Debi Cornwall – Crisis Actors: Performing Citizenship

Prix Elysée 2023

Editor Photo Elysée
Publication date 2023
Dimensions 16.5 x 24 cm
Number of pages 24
ISBN 978‐2‐88350‐117‐1
Price CHF 9.- book only / CHF 45.- book with a print

"Photographs can be evidence, yes, but evidence of what? My project, Crisis Actors, examines the staging of reality and the performance of citizenship in the United States, a militarized country whose citizens cannot agree on what is true. I started this inquiry in my second book, Necessary Fictions (Radius Books, 2020) by photographing military wargames. Now I’m casting a wider net, making photographs more elliptically related to my topic, from institutional staging and roleplay to the performances we play out communally, consciously or not."

Extract from Debi Cornwall – Crisis Actors: Performing Citizenship, Editions Photo Elysée, 2023.

The result of a partnership between Photo Elysée and Parmigiani Fleurier, the Prix Elysée is an award that supports production in the field of photography.

Published by Photo Elysée, eight publications present the projects of the eight nominees of the Prix Elysée 2022-2024: Vincen Beeckman, Debi Cornwall, Siân Davey, Nicolai Howalt, Khashayar Javanmardi, Alice Mann, Gloria Oyarzabal and Virginie Rebetez. Designed by the designer Ramon Pez and printed by L'Artiere Edizioni in Bologna, each of these booklets promotes the work in progress for the Prix Elysée and offers an original entry into the personal world of the eight photographers.

You may also like

The Nominees' Book 2017

Published by Photo Elysée in partnership with Editions Photosynthèses in Arles, this book presents the projects of the eight nominees of the second edition of the Prix Elysée. Isabelle Blanc & Olivier Hilaire, Elina Brotherus, Matthias Bruggmann, David Jiménez, Sofie Knijff, Jim Naughten, Emeka ...
See detail →

Matthias Bruggmann

If the tens of thousands of pictures of torture taken by Syrian photographers do not attract the attention of a Western audience, what can a foreigner who doesn’t even speak Arabic hope to accomplish? The photographs of Matthias Bruggmann take a critical look at the representation of the atrocities ...
See detail →

Debi Cornwall

Over the past ten years, Debi Cornwall has explored the narratives that have shaped the image of America. Her striking, formally composed color documentary photographs encourage us to reflect on the staging and normalization of state power. The exhibition presents two series of photographs that repr...
See detail →