The Denis Roussel Award was started in 2018 to honor the legacy of photographer and educator Denis Roussel and to highlight work done by photographers whose work is based on the historical/alternative photographic processes, including silver gelatin.

We would like to thank juror, author, and educator Christopher James who spent long hours reviewing the submissions. We know of no other competition where the photographers who enter are given care and handling in the way their work receives personal comments from the juror with observations and recommendations for future work.

Thank you to all of the photographers who applied for this award. The standard is set higher each year. It was very rewarding to see the wonderful work being submitted and to read your statements.  We were introduced to numerous new artist and know many of you will be recognized in the years to come. Keep creating.

Thank you to the Roussel Family and Josephine Sacabo for your ongoing support of the Denis Roussel Award.

Thank you to the following individuals and businesses.
Carol Boss and Hahnemühle paper.
Mark Nelson for the Precision Digital Negatives eBook and the “Precision Digital Negatives” custom 31 step standardized film step tablet. Precision Digital Negative.
Bostick & Sullivan for a two hundred-dollar gift certificate.
Christopher James for his donation of a portfolio review.
Josephine Sacabo and Luna Press.

Statement from Christopher James

Dear All,
Over the last several years I have had the unique privilege of collaborating with Connie and
Jerry Rosenthal, at Rfotofolio, and serving as the juror for the annual Denis Roussel Award experiencing the deeply personal and expressive work that international artists are creating using alternative and integrated photographic processes. In the time that I have had the honor of jurying this unique competition, the focus of the work has become increasingly inward, dealing with the visual translations, and interpretations, of personal experiences, journeys through oneself, identities and feelings regarding the Earth and its ecosystem. These beliefs are often expressed through the embrace of simple and traditional mark making materials, salt and chemistry. Regardless of the individual passions for making art by hand, there is also a clearly expressed acceptance of play and the craving of the accidental artifact as an attribute of something that is often missing from photography… the element of gesture.

Last year in this overview I wrote, “One of the criteria that I used as a marker for my
selections was respect for the essential spirit of Denis Roussel… a love of the natural world,
finding muse-worthy inspiration in the humble and non-spectacular discoveries of simple
observation… and a love of the hand-made image.” This sentiment is more accurate now than ever in this year’s entries and supported in the care and eloquence of each person’s writing. It is uncommonly rare to provide a juror with written expressions of the artist’s concept and intentions in tandem with the work. In my experience, only the Denis Roussel Award encourages the marriage of personal language and image, and I have done my best each year to reciprocate and respond with comments to each artist who took the risk of sharing their work, ideas and life.

As you consider this year’s awards that the final selections, and written responses to each artist, please know that they are simply a brief representation of the juror’s thoughts over several weeks of considering the work. They are not, in any way, a rendering of judgment upon the artist and their work as each entry likely represents only the smallest fraction of an individual’s portfolio.

The Denis Roussel Award competition is unique in my experience. Artists who love photographically integrated image making, light-marking and making their work by hand are encouraged to enter. The competition process offers the opportunity of telling one’s story and the context of that story with their work. As well, and this part is really unique, it allows the juror to respond to each artist personally in a constructive and non-critical manner. As in the past, it was an honor to share with you all.

Thank you.
Christopher James
August 2024
Dublin Studio Workshops

 

And now the award winners for the 2024 Denis Roussel Awards.
Please click on images to see a different view.

 

2024 Denis Roussel Award

Judit German-Heins

Wet-plate Collodion

I feel that your thesis series, A Monster In the Shape of a Woman, is drawn from your personal experiences of the loss of a child, sexual abuse and growing up female, while being subjected to patriarchal expectations and edicts, successfully represents both your own story and those of women throughout the world… from pretty much the beginning of time. Your work is so powerful in its serendipity, encouragement and acceptance of narrative interpretation — a great relief to a viewer as the wet plate collodion process has recently become so self-satisfied with the predictability of the static subject in the middle of the frame.

