Prix Pictet Fire

Prix Pictet, the world's leading prize for photography and sustainability, is coming to Frankfurt. From April 21 to May 7, 2023, the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt presents the exhibition PRIX PICTET FIRE. On display are stirring images on the subject of fire – with high level relevance: “Last summer we were inundated with images of fire at its most frighteningly destructive,” writes Sir David King, chairman of the prize jury, in the book accompanying the show. “These were not the harbingers of crisis, they are the thing itself.”

The 13 exhibited artists present the subject as the most capricious of the elements, its devastating effects, and equally its life-giving ones. The bodies of work shortlisted for PRIX PICTET FIRE draw their inspiration from both major global events and personal experiences. The photographic images span documentary, portraiture, landscape, collage and studies of light and process.

The winner of PRIX PICTET FIRE is the American photographer Sally Mann. Her awarded body of work Blackwater (2008–2012) can be seen at the FFF, as well as the works by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (Lebanon); Rinko Kawauchi(Japan); Sally Mann (USA); Christian Marclay (USA/ Switzerland); Fabrice Monteiro (Belgium/Benin); Lisa Oppenheim (USA); Mak Remissa (Cambodia); Carla Rippey (Mexico); Mark Ruwedel (USA); Brent Stirton (South Africa); David Uzochukwu (Austria/Nigeria); Daisuke Yokota (Japan).

This shortlist was chosen by the jury from more than 600 nominations for Fire by an international panel of experts. The prize, endowed with 100.000 Swiss Francs, has been awarded since 2008 – with the aim of using the power of photography to draw global attention to existential issues of sustainability, especially those concerning the environment. Each award cycle is dedicated to a specific theme.

The PRIX PICTET FIRE key visual is by photographer David Uzochukwu, who was proposed for this cycle by Celina Lunsford, Artistic Director of the FFF.

PRIX PICTET FIRE can be seen free of charge at the FFF – to encourage as many people as possible to visit and engage with the diversity of the existential theme.