Water 2008
Benoit Aquin, Untitled 01 from series The Chinese 'Dust Bowl', Sanggen Dalai, Inner Mongolia, China, 2006.
The theme of the inaugural Prix Pictet was Water. It is, after all, through water that we are able to see the earliest and most devastating manifestations of climate change: threats to our food supply, to our health, to fragile ecosystems, to the ground on which we live and even to our peace and security.
Over 200 photographers from 43 countries were nominated for the first Prix Pictet, and such was the power of the work submitted that the jury decided to shortlist 18 artists. Kofi Annan, the Honorary President of the Prix Pictet, awarded the prize to the Canadian photographer Benoit Aquin at the opening of the shortlist exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Munem Wasif was invited to complete the Water Commission by visiting the Satkhira region of southwest Bangladesh, where the Pictet Group were supporting the work of the UK based charity, WaterAid.
Shortlist
Benoit Aquin, The Chinese 'Dust Bowl', 2006-2007
Edward Burtynsky, Selected works, 1996-2007
Jesus Abad Colorado, Landscapes and Battles: Two wings wait for the end of the tragedy, 1995-2002
Thomas Joshua Cooper, The World's Edge - The Atlantic Basin Project, 1998-2006
Sebastian Copeland, Antarctica - The Global Warning, 2006
Christian Cravo, Waters of Hope, Rivers of Tears, 1995-2008
Lynn Davis, Ice, 1988-2007
Carl De Keyzer, Moments before the Flood, 2006-2007
Reza Deghati, War and Peace, 1994-2006
Susan Derges, Eden & The Observer and the Observed, 1991-2008
Malcolm Hutcheson, Lahore's Waste Water Problem, 2008
Chris Jordan, In Katrina's Wake: Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster, 2005
David Maisel, Terminal Mirage & The Lake Project, 2001-2004
Mary Mattingly, Second Nature and Time Has Fallen Asleep, 2004-2008
Robert Polidori, After The Flood, 2005-2006
Roman Signer, Body of Work, 1976-2000
Jules Spinatsch, Snow Management, 2004-2008
Munem Wasif, Water Tragedy: Climate Refugee of Bangladesh, 2007
Jury
The jury for the Prix Pictet are a group of leading experts in the visual arts from around the world including directors of major museums and galleries as well as journalists and critics. They lead the global search for images of high artistic quality and narrative power and fit the theme of a particular cycle.
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Francis Hodgson – Chairman
Head of Photographs, Sotheby’s
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Peter Aspden
Financial Times Arts Writer
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Régis Durand
Writer and critic, former Head of the Jeu de Paume
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Leo Johnson
Co-Founder, Sustainable Finance
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Abbas Kiarostami
Film director
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Richard Misrach
Environmental photographer
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Loa Haagen Pictet
Art consultant & curator, Pictet & Cie
Exhibitions and events
Water Commission
The Prix Pictet Commission is an invitation from the Partners of the Pictet Group to one of the nominated photographers to undertake a field trip to a region where the Bank are supporting a sustainability project run by a charity or other NGO. Munem Wasif was invited to complete the Water Commission by visiting the Satkhira region of southwest Bangladesh, where the Pictet Group were supporting the work of the UK based charity, WaterAid.
Munem Wasif, from Series Salt Water Tears: Lives Left Behind in Satkhira. Young children look for small fish in the mud. Vamia, Satkhira. 2008