Humans have done a lot of horrifying things. But now the tables have turned, and the human race faces unprecedented peril, nature’s wrath after years of abuse. Photography can only grapple with the enormity of what is happening as the world that we know disappears.

The theme for this year’s Prix Pictet – one of the world’s top photo prizes – is Human. The prize has always favoured titanic themes, but the exhibition of this year’s shortlist of 12 is a spectacular and profoundly melancholy reckoning with what we humans have done, where it’s left us, and where we’re heading.

The winner of the 2023 Prix Pictet, announced at an award ceremony at the V&A on 28 September, is the Indian photographic artist Gauri Gill. Gill is the 10th photographer to pick up the 100,000 CHF (£89,700) prize and follows an illustrious list, including the last winner, Sally Mann.

Gill’s winning series, Notes from the Desert, began with an act of brutality she witnessed at a village school in rural Rajasthan, north India, when a girl was beaten by her teacher. Unable to shake the image, Gill took a month off work and left Delhi to return to Rajasthan and photograph the villages. At first her focus was the schools, but her project, which began in 1999 and is still not complete, quickly expanded to bear witness to life and death in the desert.

Over the years, Gill forged relationships with many of the villagers, and returned again and again. The taut selection of images on show are exquisitely printed, reminiscent of Graciela Iturbide’s black and white studies of Indigenous communities in Mexico in the 1970s, and suffused with the same kind of magical realism. Soft, tender and strange, the images also hold the harshness of the reality they show, a place that demands total self-reliance, and where, as Gill has said, “the stakes are high, the elements close, and life is as cheap as the jokes are rampant”.

The show is not without glimmers of hope – a literal glimmer, in the case of the show’s opener, a deeply moving and wistful series by Mexican photographer Yael Martínez. The shadowy surfaces of his nocturnal photographs glitter with dozens of dots of dazzling light, creating the effect of the eponymous Luciérnaga (Firefly), or recalling the constellations of candles held during rituals for the dead in Mexico. Martínez punctured prints of the images with pins, shone a torch through the holes, then photographed them again. The people in the pictures are escaping violence endemic in their communities in search of a better life. As the light perforates the darkness in paroxysms of positive energy, the images are transformed – a metaphor for the way humans can turn things around, how the soul resists and flourishes, in spite of the body.

From poetry to putrefaction: the Colombian photojournalist Federico Rios Escobar, known for his documentation of Farc in the jungle and gangs in El Salvador, presents a series called Paths of Desperate Hope. Shot at the Darién Gap, the region that connects Colombia to Panama, last year Escobar followed migrants – forced from their homes due to climate change, economic desperation and conflict – as they made a treacherous trek from a beach town in Colombia to a government camp in Panama. One image depicts a body dredged from the river, maggot-infested and bloated by the water, barely recognisable as human. Just as devastating is the inconclusiveness of Escobar’s project. “I’ll never know how many of those we met made it – and how many didn’t,” he said.

But humans can surprise us – and photography still has the power to lay us bare and connect us. The idea for The Garden by British artist Siân Davey came from her son: replant the abandoned garden at the family home in Devon, and invite people they met over the back wall to come and be photographed. The garden became a “confessional space” for Davey as she photographed her subjects; the stories remain private but we project them into the lush, large-scale, full-colour prints, the verdant bounty of Davey’s garden in full bloom framing the perfectly imperfect, semi-clad bodies that hold each other.

Two distinct and equally powerful bodies of work focus on children, perhaps the show’s only hints at optimism. Vasantha Yogananthan photographed children born after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Partly posed, partly freestyle, the portraits convey the essence of childhood days, carefree – unaware of the disasters that have come before and are possibly yet to come.

