Munem Wasif commissioned to record WaterAid's CHT Project
Kofi Annan, Nobel Laureate and former Secretary General of the United Nations, announced the winners of the inaugural Awards £50,000 Prix Pictet, and £20,000. The winners are Canadian photographer Benoit Aquin and Bangladeshi photographer Munem Wasif. The latter received the award for his record of a WaterAid project in Chittagong Hill Tracts, says a press release.
Ivan Pictet, speaking at the awards, announced that Munem Wasif, one of the photographers shortlisted for the Prix Pictet, will be awarded the commission to photograph WaterAid's Chittagong Hill Tracts Project in Bangladesh which is supported by Pictet & Cie.
Leo Johnson of the Prix Pictet Executive explained why Munem was chosen: "We know the facts. We know the figures - the temperature increases, the inequity of water distribution. We know it and we are numb to it. This is a prize whose function is to counter that numbness and Munem's work was deemed to be most capable of countering that numbness and communicating the crucial importance of sustainability projects, such as this one in Bangladesh, to the lives of people around the world."
Girish Menon of WaterAid added: "The Chittagong Hill Tracts Project is typical of WaterAid's work reaching the poorest of the poor, and enabling communities in geographically hard to reach locations to get access to life-saving essential services. With the funding WaterAid will receive from Prix Pictet we can potentially provide more than 2,300 people with a lasting supply of safe water, sanitation and hygiene education."
Entry to the Prix Pictet is by nomination only and, in this its first year, over 200 photographers from 43 countries were nominated. Eighteen of the world's finest photographers were shortlisted for the prize. They were: Benoit Aquin, Edward Burtynsky, Jesús Abad Colorado, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Sebastian Copeland, Christian Cravo, Lynn Davis, Reza Deghati, Susan Derges, Malcolm Hutcheson, Chris Jordan, Carl De Keyzer, David Maisel, Mary Mattingly, Robert Polidori, Roman Signer, Jules Spinatsch, Munem Wasif.
Francis Hodgson, Head of Photographs at Sotheby's, led the international panel of experts who judged the Prix Pictet. The judges included the American artist Richard Misrach; the Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami; Régis Durand, the distinguished art critic and curator; Loa Haagen Pictet, Pictet & Cie's art consultant and Leo Johnson, Co-Founder, Sustainable Finance and Peter Aspden, Arts Writer, The Financial Times.
The Prix Pictet exhibition runs from 29 October - 8 November 2008 at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Then, starting at the Dubai International Finance Centre, Dubai, on 9 November, an exhibition of selected works by artists shortlisted for the Prix Pictet 2008 will tour internationally prior to the launch of the 2009 award. Tour dates will be published on www.prixpictet.com when available.
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