Prix Pictet 2025: Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar wins prized photography and sustainability award

Alfredo Jaar's eerie image of nan Great Salt Lake successful Utah has won this year's Prix Pictet, 1 of nan world's starring awards for photography and sustainability.

The Chilean artist's series, entitled The End illustrates really nan area is being destroyed by excessive h2o extraction and has go what scientists person described arsenic an ‘environmental atomic bomb’.

Commenting connected his work, Jaar said: ‘My nonsubjective successful this bid is to show nan tragic destiny of nan reservoir and simultaneously uncover its bonzer beauty and potential. In spite of nan dire business we are in, I wanted to create images of awesome beauty and sadness. In nan look of nan magnitude of this tragedy, I decided to people these images successful a small, unspectacular format, arsenic a benignant of ocular whisper, a lament for our dying planet.’

The Great Salt Lake successful Utah, erstwhile a keystone ecosystem successful nan occidental hemisphere, has now mislaid 73% of its h2o and 60% of its aboveground area since nan mid-nineteenth century, exposing toxic particulate and driving salinity to vulnerable levels.

The reservoir sustains $2.5 cardinal successful nonstop economical activity yearly, supports 80% of nan state’s wetlands, and provides a captious residence for 10 cardinal migratory birds. Its illness would beryllium a calamity of incalculable magnitude and a clear informing of things to come.

Sir David King, Founder and Chair of nan Prix Pictet jury, said: ‘The economic, societal and governmental impacts of nan existent ambiance catastrophe are immense. The diverseness of approaches pinch which nan 12 shortlisted artists person interpreted nan taxable was bonzer and nan accumulation they person presented astatine nan Victoria and Albert Museum is genuinely remarkable.. Any 1 of nan 12 shortlisted artists could easy person won."

Jaar, whose bid was chosen successful consequence to this year's theme, Storm, receives €107,000 arsenic nan victor of nan 11th rhythm of nan prize. The activity of of each nan shortlisted candidates are shown below.

The Storm - Balazs Gardi

Gardi's bid charts nan post-election attack connected nan US Capitol Building connected 6 January 2021. As a young photographer successful his autochthonal Hungary, Gardi witnessed really propaganda transformed a precocious liberated Soviet customer authorities into a kleptocracy. The Storm seeks to pass really how easy a privileged nine could descent into an Orwellian dystopia.

Hands Tell Stories - Belal Khaled

Belal Khaled’s Hands Tell Stories began while he lived successful a shelter extracurricular nan morgue astatine Nasser Hospital successful Gaza aft his location was destroyed. The bid documents hands that done their scars, their stillness, their grip connected life, show stories nary sound could carry.

Seasonal Sky - Baudouin Mouanda

Baudouin Mouanda's reconstructed photographs are based connected existent events during floods successful Brazzaville, Congo, during nan 2020 COVID lockdown. They are meant to service arsenic a reminder of nan request to respect nan situation aliases look reprisals from nature.

The Lovely Monster complete nan Farm - Camille Seaman

Twister chasing Seaman went aft a type of thunderstorm called a supercell, which tin nutrient grapefruit-sized hail and spectacular tornadoes. Their clouds tin beryllium up to 80km wide and 20km high, blocking retired nan daylight, creating a dark, ominous abstraction beneath.

Hurricane Season - Hannah Modigh

Hurricane Season is simply a metaphor for surviving connected nan verge of eruption, for a consciousness that uncertainty, fearfulness and anger bubble beneath nan calm surface. Initially, Modigh was willing successful Louisiana because of its convulsive history and wanted to analyse if this flows down nan generations. She came to realise that fearfulness of hurricanes and nan wide undertone of aggression came from nan aforesaid source, they were earthy reactions to feelings of threat.

Keep Dancing to nan Beat of Your Heart - Laetitia Vançon

Vançon group retired to represent Odesa connected nan Ukrainian Black Sea coast, a metropolis some strategical and symbolic importance. Her photos activity became a image of nan group who stayed and defy successful nan look of war. Even successful nan bosom of nan storm, hope, tenderness, solidarity and tone endure.

Are They Rocks aliases Clouds - Marina Canevea

Photography usually captures nan aftermath of an event. This task alternatively is an effort to foresee a early catastrophe, a repetition of nan floods and landslides that devastated nan Dolomites successful bluish Italy successful 1966.

High Water successful Venice - Patrizia Zelano

On 13 November 2019, Venice was submerged by 1 of nan highest tides ever recorded. For Zelano redeeming books became nan halfway of her exploration into nature's evocative powerfulness and knowledge. Each photograph urges america to reconsider our narration pinch nan Earth, civilization and fragility.

Amazograma #1 - Roberto Huarcaya

A large wind discharges accumulated energy, not arsenic specified destruction, but arsenic a unit seeking to reconstruct balance. Roberto Huarcaya's image captures that essence: a 30m-long framework of an Amazonian thenar lying connected nan furniture of nan Madre de Dios River.

A Maquette for a Multiple Moment for nan Hiroshima Peace Movement - Takashi Arai

The hypocentre, nan constituent straight beneath aliases supra a atomic explosion, is simply a metaphor for invisibility and unreachability. Takashi Arai's bid explores atomic monuments arsenic though navigating nan hypocentre’s gravitational pull, taking hundreds of 6cm x6 cm daguerreotypes, an early shape of photography.

Lucifier's Vortex - Tom Fecht

Luciferines are cold-water plankton endangered by rising water temperatures. Their electrical effects hap erstwhile millions are exposed to oxygen while reproducing connected nan turbulent aboveground of nan sea. Almost invisible to nan naked eye, their sublime traces tin only beryllium captured 'entre chien et loup', a magical twilight infinitesimal erstwhile nan first bluish rays of daylight intersect pinch nan remaining reflections of nan moon.

The Prix Pictet Storm bid is now connected show astatine nan Victoria and Albert Museum, London, until 19 October 2025.

The accumulation will besides beryllium shown astatine nan pursuing locations:

Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai - 17 October to 13 December 2025

TOP Museum, Tokyo - 12 December 2025 to 25 January 2026

Luma Westbau, Zurich - 6 March to 5 April 2026