LOBA 2025 in Mannheim.
Interview with curator Stephanie Herrmann
After its successful premiere last year, the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums ZEPHYR – Raum für Fotografie gallery is presenting a selection from the 2025 edition of the LOBA, starting April 15, 2026. In addition to the two winning series by Alejandro Cegarra and Serghei Duve, 2025 shortlisted series by Lynsey Addario, Arlette Bashizi, Gideon Mendel and Xiangjie Peng will also be on display. Around 50 pieces of work convey the range of the LOBA, and offer a diversity of insights into global issues and current trends within contemporary photography.
We spoke with Stephanie Herrmann, ZEPHYR – Raum für Fotografie Director and Curator, about the exhibition and her work as curator.
The Reiss-Engelhorn Museums ZEPHYR – Raum für Fotografie is presenting a selection of LOBA series for the second time. How did this collaboration come about?
The collaboration was the outcome of a spontaneous idea, during a visit to an exhibition. In the summer of 2024, Sarah Strutwolf, who works as Culture Manager at Leica and also attends to the LOBA, and I visited the La Vie des Blocs exhibition by photographer Jean-Michel Landon at the ZEPHYR. Afterwards, we were standing in the atrium of our new museum building – an open, nearly ten-metres-high space with an illuminated ceiling. So the idea came up that this would be the perfect place to display a selection of LOBA shortlisted series. After that, things moved pretty quickly: there was a zoom call with Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director and General Representative of Leica Galleries International, and Prof. Dr. Wilfried Rosendahl, General Director of the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums. We quickly agreed that we wanted to make this collaboration a reality. In early April 2025, LOBA was our guest for the first time, and it has now become a wonderful new addition to our exhibition programme.
Because of the size of the exhibition space, you can’t show all of the LOBA shortlisted series from any given year. How is the selection made and what are your personal preferences?
Because we use a system of mobile exhibition walls in the atrium, it was clear, right from the start, that we would have to limit the number of works to be displayed. So, every year I’m spoilt for choice because, of course, all the shortlisted series are absolutely worthy of exhibiting. Naturally, personal factors do play a certain role when a series touches me; in particular, like this year’s Mom, I Want to Live by Lynsey Addario.
“When making my selection, I want it to reflect as broad a range as possible from each LOBA year, both in terms of the themes covered and the geographical contexts. The global diversity of the entries offers a wonderful opportunity to gain a worldwide perspective.”
How is the LOBA format received in Mannheim?
Mannheim has always been a city with a great photography tradition and charisma. That’s why giving the LOBA a stopover in Mannheim has been received very positively. The pop-up exhibition format, which allows viewers to experience photography in a relaxed setting, outside of traditional exhibition spaces, has also gone over well. They appreciate the LOBA, not only for its high-quality contributions, but because it opens up a photographic window with a view of world events. The pieces take us into war and conflict zones, reveal the consequences of the global climate crisis, and also share personal stories that might otherwise remain hidden.
What role does the LOBA presentation play in the museum’s overall programme?
There has been an emphasis on photography as part of the programme of exhibitions at Reiss-Engelhorn Museums, for over 20 years. At the Forum Internationale Photographie, we present photo-historic exhibitions, often curated from or featuring items from our own collections; while the ZEPHYR – Raum für Fotografie gallery is fully dedicated to contemporary photography. The ZEPHYR sees itself as a place for debate, and often hosts socially-critical exhibitions that highlight injustices and deliberately rub salt into wounds. In this sense, the LOBA enriches the ZEPHYR programme in an ideal manner. At the same time, we are, of course, proud and delighted to be able to present this most prestigious of photography awards.
You also belong to the team of experts making up the nominators, and you’re involved in making proposals for the LOBA. What do you appreciate about this work, and what is your selection criteria?
Yes, I’ve been among the LOBA nominators for two years, which I consider a great honour, as well as an important and responsible professional opportunity. Being a photo curator, I have the privilege of seeing many series and portfolios over the year, some of which touch me deeply and which I feel should absolutely have more exposure. Consequently, for myself, presenting a nomination for the LOBA is a great way to specifically draw attention to such works. However, in addition to the content, the visual language plays an important role for me: it should be consistent, and convey the series’ message convincingly.
How do you see the future of photography? What meaning do works like the LOBA ones, which place humanity and the environment at the core, have today and in the future?
The effective value of photography is stronger than ever. This makes the role of photographers and their work, as represented in the LOBA, all the more significant. They take clear stances and counter the fast-paced, often superficial and indiscriminate, consumption of images today. They are challenging – in the best sense of the word –, urging us to look closely, develop a critical awareness, and ask questions. In this matter, photography at the visual level can often achieve more than words and texts. Photography, especially photojournalism as seen in the LOBA series, is not simply an artistic act; it is also always a political one.
The Zu Gast: Der Leica Oskar Barnack Award in den Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen exhibition runs to June 14, 2026.
Stephanie Herrmann
Stephanie Herrmann is in charge of the Photography section at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums Mannheim. After serving as the Forum Internationale Photographie’s Head of Collections since 2015, she has been its Director since October 2025. Furthermore, since June 2022, she has been the Director and Curator of ZEPHYR – Raum für Fotografie, the contemporary photography gallery at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums.
Herrmann was born in Bochum-Wattenscheid in 1976. After studying History of Art, European Ethnology and Sociology in Munster, Siena and Regensburg, she undertook a research internship at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums, where she has been involved in the realisation of numerous national and international exhibition projects.
Portrait: © rem/Rebecca Kind