Prix Pictet - the World`s Photography Award for Environmental Sustainability - Announces 2009 Shortlist

GENEVA & ARLES, France--(Business Wire)--
A shortlist of twelve outstanding international photographers, from which one
will be selected later this year to receive the Prix Pictet, the world`s
photography prize for environmental sustainability, was announced today at
Europe`s leading photography festival, Les Rencontres d`Arles in France.

The prize is supported by Swiss bank Pictet & Cie. Photographers shortlisted for
the £60,000 (CHF100,000) first prize are:

Darren Almond, UK; Christopher Anderson, Canada; Sammy Baloji, Congo; Edward
Burtynsky, Canada; Naoya Hatakeyama, Japan; Andreas Gursky, Germany; Nadav
Kander, South Africa; Ed Kashi, USA; Abbas Kowsari, Iran; Yao Lu, China; Edgar
Martins, Portugal and Christopher Steele Perkins, UK.

The Prix Pictet is an annual search for photographs that communicate powerful
messages of global environmental significance under a broad theme. This year the
theme is `earth`. A Mexican garbage dump where people forage to sustain a
pitiful existence; the changing landscape and displaced communities of China`s
Yangtze River; the devastating impact of oil production in the Niger Delta; and
the annual pilgrimage to the desert fronts of the Iran-Iraq war are among the
subjects that feature in the work of this year`s shortlisted artists.

The submissions speak of the harmful and often irreversible effects of
exploiting the earth`s resources and reflect on the immediate and long-term
impact of unsustainable development on communities across the globe.

`Earth`, a book published by teNeues, cataloguing the work of the Prix Pictet
nominees will accompany this year`s prize and launched on 6 October at Purdy
Hicks Gallery, London.

The winner will be announced by Kofi Annan, honorary president of the Prix
Pictet, on 22 October 2009 at the Passage de Retz gallery, Paris. A further
award, in the form of a commission for one of the shortlisted photographers to
visit a region where Pictet & Cie are supporting a sustainability project, will
be announced at the same time.

Prix Pictet will collaborate with FIAC (22 - 25 October), Paris` major
international contemporary and modern art fair, and Paris Photo, the world`s
leading event for photography (19 - 22 November).

An independent jury of seven leading figures from the worlds of the visual arts
and the environment, chaired by the photography critic, Francis Hodgson, made
the selection from over 300 nominations put forward by the seventy Prix Pictet
nominators - a group that includes leading critics, practitioners and curators.

Nicolas Pictet, Partner of Pictet & Cie, said `The calibre of the shortlisted
work for this second year of the Prix Pictet illustrates how the issue of
sustainability resonates throughout the artistic community. We strongly believe
that by bringing these images to the attention of the world, Prix Pictet will
further highlight the devastating effect climate change is having on our planet
and ensure sustainability remains at the heart of global policy making.`

Awarding the inaugural Prix Pictet to Canadian photographer Benoit Aquin last
October, Kofi Annan said: `It is my hope that the Prix Pictet will help to
deepen understanding of the changes taking place in our world and raise public
awareness about the urgency of taking preventative action.`

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
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Prix Pictet, Germany
www.pictet.com
www.prixpictet.com

Pictet & Cie
Isabelle von Ribbentrop / Oliver Möller, +49 (0) 69 795 00 931
ivonribbentrop@pictet.com / omoeller@pictet.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009