Awards: Salvatore Vitale wins the PHM 2017 Grant

“Salvatore Vitale’s extraordinary project How to secure a country is a forensic examination of national security in one of the safest countries on the planet. This work challenges the concept of power and control, shining a light on wider issues of mass migration and fear,” says Emma Bowkett, director of photography for the FT Weekend Magazine and a jury member for the PH Museum 2017 Grant this year.
Along with Sarah Leen from National Geographic, Ihiro Hayami from Tokyo Photography Festival, and the photographer Alejandro Chaskielberg, she picked out the Italian photographer for the top prize, for his project exploring the National Security Program in Switzerland, his adopted home. Two years in the making, the series has been funded by a Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia grant, and Vitale has scooped £7000 by winning the PH Museum prize.
From the series How to Secure a Country © Salvatore Vitale, which won first prize and £7000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
From the series How to Secure a Country © Salvatore Vitale, which won first prize and £7000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
“Salvatore Vitale has managed to gain access to one of the most difficult places to photograph; border control,” comments Hayami. “He tries to capture, or examine, the abstract concept of security through the fragments of scenes and successfully presents, in a new way, such a concept. It is a strong and suggestive work that stands out, especially in the current political climate.”
Antonio Faccilongo took the £3000 second prize with Habibi, a story about Palestinian women using sperm smuggling and IVF to conceive children with husbands serving long-term sentences in Israeli jails. In the past three years, 60 babies have been born this way. “The project was a fresh and surprising way to envision the effects of the Palestinian crisis on families,” says Leen. “Faccilongo has found subtle and intimate ways to tell a story about a secret.”
Signs of a life suspended at Iman Al Barghouti's home. Her husband, Nael Al Barghouti, has spent 38 years in prison. He was arrested on 4 April 1978 after carrying out a commando operation in which one Israeli was killed. From the series Habibi © Antonio Faccilongo, which won second prize and £3000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
Signs of a life suspended at Iman Al Barghouti’s home. Her husband, Nael Al Barghouti, has spent 38 years in prison. He was arrested on 4 April 1978 after carrying out a commando operation in which one Israeli was killed. From the series Habibi © Antonio Faccilongo, which won second prize and £3000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
From the series Road of Bones © Jacob Aue Subol, which won third prize and £1000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
From the series Road of Bones © Jacob Aue Sobol, which won third prize and £1000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
Jacob Aue Sobol took the £1000 third prize with Road of Bones, a story venturing deep into Siberia and the lives of its inhabitants. “Road of Bones is an intimate and familiar narration of one of the most inhospitable places on Earth,” commented Chaskielberg. “It is an extraordinary work that persists in our memory for its rawness and simple reading. In this project, people and objects merge through the textures. The visual power of this work is relentless and unites photography with graphics, ink painting, and animé.”
From the series Hayati © Karim El Maktafi, which won the New Generation Prize and £1000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant.
From the series Hayati © Karim El Maktafi, which won the New Generation Prize and £1000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant.
The New Generation Prize of £1000, for a photographer under 25 years of age, was assigned to Italian-Moroccan photographer Karim El Maktafi by a jury featuring Kate Bubacz from BuzzFeed News; Fiona Rogers from Magnum Photos; Poulomi Basu, the photographer and founder of Just Another Photo Festival ; and Alejandro Kirchuk from PH Museum. El Maktafi’s project, Hayati, investigates and reflects upon the identities of “second generations” – children of immigrants, born and raised in Italy.

