The final frontier

Microscopic plastic, war-torn countries and cramped living conditions are just some of the contenders for this year’s Prix Pictet photography prize

The astounding photographs vying for this year’s Prix Pictet

Space is the theme of t he prestigious prix pictet photography prize this year, and it has been widely and ingeniously interpreted by the 12 shortlisted photographers.

mandy Barker ’s idea was to focus on the ubiquity of plastic and how thoroughly it has infiltrated our world. current scientific research has found that even as amorphous an organism as plankton ingests microscopic particles of plastic, which in turn feeds marine life and ultimately humans. Reflecting this, her series Beyond Drifting: Imperfectly Known Animals is a collection of haunting photographs of the most minute particles of plastic. pavel Wolberg’ s images

concentrate on armed agg ression, in particular the conflicts bet ween Israel a nd Pa lest i ne and Russia and Ukraine, and the way in which they separate people and cultures. ‘Barricades become turbulent focal points in the landscape where space is const a nt ly re shaped a nd reconquered a nd a lways remains chaotic,’ says Wolberg.

Benny Lam focused on ideas around the cramped living condit ions of Hong Kong’s f r inge communities – 40-square-foot spaces i n which a ll li fe t a kes place: washing, eat ing, sleeping, play ing, working. ‘Liv ing here is like being t rapped in a cage,’ he says.

The wi nner is a nnounced next month and the shortlisted works will be exhibited internationally. —

From Mandy Barker’sseries, Beyond Drifting: Imperfectly Known Animals

Top Young Ukrainians confronting police in Kiev, from the series Barricades 2009-14 by Pavel Wolberg

Above Trapped 04, from the series Subdivided Flats © Benny Lam