Myriam Boulos wins Foam Paul Huf Award 2025
“Myriam Boulos’ work is a powerful statement of personal agency and freedom amidst political tension, revolution and war.”
Foam is thrilled to announce that the 19th Foam Paul Huf Award goes to Myriam Boulos (1992, Lebanon). Boulos consistently elevates personal searching into something universally resonant, within the pressing context of war and political conflict within her home country of Lebanon. Her work shows how people who live outside dominant norms still manage to find one another within a social system that would rather render them invisible. As the winner of the award, she represents a new generation of visual storytellers who understand that the political is deeply personal—and that photography is far from a neutral observer; it is a vital, lived tool for resistance, reflection, and the visible claiming of the right to exist in all forms of identity.
Press release | Amsterdam, June 2025
A jury of five industry specialists reviewed the submissions of 95 artists, who had been brought forward by 24 international nominators. Myriam Boulos, nominated by nominated by both Munem Wasif (artist, curator at the Chobimela International Festival of Photography, and educator based in Bangladesh) and Lea Vene (cultural anthropologist and curator at Organ Vida, Croatia). Boulos is the first artist from the Middle East to receive the Foam Paul Huf Award.
The jury report states:
“Myriam Boulos’ work is a powerful statement of personal agency and freedom amidst political tension, revolution and war. Her work speaks to the imagination of personal power and presence, reclaiming the image and redirecting repressive gazes toward the strength of inner desires and resistance.
We feel her presence in these images, where gentle interactions and encounters of vulnerability burst into power. We sense her deep connection to those she photographs. We feel her entanglement with the complexity of the situation. Ultimately, her work reveals intricate narratives that counter the violent public and private conventions in Lebanon with intimate fantasies, reminding us that photographs can also bear witness to our inner worlds—and that inner worlds can be a path to liberation. We look forward to her future exhibition at Foam!”
Myriam Boulos' reaction:
“It means everything to me to receive the Foam Paul Huf Award at a time when images denouncing violence are constantly gaslighted by the world. This documentation is a visual translation of how I have been navigating neurodivergence, sexual fantasies and Israel’s aggressions on Lebanon during the past 5 years. It is based on encounters I made to connect with people who are struggling too. Through personal stories, this work documents the intersectional oppression on our bodies and land. It attempts to give space for our emotions and to keep on looking for tenderness and desires instead of being defined by our normalised pain.”
The prize
Myriam Boulos will receive a cash prize of €20,000 and a solo exhibition at Foam in 2026. Boulos will see her name added to an impressive list of alumni. Previous winners include Vietnamese-born, Hamburg-based multimedia artist Hiền Hoàng (2024), Colombian artist Felipe Romero Beltrán (2023) and South-African artist Lebohang Kganye (2022).
Sexual Fantasies, 2023
© Myriam Boulos.
Ongoing War, 2024
© Myriam Boulos.
What's Ours, 2019
© Myriam Boulos.
Ongoing War, 2024
© Myriam Boulos.
Ongoing War, 2023
© Myriam Boulos.
About the jury
This award for talented upcoming photographers is organised annually by Foam and evaluated by an independent and renowned jury. The members of this year’s Foam Paul Huf Award are John Fleetwood (Chair of jury, South Africa/Netherlands), Aïda Muluneh (Ethiopia), Moshe Rosenzveig (Australia), Mikhael Subotzky (South Africa) and Johan Trujillo Argüelles (Mexico).
About Myriam Boulos
Myriam Boulos (1992, Lebanon) holds a master’s degree in photography from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (2015). She began photographing at 16, using a small camera to get closer to reality. Boulos took part in national and international exhibitions, including at ICP (New York), Huis Marseille (Amsterdam) and Cortona on the Move (Cortona). Her work has been published in Aperture, Time Magazine, GQ Middle East, Vogue Arabia, and Vanity Fair France, among other publications. Boulos was awarded the Eugene Smith Fellowship, PHmuseum Women Photographers Grant, Grand prix ISEM, Foam Talent, and is an Arab Documentary Photography Program and Joop Swart Masterclass alumni. In 2021 she joined Magnum as a nominee. In 2023 her book, What’s Ours, was published by Aperture. Boulos was a Foam Talent in 2021 and her portfolio was included in Foam Magazine #61: Talent.
International experts
To produce an internationally representative selection, Foam approached twenty-four nominators from various parts of the world. Each expert was asked to select five talented upcoming visual artists in their own region. The award is open to artists of all ages, working in all photographic genres: from documentary or applied photography to photojournalistic or independent work. The winner’s work must exhibit a clear visual language and contribute significantly to today's photographic community in both form and content.
Shortlist 2025
Muhammad Salah Abdulaziz, Soumya Sankar Bose, Myriam Boulos, Nanna Heitman, Amina Kadous and Zora J Murff.
Nominators
Maya Aner, Lassana Igo Diarra, Kegham Djeghalian, Lewis Chaplin and Sarah Chaplin Espenon, Sawako Fukai, Alessia Glaviano, Habiba Hopson, Hajra Haider Karrar, Sohee Kim, Lars Lindemann, Meaghan Looram, Joel Lukhovi, Boitumelo Makousu, Světlana Malinová, Dr. Seyed Mohammad Hossein Navab, Giuseppe Oliverio, Daria Panaiotti, Julie Peeters, Hyunjung Son, Daria Tuminas, Lea Vene, Valeria Posada Villada, Munem Wasif, and Tiange Yang.
About Paul Huf
The Dutch photographer Paul Huf (1924-2002) was known for his innovative photographic technique and was an important ambassador for the establishment of Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam in 2001. To honour this special relationship, the Foam Paul Huf Award was created in order to stimulate and support photographers on a global scale. Foam has presented the annual award since 2007, and the winner is chosen by an independent, international jury.
Previous winners
2024 – Hiền Hoàng (1990, Vietman)
2023 - Felipe Romero Beltrán (1992, Colombia)
2022 - Lebohang Kganye (1990, South-Africa)
2021 - John Edmonds (1989, United States)
2020 - Laia Abril (1986, Spain)
2019 - Eric Gyamfi (1990, Ghana)
2018 - Daniel Shea (1985, United States)
2017 - Romain Mader (1988, Switzerland)
2016 - Daisuke Yokota (1983, Japan)
2015 - Momo Okabe (1981, Japan)
2014 - Daniel Gordon (1980, United States)
2013 - Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs (1979, Switzerland)
2012 - Alex Prager (1979, United States)
2011 - Raphaël Dallaporta (1980, France)
2010 - Alexander Gronsky (1980, Estonia)
2009 - Leonie Hampton (1978, United Kingdom)
2008 - Pieter Hugo (1976, South Africa)
2007 - Mikhael Subotzky (1981, South Africa) and Taryn Simon (1975, United States)
Garden of Entanglement by Hiền Hoàng, winner of the Foam Paul Huf Award 2024, is currently on view at Foam until 10 September 2025.
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www.foam.org
Note to editors
The Foam Paul Huf Award is made possible by the generous support from Mentha.
