The Year's Most Beautiful Book 2020: Terje Abusdal and Gösta Flemming

November 4 2020

The Fritt Ord Foundation congratulates Terje Abusdal and Gösta Flemming on winning Grafill’s distinction ‘The Year’s Most Beautiful Book’.

Grafill has awarded photographer Terje Abusdal and Gösta Flemming/Journal the distinction ‘The Year’s Most Beautiful Book 2020’ for his photo book entitled Hope Blinds Reason. Fritt Ord provided NOK 20 000 in support for production of the book in 2017. The book has been published by Journal publishing house, with Gösta Flemming as editor. Abusdal has previously participated in the Fritt Ord project The Norwegian Journal of Photography.

The jury’s justification for awarding the prize begins as follows: “A project that really stands out from the crowd owing to its uncompromising quest for expressive power. Exquisitely effected as a flawless distillate of an obviously massive corpus of material. Insanely precise in every minute detail. Every theme hits you like a gut punch, striking a precise balance to avoid clichés.”

Grafill is an interest organisation for those studying or working within the field of visual communication in Norway.

News

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Saturday 22 February 2025 at Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, from 14.30 to 16.30 h.

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There will also be a workshop featuring Jacob Geller in Oslo on 14 February.

The film ‘Hopeless Mother’ addresses a taboo – New awards in December 2024

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“The film will contribute to greater openness,” comments Moe.
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