Prix Pictet

Storm is increasingly the default setting for our lives. It is as if the next environmental, medical, social or political calamity is mere moments away. Of course, Storm is the dramatic expression of nature’s wild side, yet it is also the defining characteristic of our age. We are constantly reminded that the precious ecosystems of our fragile planet are under threat as never before. At the same time our social and political systems are fracturing – in the famously prophetic words of W.B. Yeats ‘the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world’. Against all of this there are ripples of discontent that could still turn into a storm powerful enough to provoke the kinds of change necessary to save us all.

The Prix Pictet is the world’s leading award for photography and sustainability. It was founded in 2008 by the Pictet Group with the goal of harnessing the power of photography to draw global attention to critical environmental issues. To date, there have been eleven cycles of the award, each with its own theme highlighting a particular facet of sustainability. For each cycle, a book is published showcasing the work of the shortlisted photographers as well as powerful images produced by a selection of the other nominated photographers.