In contrast is a suite of jewel-like black and white prints of young schoolgirls in the Turkish region of Eastern Anatolia by Vanessa Winship. The girls, in their austere uniforms and homemade haircuts, seem to be from another time. Getting an education, for girls living here, is not easy. The hardship comes at you through the details: the battered residential buildings behind the girls, the brittle earth beneath scuffed shoes. But commemorated in pictures, the occasion is no less momentous than children heading off to their first day at school anywhere – even in black and white, these girls are radiant with promise.

Human is an exhilarating viewing experience. It is a show about human persistence as much as it is about the urgency of the climate crisis. It is about greed, and love. It is about our mortality. And it is scary. But if the camera is a sincere witness, how could it tell us anything else?

This World Maritime Day, we’re delighted to announce the winners of Life At Sea 2023.

The first prize of £1,000 goes to John Robert M. Maraño for his photo ’12 Degrees’ – at first glance a clever trick until you notice the pitch of the ship showing on the instrument (an inclinometer) on the wall behind. Paddy Rodgers, judging the competition said “We think of the floor as solid, but seafarers will tell you that aboard a ship the floor is very movable.

The pendulum in the background of the image shows the swing of the ship, that it’s not a trick, that the photographer is doing something quite clever with the angle of the camera.” Just imagine carrying out your daily work in an environment that’s constantly rolling that you’re powerless to control.

“Michael Jackson? No. This is me trying his moves while balancing myself as the ship’s rolling reaches 12 degrees. This prevents me from getting dizzy with the ship’s heavy rolling. This was taken during our drifting in Fremantle, Australia.” – John Robert M Maraño

Continuing the theme of the forces of nature, the second prize was awarded to Mikael Cesar Bureros for his photo ‘Converging Forces’ a dramatic image of a container ship about to be engulfed by a sandstorm blowing out of Egypt. In this image the viewer can imagine the feeling of seeing great billowing clouds of sand heading inexorably towards the photographer on board. Patrice Terraz, photographer and judge said “Looking through the photos, you realise ‘no-one but a seafarer could take this photo’, so many of the photos put you immediately into the view of the crew.”

“In the realm of the seafarer, the unpredictable forces of nature are both familiar and formidable. When a sandstorm sweeps across the land, a mesmerizing battle between land and sea unfolds. The swirling maelstrom of sand mirrors the ceaseless waves that test the prowess of seafarers.

Like the turbulent ocean, the sandstorm brings forth a symphony of chaos and challenge, where wind and sand merge in a dance of elemental power. Yet amidst this tempestuous encounter, the seafarer’s spirit remains unyielding. Drawing upon their seafaring instincts, they navigate through the chaos, relying on their honed skills and resilient resolve. In this captivating clash of land and sea, the seafarer’s indomitable spirit shines through, a testament to their unparalleled courage and unwavering determination to conquer nature’s most formidable storms.” – Mikael Cesar Bureros

The third prize, awarded to Reza Sajedifar for ‘Serenity’ brings a change of mood with a colourful view shot over the side of a tanker showing a fisherman at prayer on a small boat alongside. Anne Reitsma, photographer and competition judge said, “This photo, with its beautiful colour and composition, really shows the interaction of people’s daily lives and the sea.”

“Hello I took this photo from the deck of an oil tanker. I found the fishing boat, which was about 15 meters below us, very interesting. They were almost clinging to our anchored ship so that they could catch more fish and the most interesting thing in my opinion is the fisherman who prayed in the middle of the ocean with a certain simplicity. Thank God I had my camera in my hand and I was able to take their picture at that moment” – Reza Sajedifar

The judges recognised three further photographs as highly commended: ‘Woman, you belong! [Babae, kabilang ka!]’ by Juven Tupas, ‘Rescue at Sea’ by Elijah Jose C. Barrios, and ‘Tank Inspection’ by Randolph P. de Jesus.

Women are still very under-represented in the maritime sector comprising only 2% of the international workforce. This pensive image titled ‘Woman, you belong!’ suggests an inner strength and determination and reminds us that though small in number women can play a vital role in the industry.

