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Launched in 2008 by the Geneva-based private bank Pictet & Cie, the Prix Pictet has rapidly established itself as the world’s leading prize in photography and sustainability. It has a unique mandate – to use the power of photography to communicate vital messages to a global audience. The goal is to uncover art of the highest order, applied to confront the pressing social and environmental challenges of the new millennium. 

The theme of this year's prize was 'growth'. Above is work by this year's winner, Mitch Epstein.

Above: Stéphane Couturier

Above: Christian Als

Above: Yeondoo Jung

Above: Taryn Simon

Above: Guy Tillim 

Above: Michael Wolf 

Above: Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo

I met Nyaba in Ghana in 2008 when he began this project in Accra.

In Accra, the capital of Ghana, a true retail chain has been established around the “e-waste” traffic. It is an illegal, but tolerated business since it generates enormous amounts of money. Ghanians living in Europe and the United States collect used computers and send them by boat to the port of Tema, where wholesalers buy up the stock. The machines are then put on the road to Accra, where buyers purchase them and have them burned by children. The copper that is culled is then resold to Nigerians or Indians, who rework it mostly to make jewelry that is sold cheaply in Europe. In the world, there are various cemeteries for computers—Nigeria, Vietnam, India, China, the Philippines)—like the one at the Aglobloshie Market. According to the UN, up to 50 million tons of electrical and electronic waste are thrown away in the world every year. Thus, the garbage of the rich poisons the children of the poor.

All photos and more can be found on the pictet website.