Khmer Photographer Shortlisted For Prix Pictet Award

Switzerland: The shortlist of thirteen photographers selected for the ninth cycle of the Prix Pictet, the global award in photography and sustainability, was announced at  the opening week of Les Rencontres d’Arles International photography festival.

The shortlisted photographers are:

Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (Lebanon)
Rinko Kawauchi (Japan)
Sally Mann (USA)
Christian Marclay (USA/ Switzerland)
Fabrice Monteiro (Belgium/Benin)
Lisa Oppenheim (USA)
Mak Remissa (Cambodia)
Carla Rippey (Mexico)

Mark Ruwedel (USA)
Brent Stirton (South Africa)
David Uzochukwu (Austria/Nigeria)
Daisuke Yokota (Japan)

The winner of the Prix Pictet will be announced on Wednesday 15 December 2021, at the opening of an exhibition of works by the twelve shortlisted photographers at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

A series of photos titled “Left 3 Days” by Cambodian photographer Mak Remissa has been shortlisted for the 12 Best Photos category in the “World Fire” category on the night of July 8, 2019.

“Left 3 Days”, a 2014 film about the overthrow of the Cambodian people during the Pol Pot genocide, has been nominated by The Prix World Award for Photography and Sustainability. Pictet was shortlisted in the top 12 of the 300 entries from around the world.

Speaking to SABAY by phone, Mak Remissa said, “I am very happy and proud that my work has been shortlisted for the Prix Pictet- the global award in photography and sustainability. (It is) one of the biggest and most famous in the world, and this is an opportunity for me to survey the ability and learn more about the work of all the participating artists, this is a great pride for me and for Cambodia.”

He stated that to participate in this competition, works are selected from the network of nominees of the organization, which has a total of 300 people around the world, and for him there were two nominees who selected the works. Christian Caujolle chose the free photo “Wildfire” and Jessica Hubbard Marr chose the photo “Left 3 Days”. As a result, “Left 3 Days” is in the list of the 12 best photos of the competition. “I would like to thank both of you for choosing my work to compete in this program,” he said.

Mak Remissa added that the winners of the 12 best entries in the competition will be announced at the December 15, 2021 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. He also had to attend the event that day.

According to the organizational website prixpictet.com, the winners of this competition will receive a prize of up to 100,000 US dollars. The 4,700 contestants competed in nine themes: Water, Earth, Growth, Energy, Consumption, Disruption, Space, Hope and Fire.

Mak Remissa also has exhibits in the French Musée Guimet, The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and the Museum of Switzerland (Musée de L’Elysée). The artwork ‘Fish and Ants’ is permanently on display at the Singapore Art Museum, and has been shown in Phnom Penh since 1996 and abroad: USA, France, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, China, Japan, Singapore and Burma.

Mak Remissa was a photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) in Cambodia from 2006 to the present.