Madagascar work in London

Ed Kashi in conversation with Francis Hodgson and Mark Jacobs

Wednesday 21 April, doors open at 6.00 pm, the talk will begin at 6.30 pm.

Diemar/Noble Photography
66-67 Wells Street, London W1T 3PY

As part of the 2009 Prix Pictet Commission exhibition, Madagascar - A Land Out of Balance, photographer Ed Kashi will be talking about his work to renowned photography critic Francis Hodgson and Director of Azafady Mark Jacobs.

Admission to this event is free, but booking is essential as places will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. To reserve your place, please contact the Prix Pictet Secretariat by Friday 16 April:

E pictet@candlestar.co.uk
T 020 8741 6025

www.prixpictet.com





Madagascar - A Land Out of Balance

The Prix Pictet Commission is an invitation for a photographer, chosen from the Prix Pictet shortlist, to create a portfolio of images related to the theme of the award in association with a charity supported by Pictet. For 2009, Pictet chose to work with Azafady, a UK charity and Malagasy-registered NGO that helps the poorest communities in Madagascar develop sustainable ways of living and increase local access to healthcare and education.

American photographer Ed Kashi was awarded the 2009 Commission. The resulting portfolio of photographs, Madagascar - A Land Out of Balance, will be premiered at Diemar/Noble Photography in London from 20 April – 1 May 2010.

Kashi’s pictures chronicle the compromised beauty of this threatened island, described as one of the greatest present-day ecological disasters yet recorded. As the writer Helena Drysdale says in her catalogue essay to accompany the exhibition, these photographs show a deteriorating situation ‘In the south, the failure of the rains has speeded up the desertification. The Masoala Peninsular has become a national park, but this has not prevented the pillaging of the rainforests by illegal loggers – aided by French shippers and the Malagasy government – or the subsistence farmers’ slash and burn. Madagascar’s soil continues to bleed unquenched into the Indian Ocean, and the Great Red Island slowly but inexorably dies.'