Henri Cartier-Bresson Self-Published PhotoBook Award Shortlist

The V&A South Kensington is currently showing the shortlist for the Henri Cartier-Bresson Self-Published PhotoBook Award, and the best thing about it is that you can actually pick the books up. Most photo exhibitions keep the work behind glass, but here you're encouraged to read and handle the shortlisted titles yourself. It's a rare chance to get close to the objects, to feel the paper and see how they're put together, rather than just glancing at them from a distance.

The award was set up by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris to recognise artists who conceive, produce and distribute their own books outside traditional publishing circuits. The first edition shortlisted 35 titles from nearly 20 different countries, and they run the full length of the medium: some are intimate, others political or societal, and many experiment with the form, the materiality and how a photobook can be used. If you're into the physical side of photography — the sequence, the layout, the weight of the page — that's exactly what's on display here.

The 2025 winners were Lavinia Parlamenti and Manfredi Pantanella for The Lines We Draw (2024), which combines documentary photography, archival material and text, designed with graphic designer Ania Nalecka-Milach. You can find it among the others on the table.

You'll find the display in the Photography Centre, Room 98, at the V&A South Kensington on Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL. It's free and no booking is required, so you can just drop in whenever you're around South Ken. It runs until Monday 11 January 2027, so there's plenty of time to take your pick.