Russian photographer Damir Faizulin has won the main prize at the 2026 Leica Oskar Barnack Award for his series “Preserving Nature as Preserving Ourselves.”
The 46th edition of the international photography award also recognised American photographer Laila AnnMarie Stevens with the Newcomer Award. Italian photographer Valentina Sinis became the first recipient of the newly established LOBA Women Grant.
Faizulin’s winning series documents the mountain landscapes and living conditions of Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus. The photographs examine changes associated with tourism, modern construction and the weakening of established cultural practices.
The series frequently uses pairs of images to place abandoned villages beside new commercial structures or traditional clothing alongside contemporary fashion. Through these contrasts, Faizulin records how environmental change is occurring alongside the transformation of local traditions and cultural identity.
Born in Uzbekistan in 1986, Faizulin moved to Russia with his family following the collapse of the Soviet Union. He worked as a martial artist and professional wrestler until the age of 33 before attending photography workshops led by documentary photographer Dimitry Markov. He first visited Dagestan in 2020 and moved there the following year to continue the project. LOBA was the first international photography competition he entered.
Stevens received the Newcomer Award for the black-and-white series “Clayton Sisterhood Project.” Centred on her two sisters and four nieces, the project follows members of her family who moved from Queens, New York, to Clayton, North Carolina.
The photographs examine family, intergenerational connection, Black womanhood and contemporary queer kinship through scenes of shared meals, rest, play and everyday care.
The inaugural LOBA Women Grant went to Sinis for “The Last Butterflies,” a long-term project about Kurdish women who left their homes to join armed resistance movements in Iraqi Kurdistan. The grant will support a new chapter examining how political struggle affects relationships with family, land and belonging. The resulting work is scheduled to be presented in 2027.
Faizulin will receive €40,000 and Leica camera equipment valued at €10,000. Stevens will receive €10,000 and a Leica Q3 camera. Sinis will receive the same cash amount and camera, along with professional support during the project’s development and production.
The shortlisted series are on view at the Ernst Leitz Museum in Wetzlar, Germany, through Feb. 18, 2027. The exhibition is then expected to travel to Leica galleries and photography festivals internationally.
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