Donald Weber (photographer)


Donald Weber is a photographer who focuses on the effects of world power. He is a member of VII Photo Agency.
Weber's books include Bastard Eden, Our Chernobyl, Interrogations, Barricade: The EuroMaidan Revolt and War Sand.
He has had solo exhibitions at Phodar Foundation, Pleven, Bulgaria; Pikto Gallery, Toronto, Canada; and Alice Austen House, New York City. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, World Press Photo Award, Lange-Taylor Prize, Sony World Photography Award and Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography.

Life and work

Weber was born in 1973 in Toronto, Ontario.
Weber joined VII Network in 2008 and became a full member of VII Photo Agency in 2013.
Weber focuses on the effects of world power, how state power functions the world over and how those in power use theatre to coerce their subjects; he seeks to uncover the unspoken collaboration between the parties with his photography.
He worked in Ukraine and Russia for seven years, making numerous visits beginning in 2005. In 2010 and 2011 for his book Interrogations he investigated the power relationship between police and criminals by photographing people being interrogated by Ukrainian police and subjected to both psychological and physical abuse in order to extract information. Weber has spoken about how these techniques are not specific to Ukraine but are standard police practice and used elsewhere, for example in Canada. In The Photobook: A History, Vol. 3, Martin Parr and Gerry Badger praised Interrogations, writing "Weber's vision is clear-eyed and unflinching in its sober directness, which makes it both effective and discomforting to look at."

Publications

Solo exhibitions