Prix Pictet, the global award in photography and sustainability, will this year present a number of special events and exhibitions alongside the launch of the Fifth Cycle of the Prix Pictet with the announcement of the new Theme in Arles in July. These include: The fourth Prix Pictet Conversation on Contemporary Photography Ahlam Shibli, Bedouin Palestinian photographer, based in Haifa, will talk about the ways her photographic work addresses the violent denial of home and traces the resistance against its loss, revealing the effort to create new ways to exist far from home. She will be in discussion with Jean-François Chevier, Professor of History of Contemporary Art, L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris. Wednesday 12 June 2013 Whitechapel Gallery, London.
Prix Pictet at Les Rencontres d’Arles: The first public preview of the images that Simon Norfolk, winner of the fourth Prix Pictet Commission, has made in Afghanistan will be the centrepiece of a special evening screening at the Théâtre Antique in Arles, during the opening week of Les Rencontres d’Arles international photography festival. This presentation will coincide with the announcement of the Theme and Jury for the Fifth Cycle of the Prix Pictet, as well as details of the final awards ceremony and exhibition of the shortlisted photographers in London in May 2014.
Somerset House, London: Simon Norfolk An exhibition devoted to the work of Simon Norfolk, winner of the fourth Prix Pictet commission, shot on location in Afghanistan. Pictet’s charity partner Medair have been instrumental in helping Norfolk realise the commission. Medair has worked in Afghanistan since 1998, helping communities to learn survival techniques in such disasters as drought, floods and landslides.10 27 October 2013. Simon Norfolk is a multi award-winning landscape photographer whose work over the past ten years has probed and stretched the meaning of the word ‘battlefield’ in all its forms. He has photographed in some of the world’s worst war zones and refugee crises. He has produced three monographs including Afghanistan: chronotopia (2002) which was published in five languages; For Most of It I Have No Words (1998) about the landscapes of genocide; and Bleed (2005) about the war in Bosnia.
Founded by Pictet, the leading Swiss asset and wealth management group in 2008, the Prix Pictet has rapidly established itself as the world’s leading prize in photography and sustainability. The award aims to uncover outstanding photography applied to confront the most pressing social and environment challenges of today. The Prix Pictet has two elements: the prize of CHF 100,000, and the
Commission, in which a nominated photographer is invited to undertake a field trip to a region where the Bank is supporting a sustainability project. The Prix also includes a major exhibition devoted to the work of the shortlisted photographers.
Among distinguished photographers who have appeared on previous Prix Pictet Shortlists are Robert Adams, Luc Delahaye, Joel Sternfeld, Edward Burtynsky, Mitch Epstein, Taryn Simon, Andreas Gursky, Nadan Kander and Susan Derges. Past Winners are: First Prix Pictet/Water ,Winner: Benoit Aquin, Commission: Munem Wasif . Second Prix Pictet/Earth, Winner: Nadav Kander ,Commission: Ed Kashi. Third Prix Pictet/Growth, Winner: Mitch Epstein, Commission: Chris Jordan. Fourth Prix Pictet/Power, Winner: Luc Delahaye, Commission: Simon Norfolk
Photo: Ahlam Shibli, Untitled (Death, no.46) Palestine, chromogenic colour print, © Courtesy the artist