Raisan Hameed has been shortlisted for the LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award 2025 at the renowned photo festival in Arles with his publication Pixel of Memories. Pixel of Memories is part of the work Embers of Narrative , with which Raisan Hameed successfully completed his master's degree with Prof Tina Bara at the HGB last semester. The shortlisted publications are currently being exhibited at the 56th Les Recontres d'Arles Festival.
Based on personal experiences,Raisan Hameed deals with the connections between war, migration and memory. Using private and public, analogue and digital image archives, he explores the impact of historical and geopolitical events on individual and collective history. In his work, the artist examines the traces of destruction left behind by violent conflicts in Iraq and in his home town of Mosul.
Since 2015, the Rencontres d'Arles and LUMA Foundation prize has been endowed with a production budget of €25,000. The award is open to all new photographers or artists who use photography and submit a previously unpublished book. Special attention is paid to experimental and innovative forms of publication. This year, more than 200 dummies from 50 different countries were submitted.
The jury, consisting of Christoph Wiesner and Aurélie De Lanlay (director and deputy director of the Rencontres d'Arles), Pascale Obolo (independent curator, filmmaker and researcher) and Matthieu Humery (curator, LUMA Arles), selected ten dummies that will be exhibited as part of the official festival programme in 2025. The winner of 2025 will be announced during the opening week from 7-13 July.