Prix Pictet Presents: Isabelle von Ribbentrop in conversation with Ragnar Axelsson and Michał Łuczak
(c) Ragnar Axelsson, Kotlujokull Glacier, Iceland, 2021, from the series ‘Where the World is Melting’
Saturday 18 May
3pm, Prix Pictet Lounge, first floor
Isabelle von Ribbentrop in conversation with Ragnar Axelsson and Michał Łuczak
The Prix Pictet’s Executive Director speaks to two of the 12 artists shortlisted for Human.
The Prix Pictet is the world’s leading award for photography and sustainability. It was founded in 2008 by the Pictet Group with the goal of harnessing the power of photography to draw global attention to the critical issue of global sustainability. To date, there have been ten cycles of the award, each with its own theme highlighting a particular facet of sustainability. Human is the theme for the current cycle, won by the Indian photographer Gauri Gill.
The Prix Pictet Lounge will host engaging conversations led by Prix Pictet’s Executive Director, Isabelle von Ribbentrop, which will bring together inspiring photographers who have previously won or been shortlisted for the award. Visitors will gain unique insights from some of the world’s most exciting voices in the medium and will have the opportunity to participate themselves in the conversation on sustainability.
Please note, Prix Pictet Lounge talks are free of charge to Photo London pass holders. Advanced booking is not required.
Speakers
Ragnar Axelsson
Born Reykjavik, Iceland, 1958
Lives and works in Kópavogur, Iceland
For more than forty years, Axelsson, also known as Rax, has been photographing the people, animals and landscape of the most remote regions of the Arctic, including Iceland, Siberia, and Greenland. He documents how the relationships of people with their extreme environments are being profoundly altered by climate change. He was a photojournalist at Morgunbladid, the leading Icelandic newspaper (1976–2020), and has worked on freelance assignments in Latvia, Lithuania, Mozambique, South Africa, China, and Ukraine. Axelsson’s work has been exhibited widely, both in Iceland and internationally. He has received more than twenty Icelandic photojournalism awards. He has received an honourable mention in the Leica Oskar Barnack Award (2001), and has been shortlisted for the same prize (2020). He won the Grand Prix at Festival International de la Photo de Mer, Vannes, France (2003), and his book Andlit Nordursins (English edition, Faces of The North) won the 2016 Icelandic Literary Prize for non-fiction. His photographs have been featured in Life, Newsweek, Stern, GEO, National Geographic, Time, and Polka Magazine. Axelsson has published a total of eight books, including Jökull (Glacier) (2018) and, most recently, Arctic Heroes (2020). He is a recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Order of the Falcon, Iceland’s highest honour.
Michał Łuczak
Born Katowice, Poland, 1983
Lives and works in Katowice, Poland
Łuczak is a photographer, visual artist, and curator working on the complex and exploitative relationship of humans with their immediate surroundings and the wider natural environment. He has recently focused on local issues with global relevance, particularly the consequences of coal mining and the economic utilisation of forests. Łuczak received a BA in Iberian Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice, and a PhD at the Institute of Creative Photography at Silesian University in Opava, Czech Republic. Solo exhibitions of Łuczak’s work have been held at MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków, Poland (2018) and the Silesian Museum in Katowice (2019). As a member of the Sputnik Photos collective, he has exhibited at FOTODOK in Utrecht, the Netherlands (2014) and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (2016–17). He received an honourable mention in the Magnum Expression Awards (2009), was a winner at the MIO Photo Awards in Osaka, Japan (2010), and has won Polish Photographic Publication of the Year (2013). He has also been a recipient of a grant from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2021). Łuczak is the author of several photo books:Brutal (2012), Koło miejsca / Elementarz, (Circle of Places / Primer), with Krzysztof Siwczyk (2016), and 11.41, with Filip Springer (2016). He has been a member of Sputnik Photos since 2010, co-leading its annual documentary photography workshop. He teaches at the Faculty of Art of the Pedagogical University of Kraków.
Isabelle von Ribbentrop
Isabelle von Ribbentrop is Head of London Communications and Global Head of Branding, Advertising & Sponsoring. She began work with Corporate Communications in Pictet Frankfurt, before moving to London in 2008. Her overall responsibilities include advertising, branding and corporate identity, film and photography, events advisory and strategic philanthropy. Isabelle has been instrumental in the development of the Prix Pictet photography award, which since creation in 2008 has become one of the world’s most important arts prizes. She holds a BA Hons in History, Politics and Philosophy from the Humboldt University, Berlin and an MA in Imperial and Commonwealth History from King’s College, London.