Human

Human ²⁰²²

Lila, 2022. Siân Davey

Human was announced as the theme for the tenth cycle of the award at Les Rencontres d’Arles photography festival in 2022. Commenting on the theme, Isabelle von Ribbentrop, Executive Director, Prix Pictet, said ‘We quite rightly celebrate human creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship but too often our triumphs in science, engineering and technology come at monumental cost. The human story is more often a tale of conflict and despair than of nurture, love and co-existence.’ Indian photographer Gauri Gill was announced as the tenth laureate for her series Notes from the Desert.

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Commenting on the theme, Isabelle von Ribbentrop, Executive Director, Prix Pictet, said:

We quite rightly celebrate human creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship but too often our triumphs in science, engineering and technology come at monumental cost. The human story is more often a tale of conflict and despair than of nurture, love and co-existence.

It would be easy to read the human story as one of tragic hubris. Yet it does not end here. We stand on the threshold of the future wondering which way the dice will fall. Our wager with posterity is that human ingenuity, intelligence, and resilience of spirit is powerful enough to insist upon a very different future for the human story.

Over the coming months, the Prix Pictet’s global network of over 300 nominators will identify portfolios of work that align with the theme. As always, these portfolios will be reviewed by the independent Jury. The shortlist for Human will be presented at the Rencontres d’Arles in July 2023. The tenth laureate will be announced at the opening of the award exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London in September 2023.

Shortlist

Hoda Afshar, Speak the Wind, 2015–2020

Gera Artemova, War Diary, 2022

Ragnar Axelsson, Where the World Is Melting, 2013-2022

Alessandro Cinque, Peru, a Toxic State, 2017-2023

Siân Davey, The Garden, 2021-2023

Federico Ríos Escobar, Paths of Desperate Hope, 2022

Gauri Gill, Notes from the Desert, 1999-ongoing

Michał Łuczak, Extraction, 2016-2023

Yael Martínez , Luciérnaga (Firefly), 2019-2023

Richard Renaldi, Disturbed Harmonies, 2022-2023

Vanessa Winship, Sweet Nothings: Schoolgirls of Eastern Anatolia, 2007

Vasantha Yogananthan, Mystery Street, 2022

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.