Hasselblad Foundation recently assigned its 33rd prestigious International Award in Photography to Catalan photographer Joan Fontcuberta. Co-published by the Swedish Foundation and MACK specifically for this occasion, “The Photography of Nature & The Nature of Photography” combines six of the author’s most iconic series: Herbarium (1984), Fauna (1987), Constellations (1993), Sputnik (1997), Sirens (2000) and Orogenesis (2002).

Divided into as many chapters, the green velvet-covered volume deals with imaginary botanical and biological findings, undiscovered stars, mermaid fossils and Terragen technologies, up to the tale of a Russian astronaut still lost in space.

Filled with humour and fantasy – the author himself appears, disguised as Hans von Kubert or Joan Fontana – these invented myths repeatedly challenge the deceptive truthfulness of photography, subverting its logical assumptions.

Ironic artifices, clues and inconsistencies aim to call into question the veracity of the medium itself and its function as a means of representation, cornerstones of Fontcuberta’s long-lasting activity as a photographer.

The Hasselblad Award 2013 
Joan Fontcuberta, The Photography of Nature & The Nature of Photography
Texts by Geoffrey Batchen and Jorge Wagensberg. 
224 pp., € 50.00. mackbooks.co.uk
Also available as an e-book published by MAPP.