Nominerad till Svenska Fotobokspriset 2020 med motiveringen: Theo Elias bok Smoke ger en dramatisk svartvit skildring av sökandet efter tillhörighet i en tid av kaos. Ensam, på jakt efter en plats i världen, reste han till Island med sin kamera. Det är människorna han mötte på gatan, det isländska dimmiga landskapet och otaliga cigarettstunder med främlingar, som är motiven i Elias tidlösa, poetiska bildvärld från Island.
With the work Smoke, the young photographer Theo Elias won the second edition of the Book Dummy Award organised by the Spanish publisher La Fábrica and the international photography festival Photo London.
In the summer of 2011 the creator travelled to Iceland, fleeing from his daily life and dreaming about the idea of creating a new identity for himself in an unknown territory. Solitude enabled him to discover the lives of others in conversations with strangers in the long and light Nordic nights. After many journeys, years and shared cigarettes, the story of Smoke took shape, becoming the record of something that no longer exists, or that perhaps never existed, through dramatic black and white images full of contrasts and force.
Theo Elias (1985) is a photographer from Sweden whose works deal with personal subjects such as memory, truth and fiction. His pictures have been shown in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Switzerland, Turkey and The Netherlands.