I totally appreciate your restraint, permitting the viewer to find themselves and create with you… providing their own life experiences while contemplating your images. Your diptych is one of my favorite works in this year’s Denis Roussel Award competition. As well, I love the non-studio intimacy and artifacts of the piece, The Scar, and the counterpoint references to the proverbial hidden mother in Victorian era studio portraits.” Christopher James

Work of Merit Award 

Robert Treat

Cyanotype 

“I think that I recognize your style… the gestural and organic photo-graphic drawings that illustrate the depth of the artist’s internal self and perhaps the metaphorical relationship to someone close (or far away) who is intertwined with your life… and often a reflection of it. I am affected by this work and moved at how humble and powerful it is simultaneously. This work feels important … very much a personal and visual contemplation.” Christopher James 

 

Work of Merit Award

Cristina Saez

Cyanotype

 

“This portfolio represents, I believe, the essence of what motivated and inspired Denis Roussel… a blending of magic, creative human response with the barest of materials and collaboration with the natural world and what it offers. Your portfolio is so wonderfully painterly and expresses the element of gesture so well, an attribute that photography fails to achieve throughout most of its history.

I love camera-less image making and think that your driving interest in interpreting global environmental issues with this work is on point. It is particularly relevant that you are using water from the geographical location you are representing, along with whatever sediment or contamination that may be in the water… I love the context of materials and concept. My question is: are you using water from that location throughout the process, e.g., sensitizer A & B, wash-development water, and toning solutions? Lastly, please look at the free form cyanotype work of a former MFA student of mine, Lys Cianci. I think that you would enjoy it. In the meantime, really nice work. I especially love Only One Water and the fact that all of the water on earth was here, to the drop, when the planet was formed. So cool!” Christopher James 

Christopher James Award

Melanie Walker 

Cyanotype

“I love the kinetic energy of the actual photographic banners and their integration with the translation of the subject matter represented on the fabrics. The pathos and beauty of this visual anthem is enhanced when contextually associated with the on-shore winds and the sea, in memory of those who have lost their lives seeking refuge in another country in hopes of a better life. This work is in perfect harmony with every considered element and the spirit of Denis Roussel.” Christopher James 

The Rfotofolio Award

Adam Davis

Tintypes

Each year we have the pleasure of receiving entries from artists/photographers from around the world. This gives us a window on their lives and their reaction to how life has impacted them day-to-day or over a longer period of time. Each of the entrants had the courage and put forth the hard work of putting themselves and their art out into the world.

We wish we had unlimited resources because a number of artist/photographers expressed a need for help in completing their current project, portfolio, or vision.

Adam Davis, a self taught creator of Tintypes, is working to document the lives and images of Black Americans.  His tintype portraits will serve to give light to the lives of an important community that often times has been under served and whose contributions have been overlooked in the development of our society.  Also we love the fact that he is sharing his (one of) works with his subjects.  We look forward to seeing his study of the black rodeo culture so they can take their rightful place in our countries history.

To encourage creative work and the gifted practitioners that created it we are recognizing the following work as chosen by Christopher James and Rfotofolio

Special Recognition

Susan de Witt

 Polymer Photogravure 

“I appreciate and enjoy the concept of considering image and text, the beauty of the Japanese cursive script that you are celebrating in your work, and the lament that you write about pointing out that the art of cursive writing (drilled into us as the Palmer-Method and the joy of nailing our extenders and descenders) is all but gone from our public school systems.
What I am missing in your portfolio, and something that can be easily addressed, is knowledge pertaining to what is being written in the Japanese cursive flow. Not a direct translation of course, but perhaps noted in the caption / title of the work. In this way, the way you interpret the writing photographically in your still life is connected to the text itself”. Christopher James

 

Special Recognition

Siobhan Byrns

Chlorophyll printing

” My very first reaction to your portfolio was to write a tribute reference to my friend Binh Dahn….. I’m sure you know his work and like Binh, your technical skill and craft is very special and simply enhances the focus you have applied of working dirty with your hands… with materials the earth provides. As well, your regard for the social and political pressures weighing on women and the environment, and the ephemeral reality of their life-giving existence, is beautifully respected by the quality of your work. Chlorophyll image creation from positives has become increasingly popular and very much in concert with low-consumption  image marking… I really like your work and urge you to work more with multiple substrate combinations as in your piece, Keep Them Closed. This is one of my favorite works in this year’s competition.” Christopher James