The Cortona On The Move prize, selected by the festival director Arianna Rinaldo and offering a solo exhibition at this year’s edition, was won by Sandra Mehl for the project Ilona and Maddalena. “Sandra Mehl’s voice is realistic, ironic, sweet and sour at the same time,” says Rinaldo. “The story is simple: two young sisters living in the South of France, in a low-income family. They are young girls, from a working class neighbourhood.
Ilona in an evening dress during a family meal the day after her first communion. From the series Ilona and Maddelena © Sandra Mehl, which won the Cortona On The Move prize and an exhibition at the festival of the same name in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant.
Ilona in an evening dress during a family meal the day after her first communion. From the series Ilona and Maddelena © Sandra Mehl, which won the Cortona On The Move prize and an exhibition at the festival of the same name in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant.
“Sandra’s natural gaze is non-invasive but quite intimate, non-pietistic but slightly melancholic. It is as if the girls are speaking to us in their spontaneous words, offering a glimpse into their life that breathes of desires and dreams, of hopes and fear. And ordinary story, poetically moving, that speaks a universal language, and reveals the warmness and fragility of life.”
The jury also awarded six honourable mentions in the main prize – War of a forgotten nation by Emilie Urbano; Kajnikaj by Kaja Rata (featured in February on 1854.photography); The Hunter by Alvaro Laiz; Let Us Now Fall Asleep by David Denil; Heaven’s gain by Justin Maxon; and Every night temo ser la dinner by Sofia Ayarzagotia. Isadora Kosofsky’s Vinny and David, David Severn’s Thanks Maggie and and Luke Withers’ Wireless received honorable mentions in the New Generation Prize category.

PH Museum is a curated online platform dedicated to contemporary photography. Launched in 2012, it now features 5000 selected photographers and is visited by more than 300,000 users per year.
To find out more, visit https://phmuseum.com
A hospital incubator in Gaza. Chances of successful treatment are very high, being, for the majority, young people and fertile. This is the story of Palestinian prisoners’ wives who have turned to sperm smuggling in order to conceive children from their husbands who are serving long-term sentences. From the series Habibi © Antonio Faccilongo, which won second prize and £3000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
A hospital incubator in Gaza. Chances of successful treatment are very high, being, for the majority, young people and fertile. This is the story of Palestinian prisoners’ wives who have turned to sperm smuggling in order to conceive children from their husbands who are serving long-term sentences. From the series Habibi © Antonio Faccilongo, which won second prize and £3000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
From the series Road of Bones © Jacob Aue Subol, which won third prize and £1000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
From the series Road of Bones © Jacob Aue Subol, which won third prize and £1000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
My father when he was young, jumping on the beach. Reproduction of a photograph taken from my family album. From the series Hayati © Karim El Maktafi, which won the New Generation Prize and £1000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant.
My father when he was young, jumping on the beach. Reproduction of a photograph taken from my family album. From the series Hayati © Karim El Maktafi, which won the New Generation Prize and £1000 in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant.
Ilona and Maddelena playing with their new tabs in their bedroom on 21 December 2015, the day Maddelena turned 11. From the series Ilona and Maddelena © Sandra Mehl, which won the Cortona On The Move prize and an exhibition at the festival of the same name in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant.
Ilona and Maddelena playing with their new tabs in their bedroom on 21 December 2015, the day Maddelena turned 11. From the series Ilona and Maddelena © Sandra Mehl, which won the Cortona On The Move prize and an exhibition at the festival of the same name in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant.
Image from the series Every Night Temo Ser La Dinner © Sofia Ayarzagoitia, which won an honourable mention in the PH Museum 2017 grant
Image from the series Every Night Temo Ser La Dinner © Sofia Ayarzagoitia, which won an honourable mention in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
Image from the series Kajnikaj © Kaja Rata, which
Image from the series Kajnikaj © Kaja Rata, which won an honourable mention in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
Image from the series Let Us Not Fall Asleep While Walking © David Denil, which won an
Image from the series Let Us Not Fall Asleep While Walking © David Denil, which won an honourable mention in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
Image from the series Heaven's Gain © Justin Maxon,
Image from the series Heaven’s Gain © Justin Maxon, which won an honourable mention in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
Image from the series The Hunter © Alvaro Laiz
Image from the series The Hunter © Alvaro Laiz, which won an honourable mention in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
Image from the series War Of A Forgotten Nation © Emilien Urbano
Image from the series War Of A Forgotten Nation © Emilie Urbano, which won an honourable mention in the Photographic Museum of Humanity 2017 Grant
Diane Smyth

Diane Smyth is the editor of BJP, returning for a second stint on staff in 2023 - after 15 years on the team until 2019. As a freelancer, she has written for The Guardian, FT Weekend Magazine, Creative Review, Aperture, FOAM, Aesthetica and Apollo. She has also curated exhibitions for institutions such as The Photographers Gallery and Lianzhou Foto Festival. You can follow her on instagram @dismy