Sophie Ristelhueber Wins 2025 Hasselblad Award
161March 12, 2025
The Hasselblad Foundation has named Sophie Ristelhueber the recipient of its 2025Hasselblad Award. The prize, which includes 2 million Swedish kronor (US $200,100), a Hasselblad camera, and a gold medal, is considered the world’s most prestigious given in recognition of a living photographer. Past recipients include Nan Goldin, Alfredo Jaar, Ingrid Pollard, Cindy Sherman, Dayanita Singh, Carrie Mae Weems, and Wolfgang Tillmans. Ristelhueber will receive the award in a ceremony taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden, on October 10. Alongside a planned series of events taking place that week, an exhibition of her work—her first solo show in Scandinavia—will open at the Hasselblad Center on October 11 and will remain on view through January 18, 2026.
Born in Paris in 1949, Ristelhueber studied literature at the Sorbonne, where she gained an appreciation of the “new novel” movement that was then ascendant. She brought the fragmented narrative structures and attention to detail that characterized the style to her own work, begun in the 1980s, which focuses on the impact of war and frequently depicts shattered landscapes devoid of people. Ristelhueber often groups her works in series, encouraging viewers to construct a story from the details presented.
“A precise, consistent, and unique body of work exploring landscapes and territories—both public and private—defines the artistic career of French artist Sophie Ristelhueber spanning forty-five years,” wrote the foundation in a statement. “Through her series, created in war-torn regions, she challenged the field of journalistic photography, developing her own visual language. The traces and scars of violence—on land, the human body, and architecture—are central to her powerful, tightly cropped images, most notably in her acclaimed series focusing on the Middle East and the Balkans. Ristelhueber’s large-scale photographs are often presented in unconventional ways and combined with video and sound in site-specific installations.”
“As you know, one does not die from being unloved, but from being unbelieved, an old friend of mine used to say when we were talking about the artist’s condition,” said Ristelhueber in a statement. “What is at stake is that we put everything on the line, inventing new patterns without knowing if they will ever resonate. And this is why, for me as an artist, this prestigious prize holds such a deep significance.”