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Paris Photo, November 15 -18, 2007 at the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris

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Jitka Hanzlova, Winner of the 2007 BMW -- Paris Photo Prize for

contemporary photography

The Czech artist Jitka Hanzlova was named winner of the 2007 BMW- Paris Photo Prize for contemporary photography at a gala awards ceremony on the 15th of November at Paris Photo, receiving the 12 000 euros (USD 15, 000) Prize.

Born in 1958 in Nachod, the Czech artist Jitka Hanzlova represented by the Kicken Gallery from Berlin becomes the fourth winner of this major international award, after French artist Mathieu Bernard-Reymond in 2006, American artist Anthony Goicolea in 2005 and the Switzerland's Jules Spinatsch

in 2004.

Launched three years ago to support and promote contemporary artists working in the field of photography, the BMW -- Paris Photo Prize is open to living art photographers represented by galleries participating in Paris Photo. The theme for 2007 was "Water, the Origin of Life" in connection with the new BMW advertising campaign.

Sixteen out the 50 artists whose work was submitted by participating galleries were short-listed by a jury of international experts presided by Nicolas Wertans, Chairman of BMW France. The jury then worked to select the winning artist. The short-listed works are exhibited during Paris Photo, enabling visitors to enjoy and appreciate some of the finest examples of contemporary art photography.

Jitka Hanzlova is an internationally recognised (portrait) photographer and her work has earned considerable acclaim, including the 1993 Otto Steinert Award. Her work is featured in internationally renowned collections and has been shown in important group exhibitions, most recently at the Barbican Centre in London, at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne.

Hanzlova photographs her subjects exclusively in colour and in the vertical format - in portrait format, to be precise. She seizes the moment, and takes it out of time: this is what gives Jitka Hanzlova's work

its immediacy.

The winning work "Untitled (Hungry Fishes)", 2004 is part of the series "The Cotton Rose" Hanzlova made in Japan, where she photographed the 'otherness' of a strange world, so different from the West, in small, vertical images. The work is devoid of any predictable exoticism, and yet the images are powerful metaphors owing to the intensity of the vision and the tight framing of the subject. In "Untitled (Hungry Fishes)" the preciousness of water and its power as a giver of life is suggested in the colourful movement of the fish at the surface of the muddy liquid.

The 2007 Jury :

Jacqueline d'Amecourt, curator of the Lhoist Collection

Vince Aletti, journalist and photography critic for New Yorker magazine

Charlotte Cotton, head curator of the photography department at the LACMA museum in Los Angeles

Eric de Riedmatten, director of communication BMW France

Roberta Valtorta, director of the Cinisello Balsamo photography museum

Massimo Vitali, photographer

Nicolas Wertans, Chairman of BMW France

List of 16 short-listed artists exhibited at Paris Photo 2007 :

Olivo Barbieri, The Waterfall Project, Iguazu, Brazil/Argentina, 2007, Yancey Richardson ( New York) and Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea Galleria (Firenze/Roma)

Wout Berger,Tide in -- Tide out, 2007, Van Kranendonk (Deen Haag)

Bianco-Valente, Relational, 2007, V.M.21 Arte contemporanea (Roma)

Lucinda Devlin, Gharial Exhibit, Bronx Zoo, New York, 1987, m Bochum (Bochum)

Tibor Gyenis, Area, 2005, Vintage Gallery (Budapest)

Jitka Hanzlová, "Untitled" (Hungry fishes), 2004, Kicken(Berlin)

DoDo Jin Ming, Free element, Plate V, 2001, Laurence Miller Gallery (New York)

Anna Malagrida, S/T (BH), 2006, Senda (Barcelona)

Boris Mikhailov, Intermezzo -- no private series -- boat -- Krim coast, 2002, Guido Costa (Torino)

Trent Parke, My son Jem is born, 2004, Magnum Photos (Paris)

Luciano Romano, Memory of water, 2007, Admira (Milano)

Franck Rothe, Water Tap, 2006, Camera Work (Berlin)

Alessandra Sanguinetti, Rain, 1998-2002, Anne de Villepoix (Paris)

Zoe Strauss, Photo Mural Elevator, 2001-2004, Bruce Silverstein Gallery (New-York)

Ebbe Stup Wittrup, Presumed Reality, 2006, Martin Asbaek (Copenhagen)

Silvio Wolf, Cerchi (l’Infinito), 2005, Fotografia Italiana Arte Contemporanea (Milano)

Paris Photo details

Dates:Thursday 15 November - Sunday 18 November, 2007

Venue:Carrousel du Louvre, 99 rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris

Opening hours:

Thursday 15 November from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm, Friday 16 November from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm, Saturday 17 November from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm, Sunday 18 November from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm

General admission:

Advance purchase ticket: book you ticket now and get a queue- free access on Consulter le lien

Paris Photo 2007 Catalogue

Image for press:

The high-definition image (300 dpi) of the 2007 BMW -- Paris Photo Prize Winner can be downloaded from the website Consulter le lien (see "Press" section, then "Visuals 2007, see image under letter H). The access code for the image download is: parisphotopress07

Caption: Jitka Hanzlová, "Untitled" (Hungry fishes) from the series "the cotton rose", 2004, Kicken (Berlin)

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