Fire

Fire ²⁰²¹

Fabrice Monteiro, Untitled #11, 2016.

Prix Pictet announces Fire as the theme for the ninth cycle of the award. The Prix Pictet’s global network of over 300 nominators identified portfolios of work that align with the ninth theme. These portfolios were reviewed by the independent Jury chaired by Sir David King. The Fire shortlist was presented at the Rencontres d’Arles in July 2021. The ninth laureate Sally Mann was announced at the opening of the award exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London in December 2021.

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Fire has hardly been out of the news since the inferno that consumed Notre Dame in Paris in early 2019. We have seen record rainforest blazes in the Amazon, forest and bush fires in Australia and conflagrations in California. It is the fourth element. Fire destroys and it renews. Fire means survival, renewal, and economic prosperity. Yet our abuse of this most capricious of elements is the source of most of our environmental woes.

Chair Stephen Barber explains the choice of theme is timely.

Shortlist

Sally Mann, Blackwater, 2008-2012

Fabrice Monteiro, The Prophecy, 2013 - 2020

Rinko Kawauchi, Hanabi, 2001

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Wonder Beirut, 1998-2006

Lisa Oppenheim, Smoke, 2021

Daisuke Yokota, Matter / Burn Out, 2016

Carla Rippey, Immolation, 2009-2019

Christian Marclay, Fire, 2020

Brent Stirton, Burns Capital Of The World, 2013

David Uzochukwu, In The Wake, 2015-2020

Mark Ruwedel, LA Fires, 2017-2020

Mak Remissa, Left 3 Days, 2014

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.

Winner interview

Prix Pictet Fire winner Sally Mann talks about her winning series Blackwater. Listen to more from Sally on our A Lens on Sustainability podcast.