Earth Preview Exhibition, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, 5-10 October 2009
Candlestar is proud to announce that an exhibition marking the launch of Earth, the book of the 2009 prize, and the announcement of Pictet & Cie’s support for Azafady, a UK-based charity and Malagasy-registered NGO, will go on display at Purdy Hicks Gallery, London from 5 to 10 October.
Work by the twelve photographers shortlisted for the Prix Pictet 2009, one of whom will receive this year’s prestigious photography prize for environmental sustainability will be exhibited two weeks in advance of the prize announcement and exhibition opening at the Passage de Retz in Paris on 22 October and a world tour of the exhibition.
Each year Pictet & Cie also supports the work of a charity whose work mirrors the theme of the prize. For 2009 Pictet & Cie will support Azafady’s Voly Hazo project that aims to preserve the earth from degredation and the eventual desertification that is seen so widely in Madagascar with a programme of tree planting and preservation of the natural forest. One of the shortlisted photographers will therefore be commissioned to visit Madagascar with the Azafady team in order to produce a series of photographs that will highlight many of the issues that Azafady are focusing on in the unique and endangered environment.
The Prix Pictet is an annual search for photographs that communicate powerful messages of global environmental significance under a broad theme. This year that theme is ‘earth’. Photographers shortlisted for the £60,000 (CHF100,000) prize are Darren Almond, Christopher Anderson, Sammy Baloji, Edward Burtynsky, Andreas Gursky, Naoya Hatakeyama, Nadav Kander, Ed Kashi, Abbas Kowsari, Yao Lu, Edgar Martins and Chris Steele-Perkins.