“In a world where you are observed by many and your abilities are compared to that of men’s, it is your own identity that drives your valuable contribution to the industry. As you accelerate in numbers, it also proves that the maritime world is not only for men but for everyone. You might feel lonely sometimes but remember that you are not alone. You’re a woman, and you belong!” – Juven Tupas

In addition to the day job, seafarers are also confronted by life and death situations such as that reflected in ‘Rescue at Sea’. Whilst governments debate the political implications of migration at sea, seafarers must deal with the immediate humanitarian response. This dramatic image shows the precarity of the craft and the desperation of the people on board and leaves us to imagine the stress and bravery of the seafarers engaged in saving their lives.

“The sea is an immensity of inspiring stories. 09 February 2023—Our ship was en route to New Orleans, USA, when our second officer suddenly noticed a makeshift boat seemingly in distress. At that time, I was watching a movie in my cabin. Our captain called me in a rushed voice, instructing me to bring my camera and document what would be a rescue operation. When I got there, all hands were already on deck. We had doubts at the beginning. We initially thought they were pirates, but when we zoomed in the photos, the tears and exhaustion in their faces were enough to prove they were not. The rescue operation was challenging for all of us. The sea swells were not kind, and the current wasn’t easing us either. It took us five attempts before we were able to rescue the distressed persons successfully. In this photo, you will see our final attempt at reaching them through a lifeline. It was a catch for life.” – Elijah Jose C. Barrios

‘Tank Inspection’ presents a completely different perspective. This almost abstract photo shows the ship as an inhuman environment, enormous and dizzying but one that must be maintained and kept safe by the crew on board.

“Tank inspection is indeed a tiring job.” – Randolph P. de Jesus

And finally this year the judges agreed to award a special extra prize for an image submitted in low resolution but worthy of recognition. ‘Working overside’ by Anil D Jethwa provokes a sharp intake of breath. With its low-key caption, this astonishing image speaks for itself.

“My friend working overboard for painting” – Anil D Jethwa

Life at Sea 2023 is the fourth seafarers’ photography competition organised by the ITF Seafarers Trust. The ITF Seafarers’ Trust photography project, which began in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, now boasts a collection of some 8,000 digital images and captions. We are enormously grateful to all the seafarers who have embraced the opportunity to share their experiences with us and help raise the profile of the men and women powering the global movement of goods and people by sea.

Thanks also go to this year’s judges: San Ko Oo, seafarer and winner of Life At Sea 2022, Anne Reitsma, photographer, Patrice Terraz, photographer, and Paddy Rodgers, Director (Chief Executive) of Royal Museums Greenwich who undertook the very difficult task of selection with great care and consideration.

Life at Sea 2023 is the fourth seafarers’ photography competition organised by the ITF Seafarers Trust.

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“It’s so grim, I felt sick, as so many people did, when I saw
it,” says writer and environmentalist Prof Robert McFarlane.

“It was a film star, it was a tree that ashes
were scattered under, marriages were made under it, it was a shelter for tired
walkers.”

He points out that it was chopped down on the eve
of the State
of Nature report‘s publication – an audit of how things are faring
for the living world in the UK.

“Nature is under attack and has been for a long time in these
islands,” he said, adding: “We have not looked after our woods well.”

But he added: “When you lose something like this, what a response
it’s pulled out – grief, poems, paintings, drawings, photographs, stories and
memories.

“The question is how do we now use that strength of feeling and
turn it to the good?”

Indian photographer Gauri Gill was announced as the winner of the tenth cycle of the Prix Pictet, the global award for photography and sustainability receiving the prize of 100,000 Swiss Francs. Gauri Gill was selected from a shortlist of 12 photographers by an independent jury.

Gill’s work emphasises her belief in working with and through community, in what she calls ‘active listening’. For more than two decades, she has been engaged closely with marginalised communities in the desert of western Rajasthan, and for the last decade with Indigenous artists in Maharashtra. 

