Leica Society International Announces the 2023 Photo Grant Recipient: Ingmar Björn Nolting
Leica Society International is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2023 LSI Photography Grant, Ingmar Björn Nolting! He will receive a grant in the amount of $7500 and a Leica Q3 Camera (courtesy of Leica USA). Congratulations, Ingmar!
Ingmar Björn Nolting lives and works as a freelance photographer in Leipzig, Germany. He holds a BA in photography at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts where he is currently enrolled in the Master Program. He is a founding member of the DOCKS collective. Ingmar's long-term projects have been awarded national and international prizes such as the Getty Reportage Grant, World Report Award and a VG Bildkunst Grant. His images have been published in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, TIME Magazine, Washington Post, Le Monde, ZEIT Magazine, Spiegel, ZEIT, GEO, Der Spiegel and Stern, among others. Ingmar held a scholarship of Stiftung Kunstfonds.
Hi domentary project, An Anthology of a Changing Climate, explores the challenges of Germany's ambitious goal to become a climate-neutral industrial nation by 2045. This places Germany among the international pioneers in the fight against the climate crisis. The path to climate neutrality is the “greatest modernisation and prosperity safeguarding project since World War II”, according to Dirk Messner, the President of the German Environment Agency. The phase-out of coal by 2038, seven to ten million electric cars on the roads by 2030 and a massive expansion of renewable energies were enshrined in law. Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, has already announced a second German economic miracle through the green transformation of the economy and climate-friendly innovations.
“An Anthology of a Changing Climate“ is a journey through a German society divided on climate issues, addressing the struggle for guiding narratives and the question of whether it is possible to find sustainable answers to the climate crisis in a consumer-driven society. His photo-essay portrays a society that stands at a social and ecological crossroad and thereby tells stories from a nation whose prosperity is rooted in the combustion of fossil fuels, on the intricate transition towards climate neutrality.
Ingmar says, “The starting point of my project was my coverage of the eviction of the activist-occupied village of Lützerath in favor of coal mining by the energy company RWE in January 2023. I took two photos there that, through their symbolic nature, could tell the story beyond the eviction, portraying the struggle of narratives within the climate debate. That was when I decided to create a large-scale document that like in a mosaic would bring together various aspects of my research into a larger social perspective. My ongoing research already includes more than 25 possible stories and aspects that I would like to photograph over the course of the next year. In the course of the project, I plan to deepen my knowledge through interviews with climate researchers, sociologists and political scientists in order to incorporate the findings into my photographic essay and the final form of presentation. This way of researching and visually narrating is very familiar to me. Without financial and ideational support, such an ambitious project is not possible. With the help of the grant of the Leica Society I can realize this time- and cost-intensive project in the next months.”
LSI wishes to thank our preliminary judges and this year’s group of finalist judges, Maggie Steber, Craig Semetko, Sara Terry, Peter Turnley, and the Trish Lambe.