Prix Pictet Storm at Ishara Art Foundation Dubai

Prix Pictet Storm debuts in Dubai at Ishara Art Foundation

From 17 October to 13 December 2025, Ishara Art Foundation in Alserkal Avenue will host Prix Pictet Storm, the latest edition of the world’s leading award for photography and sustainability.

Following its world premiere at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the exhibition makes its first international stop in Dubai, bringing together the work of twelve shortlisted photographers whose practices confront the turbulence of our age.

Global photography award explores the theme of turbulence and change

Founded in 2008 by the Geneva-based Pictet Group, Prix Pictet harnesses the power of photography to engage audiences with urgent global issues. Each cycle revolves around a single theme and this year’s, Storm, captures both a natural phenomenon and a metaphor for the unseen and relentless forces shaping our world. The selected photographers examine the volatility of today’s world, from environmental collapse to social unrest.

2. Alfredo Jarr, The End.webp — Image courtesy of Ishara Art Foundation, Alfredo Jarr, The End

4. Marina Canevea, Are They Rocks or Clouds.webp — Image courtesy of Ishara Art Foundation | Marina Canevea, Are They Rocks or Clouds

Showcasing twelve photographers confronting the world’s volatility

Among the finalists are Takashi Arai, whose series Exposed in a Hundred Suns uses miniature daguerreotypes to document nuclear history, Marina Caneve, whose Are They Rocks or Clouds? Reimagines the Dolomite floods of 1966 and Balazs Gardi, whose The Storm captures the aftermath of the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Other featured artists include Camille Seaman, Alfredo Jaar, Belal Khaled and Laetitia Vançon, whose work traverses landscapes of destruction, resistance and recovery.

From environmental collapse to social unrest through the lens of art

“It is a privilege to welcome the Prix Pictet’s Storm cycle to Ishara Art Foundation as its first international iteration,” says Smita Prabhakar, Founder and Chairperson of Ishara Art Foundation. “This collaboration with the Prix Pictet is a true testament to Ishara’s ongoing commitment to presenting contemporary art that engages the public with the pressing social and ecological concerns of our time.”

Echoing this, Sasha Altaf, Director of Ishara, notes: “The themes explored in Storm are of utmost urgency in South Asia, the region central to Ishara’s mission and among the most climate-vulnerable in the world.”

By hosting Prix Pictet Storm, Ishara Art Foundation strengthens its position as a platform for dialogue between global and regional narratives. In a city defined by transformation, the exhibition stands as a reminder that photography not only captures but also rebuilds, reimagines what comes after the storm.