Her winning series ‘Notes from the Desert’ looks at whole spectrum of life: drought years and the year of a great monsoon – when Barmer became Kashmir

“I see the world much like it appears in an impressionist painting, all speckly and blurred with no definition or detail,” says photographer Kurt Weston. “It is as if there was a big glob of Vaseline on my eye.” Kurt is a legally blind photographer that was interested in the art form as a young boy. But a terrible side-effect of some medicine caused him to almost fully lose his eyesight. Still, that hasn’t stopped Kurt from wanting to make photos. With his Sony RX100 II in hand, he’s still shooting.

All images by Kurt Weston. Used with permission. Be sure to also check out his website.

Alpha Vision is presented in partnership with Sony. Sony has made several strides towards helping low vision creators with packages like the Retinal Projection Camera Kit. Other cameras, like the Sony A7R V, Sony A7C II, and Sony A7C R, have extra accessibility features that help someone navigate the menu system and use the camera much easier. This story is part of an initiative to bring the voices and artwork of these photographers to the front. Our Editor in Chief is legally blind, so these stories bring a unique understanding to the type of images these photographers produce.

How Kurt Weston Got Into Photography

As a young boy, Kurt loved looking at Life Magazine and several others. Specifically, he loved portraits. “I would take my favorite photos from these magazines and I created a huge collage on one of the walls in my bedroom,” he tells us. “Those amazing faces would stare at me every day and it was then I knew I would be a photographer.” From there he got into photography via a twin reflex camera.

Throughout high school, he spent lots of time in the darkroom making prints. Eventually, his parents built him one at home.

His artistic talent was something he wanted to go to college for. But his parents dissuaded him. Instead, he went into Fashion Merchandising. After working in clothing for a while, he realized he wouldn’t be happy unless he was a photographer. So he kept at it. Eventually, he received a BA in photography from Columbia College in Chicago (1985). From there, he worked in large commercial studios and for photographer Frank Misek.

“All through my classes at Columbia College and while I worked at (SBD) I continued to photograph portraits of people I would meet at the clubs and alternative venues,” he shares. “The Gay, Punk, New Wave and performance art scenes were profuse in 1980s Chicago. I met many creative people who I collaborated with to photograph stunning portraits.” It eventually lead him to fashion photography.    

Essential Camera Gear

“My go-to point and shoot is the Sony RX100 II Camera with the Carl Zeiss lens,” he tells us. “This camera comes with a 1-inch sensor and is so incredibly compact I can take it everywhere.” But besides this, Kurt shoots a lot of film and vintage camera gear.

From this, he gets photos with richer blacks and tonalities that make for multiple exposures that he really liked. For one project he even used a scanner as a camera. “I would spray the scanner glass with foaming glass cleaner, sometimes incorporating pieces of tinsel and shards of broken glass to replicate the obstructions I experience in my field of vision,” he tells us. “The scanner worked amazingly well for this project, and these images have garnered much attention.” Ultimately, he liked having a wide range of equipment to get the results he delivers.

How Kurt Creates With His Eyesight

Kurt lost his eyesight in a really unfortunate way. “I lost most of my sight due to experimental medication used to treat an AIDS-related condition called CMV Retinitis,” he tells us. “The medication caused Uveitis which is an extreme inflammation of the eyes. Every part of both eyes became damaged – my retinas, my corneas’ and my pupils all terribly damaged.” As a result, he’s totally blind in the left eye and only sees a bit in the right eye. Even what he sees is pretty odd. He sees floaters all the time. In fact, he didn’t even think he’d ever shoot again.

After some time, he realized that with the assistance of low-vision tech he could still photograph. “I began creating fine art photographs which I exhibited in art exhibitions and galleries,” he shares. “I decided at this point to turn my attention to creating autobiographical images to represent my vision loss which became my ‘Blind Vision’ series of self-portraits. I also created a series of touchable photographs which were exhibited at the Berkeley Art Museum in an exhibit called Blind at the Museum.” In this exhibit, folks with perfect eyesight would blindfold themselves and feel the photographs while listening to the audio descriptions of the work. They’ve been exhibited internationally and received quite a bit of acclaim.

