SAN DIEGO, CA (May 2024) – The San Diego Museum of Art is pleased to welcome Prix Pictet: Human, the latest exhibition of the world’s foremost award dedicated to photography and sustainability, to the galleries of the Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art (MOPA@SDMA), the only U.S. stop on the international tour of Prix Pictet: Human. The exhibition will be on view from September 27 to December 15, 2024 at MOPA@SDMA in Balboa Park.
Created by the Pictet Group in 2008, the Prix Pictet aims to harness the power of photography to draw attention to critical issues related to sustainability. There have been ten editions of the Prix Pictet, each highlighting a particular facet of sustainability.
The current edition, Prix Pictet: Human, showcases the work of twelve outstanding photographers who are finalists for the tenth edition of the prize. Their work is a powerful analysis of the various facets of the Human theme. Each of the finalist photographers explores, in their own way, our shared humanity and the broad spectrum of our interactions with the world. The finalist photographers’ portfolios span reportage, portrait, landscape, and light and process studies, and explore the suffering of indigenous peoples, conflict, childhood, the failure of economic processes, the traces of human presence and industrial development, gang violence, borderlands, and migration. His work assesses our role as stewards of the planet and highlights the crucial issue of global sustainability: the core issue of the Prix Pictet since its inception 15 years ago.
“We are honored to welcome the Prix Pictet to MOPA@SDMA for the third time, and as the only U.S. venue to present the Prix Pictet: Human exhibition,” explained Roxana Velasquez, executive director and CEO of the San Diego Museum of Art. “The thought-provoking photographs in this exhibition share important messages and inspiration. We hope everyone will come to see this meaningful and timely exhibition.”
“We are delighted to present the outstanding work of this year’s 12 finalist artists in San Diego,” said Isabelle Von Ribbentrop, executive director of Prix Pictet. ”For more than a decade, our mission at Prix Pictet has been to present the best in global photography, with a focus on the urgent issue of sustainability. It’s a value we share with the San Diego Museum of Art. The opportunity to share this work with the U.S. public is a privilege for us, and we hope this exhibition will be a potent reminder of the urgency of the climate crisis.”
At the ceremony held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in September 2023 to open the Prix Pictet: Human international exhibition, Indian photographer Gauri Gill was announced as the winner of the Prix Pictet Human, and presented with the CHF 100,000 prize. Gill was selected by the prize’s independent jury from among 12 finalist photographers.
Gill’s work emphasizes her conviction to work with and through the community, in a way she calls “active listening.” For more than two decades, he has worked closely with communities in the desert of western Rajasthan, northern India, and for the past decade with indigenous artists in Maharashtra.
At the closing of the exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum it was announced that Colombian photographer Federico Ríos Escobar was the winner of the first “People’s Choice Award” of the Prix Pictet, for which he received the prize of 10,000 Swiss francs. Rios Escobar’s poignant work captures the heartbreaking realities of South American children whose parents have embarked on the perilous migration through the Darien Gap, an almost impassable stretch of jungle located on the border between Colombia and Panama. The People’s Choice Award has been established to allow the public to vote on their favorite series from among the finalists and to continue the dialogue around the vital issues explored by the Prix Pictet.
The finalist photographers are:
Hoda Afshar, Iran
Gera Artemova, Ukraine
Ragnar Axelsson, Iceland
Alessandro Cinque, Italy/Peru
Siân Davey, United Kingdom
Federico Ríos Escobar, Colombia
Gauri Gill, India
Michał Łuczak, Poland
Yael Martínez, Mexico
Richard Renaldi, United States
Vanessa Winship, United Kingdom/Bulgaria
About the artists:
For over 40 years, Ragnar Axelsson has graphically depicted the dramatic changes in the lives of indigenous peoples, landscape and environments at the edges of the habitable world. Concern for the lives and disappearing homelands of indigenous peoples in the Andes Mountains permeates Alessandro Cinque’s work. Gauri Gill spent more than two decades photographing the joy, pain and tenderness that form the fabric of life for those trying to survive in the remote desert region of Rajasthan, India. Federico Rios Escobar offers us an agonizing glimpse of South American children whose parents have decided to undertake the perilous migration through the Darien Gap, an almost impassable stretch of jungle, located on the border between Colombia and Panama. Michał Łuczak documents the indelible marks that the once great mining industry has left on the landscape of Upper Silesia in Poland. Gera Artemova’s visual diary begins with the Russian bombing of her hometown Kyiv in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Vasantha Yogananthan’s work is filled with the dreams and despair of the post-Katrina generation in New Orleans, USA. Vanessa Winship creates carefully composed portraits of schoolgirls living in the borderlands of Turkey. The strange, unusual islands of Hormuz, Qeshm and Hengam are the touchstone of Hoda Afshar’s work. Yael Martinez’s pierced photographs were taken after family members disappeared, victims of the violence that is part of daily life in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Richard Renaldi and Siân Davey focus on the garden as a place of hope and reconnection, a place that serves as a metaphor for the human heart and a potential source of harmony.
About the San Diego Museum of Art
Bringing a rich and diverse cultural experience, The San Diego Museum of Art is home to some of the finest art in the world. Located in the heart of Balboa Park, the museum’s internationally renowned collection of more than 32,000 works of art – dating back as far as 3,000,000 years – includes paintings by Spanish and Italian Old Masters, the Edwin Binney III collection of South Asian paintings, East Asian art, art of the Americas, modern and contemporary art, and the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA@SMA). The museum regularly offers major art exhibitions from around the world, as well as extensive cultural and community engagement programs for all ages. The San Diego Museum of Art organizes experiences that invite visitors to explore art through music, dance, film, culinary art, and more. At the San Diego Museum of Art, exhibition texts are always offered in English and Spanish.
The Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art (MOPA@SDMA), a distinct art gallery also located in Balboa Park offers an outstanding collection of photography, film and new media.
About the Prix Pictet
The Prix Pictet is the world’s most important award dedicated to photography and sustainability. It was created by the Pictet Group in 2008 with the aim of harnessing the power of photography to draw global attention to critical issues related to sustainability. To date, there have been ten editions of the award, each highlighting a particular facet of sustainability.
Admission is by nomination. The Prix Pictet maintains a global network of more than 300 nominators, including critics, curators and other experts in the field of visual arts. Since the creation of the Prix Pictet, more than 5,000 photographers have been nominated, whose work bears witness, in one way or another, to the fragile state of our planet.
An independent jury chooses the winner, who is awarded a prize of CHF 100,000.
The Prix Pictet has held more than 120 exhibitions of works by nominated artists in over forty-five cities around the world.
The nine previous winners are: Benoit Aquin (Water, 2008), Nadav Kander (Earth, 2009-10), Mitch Epstein (Growth, 2011), Luc Delahaye (Power, 2012-13), Michael Schmidt (Consumption, 2014), Valérie Belin (Disorder, 2015-16), Richard Mosse (Space, 2017-18), Joana Choumali (Hope, 2019-20) and Sally Mann (Fire, 2021-22).
More information about the Prix Pictet at: www.prixpictet.com