Special Recognition

DM Witman

Gold-toned salted-
paper on handmade abaca paper

 “Your portfolio is eerily familiar, with the textures and tonalities of the very first light markings on light sensitive substrates… I imagined, while contemplating your images, a future observation of 1000-year old photographs of what the moon used to look like before it disappeared from our solar system. Your work inspired fantasy and pathos in me… and I really love it… for all the faults and artifacts of ancient and simple salted paper images. The circle inspires narrative. The artifacts inspire obliteration of the sphere. The sphere inspires feelings of the proverbial planetary home now melancholically missed and absent. Sorry if I’m reading to deeply into your images but my digression is very much a compliment and I admire the risk you took with your work. Your portfolio represents, for me, a perfect example of the balance between intellect and art” Christopher James 

Special Recognition

Hahnemühle Award

Lisa Brussell

Gum Bichromate  printed over salt prints, cyanotype and/or ziatype (palladium).

 

Special Recognition

Matthew Magruder

Photogravure

Special Recognition

François Pitot

Bromoil

Special Recognition

Bob Carnie

Gum Bichromate

 

About Christopher James

Christopher James – Professor Emeritus  

Director,  MFA Photography and Integrated Media 2011 – 2024

Christopher James is an internationally known artist and photographer whose photographs, paintings, prints and alternative process works have been exhibited in museums and galleries in this country and abroad. His work has been published and shown extensively, including solo and group exhibitions in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, George Eastman House, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art – Boston. Represented by the Lee Witkin Gallery in New York City for over two decades he has also exhibited at Pace-McGill (NYC), Contrasts Gallery (London), Michelle Chomette (Paris), Hartje Gallery and Photokina (Berlin), Centre d’Art Contemporain (Geneva), Rosa Esman Gallery (New York), Carpenter Center (Harvard) and Lizardi Harp Gallery (Los Angeles). Christopher has published extensively including Aperture, Camera (Switzerland), American Photographer, Solstice (for short fiction), and Interview magazine and in books such as The Antiquarian Avant Garde, á Prova de Aguà: Waterproof, Human Documents, and Handcrafted: The Art and Practice of the Handmade Print (China).

All three editions of his book, The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes have received international critical acclaim and are universally recognized by artists, curators, historians, and educators as the definitive text in the genre of alternative photography and photographically integrated media. A significantly expanded 900 page / 700 image, 3^rd edition, was published in 2016. Christopher, after 13 years as an Associate Professor at Harvard University, is presently Professor Emeritus and the creator and former Director of the MFA in Photography and Integrated Media program at Lesley University College of Art and Design (2011-2024). He received his undergraduate degree from Massachusetts College of Art and his masters from the Rhode Island School of Design. He is a photographer, printmaker, painter, graphic designer, author and a professional scuba diver.  Please visit Christopher’s web site by clicking on his name .

 

About Denis Roussel

If you where lucky enough to have a conversation with Denis or to be a student of his you knew how much Denis loved photography.  He was always willing to share his knowledge with others. 

Denis worked on projects where even the compost bin was his muse, showing us that there is beauty everywhere. His landscapes and portraits have been an inspiration to many.
Their beauty transcends time. 

He was an educator as well as a gifted artist. 

In 2017, Denis lost his battle with cancer.  All of us lost the pleasure of seeing new work and learning from this creative and resourceful artist.  His work and generous spirit inspires us and is the foundation of the Denis Roussel Award

To learn more about Denis Roussel please visit his page at Denis Roussel.

To learn more about the photographers please click on their names.

2024 Denis Roussel Award, Judit German-Heins

2024 Rfotofolio Award, Adam Davis

Work of Merit Award, Robert Treat

Work of Merit Award,Cristina Saez

Christopher James Award, Melanie Walker 

Special Recognition, Susan de Witt

Special Recognition, DM Witman

Special Recognition, Siobhan Byrns

Special Recognition, Lisa Brussell

Special Recogntion, Bob Carnie