After being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, he was told by a medium that he has to be around nature as much as possible. So he started walking around with his guide dog. From there, he continued to go about photographing in places like the Pacific Northwest. “In many of the images I utilized intentional camera movement, (ICM) which illustrated how I perceived these environments,” he tells us. “The exhibition garnered me the Arts Orange County Outstanding Artist Achievement Award, as well as an interview on CNN. More recently, I have seen ICM’s becoming a widely used technique by sighted photographers – go figure.” It’s been 15 years, and he survived the cancer.

He’s still fascinated by black and white photography. Specifically, he loved the Chiaroscuro style of portraiture. And here he is talking about it:

This Italian term which literally means ‘light-dark’ was made famous by the artist Caravaggio. In my portraits I utilize the distinct tonal contrasts between my luminous subjects and their dark, shadowy backgrounds as well as, the dark environments they are portrayed in. This luminosity, this light emitting from my subject allows me to see the final print more distinctly and creates a very dramatic portrait with the attention specifically on the subject.

On top of all this, Kurt finds inspiration from Film Noir and getting to know his subjects before photographing them.

Thoughts On AI

Of course, one has to be curious of what a legally blind photographer thinks of AI. “As a legally blind person, AI has provided tools which I can utilize in order to be more independent,” he tells us. “But when it comes to creativity and art making, an actual person needs to be the creator. No machine or app can create anything better than what is conceived, imagined and manifested by human consciousness.” Overall, he thinks that it’s the art and the story of the artists that is what’s so incredibly important.

I am confident art generated by human beings will be infinitely more interesting and desirable. Ultimately content providers will realize it’s worth and value over AI generated content. 

An arachnid from the island of Tasmania is seen above in a photo by Shahan Derkarabetian. Its tall eye-mount, which looks like a neck and a head, is very unusual. And after capturing the rare creature with his camera, the reactions to it have been sort of strange.

“When I put photos of this on social media a lot of people thought this was from the ocean. I had to correct multiple people (who said) ‘That’s crazy! It’s amazing what you can find in the ocean.’”

“This is from underneath a log!” said Derkarabetian, the entomology curator for the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Derkarabetian took up macro photography after he got frustrated with the poor photos he was trying to take through his microscope. He says taking these super-close photographs help you get to know the creatures a lot better.

“You see how they move, you’re paying attention to the fine details of how they look and maybe things you wouldn’t notice from somebody else’s photograph, right?” Derkarabetian said. “When you’re looking through the camera, and you see this weird structure, you want to focus on it.”

Derkarabetian attended San Diego State University and got his Ph.D. from UC Riverside. He spent five years at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow.

He has focused his studies on arachnids called Opiliones. You may know them best as daddy longlegs or harvestmen. He said the name comes from Leiobunum Vittatum, which is very common in the U.S. and typically appears around the fall harvest.

Opiliones are not spiders and they’re easy to tell apart.

“Spiders will have two body parts. But Opiliones will have those fused. So they are basically a ball with legs,” Derkarabetian said. “Harvestmen don’t have venom. They don’t have fangs. They don’t make silk. They don’t make webs or anything like that and they are completely harmless.”

Harvestmen come in many varieties. Triaenobunus Pilosus is another native of Tasmania. Trogulus Tricarinatus originally came from Europe and it’s now seen along the Eastern Seaboard. Derkarabetian found one in the park where he’d eat lunch while going to Harvard.

Derkarabetian is a Southern California native who fell in love with nature at a very early age, growing up on the edge of development in Rancho Cucamonga. He says, to go into nature, he just had to cross the street.

