Photos show the depressing deterioration of the environment

Kofi Annan, Honorary President of the Prix Pictet, awarded this year’s Prix Pictet to British based photographer Nadav Kander and the 2009 Commission to American photographer Ed Kashi at the Passage de Retz, Paris this week.

Sponsored by the Geneva private bank Pictet & Cie, the Prix Pictet is the world’s first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability. It has a unique mandate – to use the power of photography to communicate crucial messages to a global audience; and it has a unique goal – art of the highest order, applied to the immense social and environmental threats of the new millennium. The contest, developed along with the Financial Times, is judged by an independent jury and carries a prize of CHF 100,000.

Born in Israel in 1961 and brought up in South Africa, Nadav Kander is currently living in London, where his photos are part of the National Portrait Gallery as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum collections.

The subject matter for his award-winning body of work was the Yangtze River, which is the main artery that flows 6500 kilometres across China, travelling from its furthest westerly point in Qinghai Province to Shanghai in the east. 

Documenting life along the river, Kander has produced an awe-inspiring, eerie series of photographs that depict an ever evolving industrial landscape along which men continue to live.  The destruction of nature is overwhelmingly evident and depressing.

Making the formal presentation at an awards dinner at the Passage de Retz in Paris, Kofi Annan said that the photographs were a compelling call for action to tackle climate change, the most serious humanitarian and environmental challenge facing the world today:

“Only weeks separate us from the decisive negotiations on climate change in Copenhagen. We are confronted with the vital need to prepare the political momentum necessary for a fair and effective post-Kyoto agreement. The images in front of us remind us of the fragility of our planet and the damage we have already done. When we see these photographs we cannot close our eyes and remain indifferent. Through our actions and voices, we must keep building the pressure to secure urgent action at Copenhagen and beyond.”

Go to album of Nadav Kander’s winning photos