Donald Weber

Donald Weber (born 1973) is a Canadian 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 (2011), Barricade: The EuroMaidan Revolt (with Arthur Bondar, 2015) and War Sand (2017).

Weber 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, a World Press Photo Award, the Lange-Taylor Prize, a Sony World Photography Award and the Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography.

Life and work Weber was born in 1973 in Toronto, Ontario.

He joined VII Network in 2008 and became a full member of VII Photo Agency in 2013.

Weber focuses on the effects of world power,

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."

Together with Christopher Nunn and Kateryna Radchenko, Weber has created a series of newspaper-format publications called The Information Front that collates images by Ukrainian photographers and photojournalists of the war in Ukraine.

Publications Bastard Eden, Our Chernobyl. Portland, Oregon: Photolucida, 2008. . With text by Larry Frolick. Interrogations. Amsterdam: Schilt, 2011. . With an epilogue comprising a short story by Frolick, "The State is me and you", a short essay by Weber and Frolick, "Confessions of an Invisible Man", and an "Afterthought" by Weber. Barricade: The EuroMaidan Revolt. Amsterdam: Schilt, 2015. . By Weber and Arthur Bondar. With text by Frolick, "Pursued by the Thing: God, History & Ukraine". War Sand. Self-published, 2017. With text by Frolick, Kevin Robbie and Weber. English, French and German.

Exhibitions Solo exhibitions 2007: Phodar Photography Biennial, Phodar Foundation, Pleven, Bulgaria. 2009: The Drunken Bride, Russia Unveiled, Pikto Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 29 April – 31 May 2009. 2009: Russian Archive, Alice Austen House, New York City.

Group exhibitions and exhibitions with others 2013: Interrogations, White Cloth Gallery, Leeds, England, 21 February – 2 April 2013. With Maciej Dakowicz. 2014: Shift: Ukraine in crisis, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, 3 May – 29 June 2014. Photographs by Alexander Chekmenev, Maxim Dondyuk, Corentin Fohlen, Louisa Gouliamaki, Brendan Hoffman, Tom Jamieson, Marco Kesseler, Anastasia Taylor-Lind, Donald Weber and Emine Ziyatdinova.

Awards 2006: Lange-Taylor Prize from the Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University, Durham, NC, with Larry Frolick. 2009: Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography, Canada Council. 2012: Sony World Photography Award, World Photography Organisation, Professional category, for Life in the Exclusion Zone. 2014: Shortlisted / finalist for the Scotiabank Photography Prize, Scotiabank, for Interrogations.