugoslavia, or the destruction of Grozny in Chechnya...

He has won numerous photography awards, including the "World Press Photo" award, which he has won as many as 5 times, and one of them was for a photograph taken during the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. His photographs have been published in numerous reputable world magazines and journals, such as: Time, Newsweek, Life, The Sunday Times, The Observer, The Independent... as announced on the official website of the MESS Festival.

His book "Bosanci" (Bosnians), published in April 2005, on the 10th anniversary of the end of the war, is a photo-documentary about the war and the post-war situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On that occasion, Paul stated: "The things that happened in Sarajevo were unique in modern history. It was about bringing the life of a modern, civilized city back a thousand years. It's not just about hanging pictures on walls and saying that's what happened in Bosnia, but also about saying how civilized people behaved in those situations, how they retained their humanity."

His research interest is focused on conflict photography, and he is also the author of chapters in the books "Picturing Atrocity: Photography in Crisis" (Reaktion, 2012) and "Photography and Conflict." His latest books include "Masterclass Photography," published by "Thames & Hudson," and "Understanding Photojournalism," co-authored with Dr. Jenny Good, published by "Bloomsbury Academic Press." Paul Lowe also leads the master's program in photojournalism and documentary photography at London's "College of Communication," "University of the Arts London."

He is also responsible for initiating and developing a new way of working established in 2008, which is conducted entirely online using web conferences, blogs, etc. He is an advisor to the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam on online education for professional photojournalists. He is a member of the VII Agency and is involved in organizing numerous professional programs and exhibitions.

From the siege of Sarajevo to the present day, Paul Lowe lives and works between Sarajevo and London. In addition to being one of the most significant photographers of our time, Paul Lowe has also earned the Award for Contribution to the Culture of Remembrance due to the fact that he is a dedicated transmitter of knowledge and a true teacher. In addition to his professorial work in Great Britain, Paul Lowe is always ready to help everyone and pass on his knowledge, which makes him a professor even beyond his academic title. In his work, he fully combines the values of ethics and aesthetics. Undoubtedly, such people are rare and very valuable, and Paul is precisely one of them.

The award ceremony for Paul Lowe's contribution to the culture of remembrance was supposed to be held at the City Hall, at the event marking the grand opening of Modul Memorije 2020, within which Paul Lowe's major exhibition, "Ožiljci" (Scars), was also to be opened. Given the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire event has been postponed, and both the exhibition opening and the award ceremony will be held later this year, when conditions permit.