Donald Weber (born 1973) is a Canadian photographer who focuses on the effects of world power. He is a member of

VII Photo Agency VII Photo Agency is an international photo agency wholly owned and governed by its membership. History The photographer owned agency was originally conceived by Gary Knight and John Stanmeyer. They were subsequently joined by Alexandra Boulat ...

. Weber's books include ''Bastard Eden, Our Chernobyl'' (2008), ''Interrogations'' (2011), ''Barricade: The EuroMaidan Revolt'' (with Arthur Bondar, 2015) and ''War Sand'' (2017). Weber has had solo exhibitions at Phodar Foundation, Pleven, Bulgaria; Pikto Gallery, Toronto, Canada; and Alice Austen House, New York City. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...

Award, the

Lange-Taylor Prize The Lange-Taylor Prize (or Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize) is a prize awarded annually since 1990 by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, Durham, NC, to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers. T ...

, a Sony World Photography Award and the Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography.

Life and work

Weber was born in 1973 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. He joined VII Network in 2008 and became a full member of

in 2013. Weber focuses on the effects of world power, how state power functions the world over and how those in power use theatre to coerce their subjects; he seeks to uncover the unspoken collaboration between the parties with his photography. He worked in Ukraine and Russia for seven years, making numerous visits beginning in 2005. In 2010 and 2011 for his book ''Interrogations'' he investigated the power relationship between police and criminals by photographing people being interrogated by Ukrainian police and subjected to both psychological and physical abuse in order to extract information. Weber has spoken about how these techniques are not specific to Ukraine but are standard police practice and used elsewhere, for example in Canada. In ''The Photobook: A History, Vol. 3'', Martin Parr and

Gerry Badger Gerald David "Gerry" Badger (born 1946) is an English writer and curator of photography, and a photographer. In 2018 he received the J Dudley Johnston Award from the Royal Photographic Society. Life and career Badger was born in 1946 in North ...

praised ''Interrogations'', writing "Weber's vision is clear-eyed and unflinching in its sober directness, which makes it both effective and discomforting to look at." Together with Christopher Nunn and Kateryna Radchenko, Weber has created a series of newspaper-format publications called ''The Information Front'' that collates images by Ukrainian photographers and photojournalists of the war in Ukraine.

Publications

*''Bastard Eden, Our Chernobyl.'' Portland, Oregon: Photolucida, 2008. . With text by Larry Frolick. *''Interrogations.'' Amsterdam: Schilt, 2011. . With an epilogue comprising a short story by Frolick, "The State is me and you", a short essay by Weber and Frolick, "Confessions of an Invisible Man", and an "Afterthought" by Weber. *''Barricade: The EuroMaidan Revolt.'' Amsterdam: Schilt, 2015. . By Weber and Arthur Bondar. With text by Frolick, "Pursued by the Thing: God, History & Ukraine". *''War Sand.'' Self-published, 2017. With text by Frolick, Kevin Robbie and Weber. English, French and German.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*2007: ''Phodar Photography Biennial,'' Phodar Foundation, Pleven, Bulgaria. *2009: ''The Drunken Bride, Russia Unveiled,'' Pikto Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 29 April – 31 May 2009. *2009: ''Russian Archive,'' Alice Austen House, New York City.

Group exhibitions and exhibitions with others

*2013: ''Interrogations,'' White Cloth Gallery, Leeds, England, 21 February – 2 April 2013. With Maciej Dakowicz. *2014: ''Shift: Ukraine in crisis,'' Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, 3 May – 29 June 2014. Photographs by Alexander Chekmenev, Maxim Dondyuk, Corentin Fohlen, Louisa Gouliamaki, Brendan Hoffman, Tom Jamieson, Marco Kesseler,

Anastasia Taylor-Lind Anastasia Taylor-Lind (born 1981) is an English/Swedish photojournalist. She works for leading editorial publications globally on issues relating to women, population and war. She has lived in Damascus, Beirut, Kiev and New York City and is now bas ...

, Donald Weber and Emine Ziyatdinova.

Awards

*2006:

from the Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC, with Larry Frolick. *2006: Honorable mention, World Press Photo Awards, Daily Life category,

, Amsterdam. *2007: Guggenheim Fellowship to work on ''Interrogations''. *2007: Critical Mass Book Award, Photolucida, for ''Interrogations''. *2009: Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography,

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the fede ...

. *2012: Emergency Fund Grant,

Magnum Foundation Magnum Foundation is a non-profit, photographic foundation located in New York City with a mission to expand diversity and creativity in documentary photography. History and mission Magnum Foundation was founded in 2007, in the midst of the c ...

. *2012: Sony World Photography Award, World Photography Organisation, Professional category, for ''Life in the Exclusion Zone''. *2012: First prize, World Press Photo Awards, Portraits–Stories category, World Press Photo, Amsterdam, for ''Interrogation Room''. *2014: Shortlisted / finalist for the Scotiabank Photography Prize, Scotiabank, for ''Interrogations''.

References

External links

*
Weber's profile at VII Photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Donald 1973 births Living people Artists from Toronto Canadian photographers VII Photo Agency photographers