Jonas Bendiksen wins top culture award
Magnum Photos photographer Jonas Bendiksen has won the 2008 Telenor International Culture Prize in his native Norway in recognition of his project ‘The Places We Live’ which documented slum living in the cities of Caracas, Mumbai, Nairobi and Jakarta.
On 22 September 2008 in Fornebu, Norway, Bendiksen received his prize and NOK 250,000: “for his groundbreaking photographic art, through which he communicates an artistic experience combined with a pressing message about living conditions on the outskirts of civilisation.”
The president and CEO of the award's sponsor Telenor (a mobile communications provider), Jon Fredrik Baksaas, explained: "We congratulate Jonas Bendiksen with Telenor's culture prize for 2008. Bendiksen tells stories about people living in circumstances that make a strong impact, and we are proud to support such an impressing and important artist."
Jonas Bendiksen.
Commenting on Bendiksen’s work the jury said: “His work maintains without a doubt the highest artistic quality, while at the same time conveying a message so profoundly relevant in our time that he is rapidly gaining acknowledgement and well deserved international recognition."
Jonas Bendiksen said: “It's a great honour to receive this year's cultural award, and one that means a lot for me and my work. In today's media landscape, it is often a challenge to direct serious attention to themes such as poverty and marginalized communities. For this reason, I appreciate the support greatly, and will use it to continue my work in these areas.”
Bendiksen added: “My next project is to travel to the Chinese city of Chongquing. This city is the point on earth with the fastest population growth, adding half a million city dwellers to its population each year. For the first time in history, there are more people living in cities than in rural areas. Urbanisation is an issue which I am deeply involved in.”
Telenor's Culture Prize was established in 1995 and previous award winners have been from the worlds of acting, painting, choreography, books, music, theatre, dance, art and cinema. The Jonas Bendiksen exhibition 'The Places We Live' runs until February 2009 in the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, Norway. Canon is the technical partner of the show.
