Growing up as white, male, Jews in apartheid South Africa, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin saw the impact photographs can have on the world at large. They became both fascinated and repulsed with the way that iconic images can twist and bend public opinion in different directions, and have spent their careers examining that power play by pushing the boundaries of traditional photography.

Adam and Oliver’s 15-year friendship and collaboration has led to the publication of numerous books, including the award-winning War Primer 2, and dozens of international art exhibitions. Their work has led them to psychiatric hospitals in Cuba to the cave of the dying Yasser Arafat. They became increasingly concerned about the potential “political, cultural and economic currency of images,” and have since gone on to evaluate that relationship through their work.

They share this year’s publication prize for Holy Bible, which mimics the structure and content of the King James version, and uses images from the Archive of Modern Conflict to comment on the nature of violence in religion. Following the theology of Adi Ophir, who observes that God uses catastrophe as his means of governance and operation, Adam and Oliver use photographs of violence, war and catastrophe to highlight correlations between the bible and modern government.

Broomberg and Chanarin co-founded Chopped Liver Press and have published 11 of their own limited edition books, as well as work by other artists. Their work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and is in the permanent collection of leading museums worldwide including

The Museum of Modern Art, Tate Galleries, the Stedelijk Museum, and the International Center of Photography. Broomberg and Chanarin are also Visiting Fellows at the University of the Arts London. In 2013, they were awarded the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize for War Primer 2.