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‘The source of our environmental woes’: fire-themed photography exhibition includes images of wildfire damage, and much else besides

Shortlisted works from the Prix Pictet sustainable photography awards by 13 international artists, including American Sally Mann, feature in a Hong Kong show

Fire is the central theme, which participants have used to comment on environmental destruction; as well as racial inequality, and the beauty of fireworks

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Mak Remissa’s Khmer Rouge soldiers took control Phnom Penh, 2014, features in the new exhibition, which takes fire as its central theme. Photo: Mak Remissa/Prix Pictet

Published: 5:20pm, 6 Feb 2023

Art can be an effective vehicle for raising awareness of important social issues. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Prix Pictet, a global photography award that shines a light on sustainability.

This month Hong Kong people will have the opportunity to see a selection of winning and shortlisted works from the Prix Pictet.

Titled “Fire”, the exhibition – at the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, in Admiralty, from February 8 to 28 – will feature works by 13 photographers from around the world.

Stephen Barber, chairman of the Prix Pictet, says the theme of fire touches on survival, renewal and prosperity.

A piece from American photographer Sally Mann’s “Blackwater” series. Photo: Sally Mann/Prix Pictet

“Yet our abuse of this most capricious of elements is the source of most of our environmental woes,” says Barber, referencing rainforest blazes in the Amazon and forest and bush fires in California, in the United States, and Australia.

In 2019-20, bushfires in Australia blighted more than 20 million hectares of land and killed at least 34 people.