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Prix Pictet 2009
| Food riots. Loss of forest cover. Desertification. The ecosystems we depend on appear to face resource demands already beyond their capacity. As governments try urgently to stimulate growth, a central question remains. Can the earth's complex living systems sustain the future consumption patterns of another three billion people in the world's population by 2050? |
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The theme of this year's Prix Pictet is Earth
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 Impurity, excess, contamination, absence, control. These were aspects of water-related sustainability covered by photographers nominated for last year's Prix Pictet. The theme of this year's Prix Pictet is Earth. The Prix Pictet, the world's first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability, has a unique mandate – to use the power of photography to communicate vital messages to a global audience. It is a unique goal – art of the highest order, applied to confront the pressing social and environmental challenges of the new millennium.As Kofi Annan, the Prix Pictet's Honorary President, said in awarding the 2008 Prix Pictet to the Canadian photographer Benoit Aquin, "the Prix Pictet, will deepen our understanding of the changes taking place in our world, raise public awareness of the scale of the threat we face and the urgency of taking preventative action." |
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The Award
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Over 300 photographers were nominated for this year's Prix Pictet. The shortlist for this year's Prix Pictet will be presented at a special screening at the Théâtre Antique d'Arles on 9 July 2009 as part of the opening events for the 40th edition of Les Rencontres d'Arles. The exhibition of shortlisted work will be at the Passage de Retz, Paris between 22 October and 24 November 2009, where the winner of this year's CHF 100,000 Prix Pictet will be announced by Kofi Annan on 22 October 2009. At the same time one of the shortlisted photographers will be invited to complete a commission related to a sustainability project supported by Pictet & Cie. |
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The Commission
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 Each year Pictet & Cie will support a sustainability project related to the theme of the award. In 2008 Pictet & Cie supported the UK charity WaterAid. Building on Pictet & Cie's support for WaterAid, shortlisted artist Munem Wasif was commissioned to visit the Satkhira region of south-west Bangladesh where WaterAid will shortly introduce water and sanitation facilities to the area of Shyamnagar Upazilla.The 2008 commission resulted in Munem Wasif's powerful series of photographs, Salt Water Tears: Lives Left Behind in Satkhira, Bangladesh which were first shown in London in March 2009 and have subsequently been exhibited in Dresden and Geneva. |
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