“There was one day I remember. I wasn’t really paying attention to bugs or anything but I flipped this rock and there was a giant centipede. And it scared me but I couldn’t look away,” he said. “And ever since then I’d be flipping rocks and looking at the rolly pollies and the snails and things so it kind of started there.”

And now he’s collecting those strange, hidden creatures for The Nat in San Diego.

For a lot of photographers, the act of traveling is a double-edged sword. We travel to be able to see the world and draw as much inspiration as we can from everything we see and experience. At the same time, the act of traveling often requires pushing out of our comfort zones and leaving behind a lot of the things that allow us to operate with fewer worries and limitations.

Traveling often involves the unpredictability of new surroundings, the randomness of photographic subjects, and the requirements (and limitations) of our gear. Travel is a huge equalizer that requires a lot of planning and a lot of energy to make sure that the experience is both productive and refreshing at the same time. Here are four things to keep in mind that might help you make the most out of your travel experiences no matter where you are going.

1. Don’t Let Unfavorable Weather Stop You

A lot of photographers get discouraged when the condition outdoors don’t seem to be optimal for photography. One reality that many of us have to accept is that the weather won’t always be pleasant, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be anything worth photographing. Of course, one should always prioritize safety when the natural environment becomes dangerous, but for days when clouds cover the sky and maybe even a bit of intermittent rain falls, it might just be advantageous for you to push yourself to go out and make the most out of the day. This is especially true for trips with very limited time because you probably want to make the most out of the time, effort, and money that you dedicated for such an experience.

When we travel for the sake of photography, we do so with a wide variety of photographic goals. Personally, I spend my time yearning to see and photograph beautiful places around the world, both natural and man-made. Other people like to travel to photograph scenes on the streets, faces of the people they meet, and unique objects that represent and tell stories of that particular place. One important thing to remember is that these stories never stop due to bad weather. People in a particular place continue their way of life amidst gloomy and cloudy skies. Landscapes have distinctly unique appearances even in rough weather, and city life goes on to glow even on a rainy night.

While the weather may change what you see and photograph, it doesn’t meant that there isn’t anything to capture at all. If you find ways to continue exploring a place even when the conditions are not what you expected, and you learn to adapt to what the place is offering to show you for that particular day, you will never run out of discoveries and stories to tell.

2. Give Yourself Some Wiggle Room

As travelers and even as photographers, we are told to always plan, plan, and plan. With limited time in a particular place, there is, of course, undeniable value in having a solid plan on when and where to go at a certain time in order to make the most out of your trip. However, we also have the tendency to be too fixated on following a schedule and simply getting from one place to another that we forget to actually experience the place and gather personal memories along the way.

We must always remember that there is so much value in allowing yourself to get lost (to an extent) in order to feed your curiosity and make memorable discoveries. It is, of course, not advisable to start a trip with absolutely no plans, but it’s great to know when you can take a few steps back and play things by ear.

In our recent trip to Hong Kong, we made a simple list of the things we wanted to see and the places we wanted to photograph. We put them in no particular order and assessed what was feasible on one particular day and basically chose where we felt like going. At the same time, we gave ourselves a couple of hours in the afternoon to see new and random places where we don’t even know what we will see. With just four days in the city, we can definitely say that we made the most of the experience because our craving to do photography in the city was satisfied equally by the shots that we planned to do and the scenes and stories that we stumbled upon along the way.

3. Don’t Forget To Be a Tourist

It’s important to take into consideration everything that you need to be able to survive being away from home for a few days. Of course, one of the most basic steps is arranging for transportation and lodging, and both of them have so much impact on your overall experience. Remember that being in a place where you don’t feel safe or comfortable will affect every other aspect of your trip, which is why it is definitely reasonable to pay for a little extra comfort if you can afford it.

