The villages serve as a strange and poignant way station for people heading off to war and for those who have fled it. Soldiers interact with pretend villagers, often recent immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan, who have now found work in America playing a version of the lives they left behind.

The remainder of the village population is drawn from the local communities near the Army bases, including spouses of active duty soldiers as well as military veterans. The designers and inhabitants of these worlds take great pride in the scope and fidelity of their wars-in-miniature.

Hosting the award exhibition for the third year, Sharon Tanenbaum, Executive Director of SF Camerawork notes, “Introducing a reality and places that are largely unknown to most Americans, Sims creates beautifully formal photographs, but with the extraordinary twist of this surreal element of modern-day war. ”

Christopher Sims, was unanimously selected by a panel of jurors that consisted of: Bruce Hainley, contributing editor, Artforum, Los Angeles; Erin O'Toole, assistant curator, department of photography, SFMOMA; Tina Takemoto, artist and professor, California College of the Arts; Jack von Euw, curator of The Bancroft Library Pictorial Collection, UC Berkeley; Chuck Mobley, curator, San Francisco Camerawork.  

Sims is the seventh recipient of The Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers, one of the largest national awards available in photography and the only award in the United States to single out ‘emerging’ photographers for support.

Past Baum Award Winners