Photographer Sophie Ristelhueber Receives the 2025 Hasselblad Award and $200,000

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Photographer Sophie Ristelhueber Receives the 2025 Hasselblad Award and 0,000

Sophie Ristelhueber in Lebanon, 1982 © Fouad El Khoury.

Photographer Sophie Ristelhueber is the 2025 Hasselblad Award laureate, the world’s largest photography award, and is set to receive a Hasselblad camera and two million Swedish Krona ($197,500,000).

Ristelhueber’s work — which explores themes of war, destruction, memory, and the impact of human conflict on landscape — will be exhibited at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, Sweden from October 11, 2025, to January 18, 2026.

A heavily weathered and bullet-riddled sign with partial letters "MO" is attached to a rusted metal pole against a plain sky. The sign appears old and worn, suggesting abandonment. — Beyrouth, photographies, 1984 © Sophie Ristelhueber

A tall, heavily damaged concrete building with numerous holes and crumbling sections. The structure shows signs of severe destruction, likely from conflict or disaster, exposing parts of the interior. The overall atmosphere is one of devastation. — Beyrouth, photographies, 1984 © Sophie Ristelhueber

“A precise, consistent, and unique body of work exploring landscapes and territories — both public and private — defines the artistic career of French artist Sophie Ristelhueber spanning forty-five years,” writes the Hasselblad Foundation.

“Through her series, created in war-torn regions, she challenged the field of journalistic photography, developing her own visual language. The traces and scars of violence — on land, the human body, and architecture — are central to her powerful, tightly cropped images, most notably in her acclaimed series focusing on the Middle East and the Balkans. Ristelhueber’s large-scale photographs are often presented in unconventional ways and combined with video and sound in site-specific installations.”

A large, deep pothole on a cracked, deserted road stretches to the horizon. The surrounding terrain is dry and barren, with patches of sparse grass along the roadside. The sky is overcast, giving a bleak atmosphere. — Eleven Blowups #1, 2006 © Sophie Ristelhueber

A person in dark clothing walks along a cracked, uneven road filled with rubble and debris. The scene is desolate, with dry soil and sparse vegetation surrounding the road under a cloudy sky. — Eleven Blowups #10, 2006 © Sophie Ristelhueber

Back view of a person with a long surgical scar running down the spine, with visible stitches. The person has medium-length dark hair and is shown from the waist up. The image is in black and white and shows the texture of the skin and scar. — Every One #14, 1994 © Sophie Ristelhueber

Ristelhueber has worked in Lebanon, Kuwait, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and the West Bank — places that have all been marked by conflict. Her war photographs are unusual in that they do not focus on people, instead she trains her lens on the aftermath of war. She will photograph bullet-scarred buildings and often shoots war-torn landscapes from above.

“As you know, one does not die from being unloved, but from being unbelieved, an old friend of mine used to say when we were talking about the artist’s condition,” Ristelhueber says per a press release.

“What is at stake is that we put everything on the line, inventing new patterns without knowing if they will ever resonate. And this is why, for me as an artist, this prestigious award holds such a deep significance.”