You’re also inevitably going to have to eat, which is why it makes sense to also explore when it comes to food. This doesn’t really mean that you should splurge on the most expensive restaurants, but instead, make the search for good memorable food part of your exploration. Travel guides and articles will probably tell you all the popular places, but it’s also beneficial to ask locals where they like to eat around the area. If you’re into other things worth checking out such as coffee, tea, or even shopping, these give you opportunities to rest for a few minutes while still experiencing life in the place you’re visiting.

4. Connect With People

In most travel destinations, it is inevitable that you will meet people along the way. The world may be beautiful on its own, but a lot of the things we photograph when we travel are due to how people bring places to life. No matter where you go, you never lose anything by meeting people and making new friends.

Everywhere you go, you will meet people who embody the identity of the place that you’re visiting — people who work at hotels and restaurants, fellow travelers, or random strangers living their daily lives. If you’re looking for unique stories and if you want to learn about a place on a deeper level, it will be from the stories of the people around you.

At the same time, in a world where communication happens very quickly no matter the distance, it is very likely that you have talked to or even worked with people from this new place that you are visiting. Taking a few hours to meet with them in person and learning about them and their place will literally open more doors for you.

Traveling for photography can be both relaxing and stressful at the same time. When your passion to take photos bring you around the world and push you to leave your comfort zone, making the most out of the trip should also mean giving yourself room to be comfortable enough to actually enjoy the experience.

Photographer Gauri Gill has won the 10th Annual Prix Pictet Photography and Sustainability Award, taking home the massive prize of 100,000 Swiss Francs (about $109,219), one of the largest if not the largest sums for a photo award in the world.

The Prix Pictet is described as the world’s leading award for photography and sustainability. It was founded in 2008 by the Pictet Group — a Swiss multinational private bank and financial services company — with the goal of harnessing the power of photography to draw global attention to critical environmental issues.

Not everyone can enter the competition, as entry is only allowed through nomination through Prix Pictet’s global network of over 300 nominators which includes critics, curators, and other specialists in the visual arts. Nominators are asked to recommend portfolios that have the power and artistic quality demanded by the prize. Since it was founded, the organization says that more than 5,000 photographers have been nominated, “all of whose work in one way or another testifies to the fragile state of our planet.”

Once the nominees have been collected, an independent jury shortlists those who are considered artistically outstanding and also tell a compelling narrative that is related to the theme of the year. From that shortlist, the jury selects a winner who is awarded the 100,000 Swiss Francs.

This year’s winner is Gauri Gill, an Indian photographer who was selected from the short list of 12 photographers for her series Notes from the Desert.

“On my many visits to rural Rajasthan, I have witnessed a complex reality I knew nothing about as a city dweller. To live poor and landless in the desert amounts to an inescapable reliance on oneself, on each other, and on nature,” Gill says of her series.

“These fragments of shared experience now inhabit a large photographic archive called Notes from the Desert, encompassing different narratives and varied forms of image taking.”

“In a world facing unprecedented challenges, from social inequality to environmental crises, it was crucial to turn the lens towards humanity itself. The theme Human provides a platform to explore the complexities, vulnerabilities, and strengths of the human condition. It allows the artists to capture and communicate the stories, struggles and triumphs of individuals and communities around the globe,” Executive Director of Prix Pictet, Isabelle von Ribbentrop, says.

“Through this theme, Prix Pictet aims to foster a deeper understanding of our shared humanity and inspire meaningful conversations about the issues that impact us all. Especially when thinking about the theme Human, I strongly believe that instead of the future of photography, we should think about photography of the future. The power of the image lies in its ability to foreground critical and urgent environmental issues in a visually impactful yet direct way.”

Gill’s winning series along with a selection of images from each shortlisted artist’s portfolio will tour up to a dozen locations worldwide. A full list of all events and exhibitions is listed on the Prix Pictet website. All of Gill’s photos as well as all of the shortlisted images can be perused in the Human gallery.

Image credits: All photos by Gauri Gill and provided courtesy of Prix Pictet