Consumption
The theme for this year’s Prix Pictet is Consumption and is described by the organisers as lying ‘…at the heart of the Prix Pictet’s mission to bring global attention to what we believe is the greatest challenge facing humankind today: the issue of environmental sustainability.’
With such a large and challenging theme, selecting a winner is always going to be a challenging activity and one is tempted to despair that the issue is reduced to a competition. However, the prize has proved fertile ground for debate in the past and therefore we cannot neglect the opportunity for a study visit when the exhibition of this year’s shortlist comes to the V&A in May.
So join tutor Clive White in London on Saturday 24 May for what promises to be a stimulating visit. Places are free to OCA students. To book please email enquiries@oca-uk.com
In the meantime Sean O’Hagen provides an interesting overview of the shortlisted work in the Guardian here. And when you have read that piece you might like to re-read Sharon’s piece on women in photography.
Hi – here is my write up of yesterday’s visit!
http://jointheaadpp.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/prix-pictet-consumption.html
That was quick! Just seen this news:-
http://www.bjp-online.com/2014/05/prix-pictet-winner-dies/
Sad news and a loss to the world of photography.
It was an interesting visit, as ever, for all kinds of reasons and I appreciated Clive’s encouragement to focus on how all the works connected with my current practice..
I was surprised that I ended up being most drawn towards Boris Mikhailov’s work http://www.prixpictet.com/portfolios/consumption-shortlist/boris-mikhailov/ . My first thought was, “Oh – it’s just like snapshots”, but then I found myself drawn in to those quite small images – searching for what was going on in the scene (some of them quite surprising!). I could imagine myself being there. Clive referred to vernacular photography, what’s going on in the photographer’s life. This appeals to me very much and I’ve found in recent weeks that I’ve been more and more aware of photographers who focus on their more immediate experiences and environments.
interesting … I have tended to be wary of Mikhailov’s images of banality but in this exhibition, I found his work resonated … since he is photographing his home town in the Ukraine the work surely has extra significance.
Great to see everyone – here is my blog about the visit: http://helendigitalfilm.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/prix-pictet-fifth-cycle-consumption.html