The BRIC series has been nominated for the prestigious Prix Pictet: the world’s leading photography prize in sustainability. The theme for this year’s prize is Power. This prestigious award can only be won though a nomination process that is driven by key curators and opinion formers in the the global art world. The shortlist will be announced in July and the final prize winners are expected to be announced in October.

BRIC I – Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 2009

Towering behind the iconic golden beaches and 70’s skyscrapers of coastal Rio lie the perilously steep and dense urban expansions Brazilians call favelas. Constructed from all manner of recycled and scavenged materials, the majority use electricity illegally tapped from the public grid. Unlike the ghettos of the US, the favelas exist due to economic forces rather than because of ethnic or cultural separation. Their origins date from the late 19th century but the onset of the era of explosive growth was in the 1940s, when President Getúlio Vargas‘s industrialization drive drew hundreds of thousands of migrants into the city. However, despite extensive social deprivation, the favelas have been and continue to be a hotbed of creative energy and cultural invention. Today, 1 in 4 Cariocas, as inhabitants of Rio are called, live in these road less and unregulated hillside shantytowns. Edition of 10

Lyon has been commissioned by Art Curator Shaun Caton to produce an iconic large-scale image for the Olympic Hospital, Homerton Hope, in the London Borough of Hackney. The Hospital will also be holding an exhibition from June to September of  Lyon’s 16 year visual exploration of the inspiration and diversity of the Paralympic Games over the last 16 years. The work will be based on photographic works drawn from the previous four games in Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

The Butterfly – Sydney, Australia – 2000

Multiple layers of the human spirit pervade all aspects of the Paralympic movement. Elite athletes from across the globe gather together to underline the abilities of those society often excludes and views as different. Our perceptions are broken, our spirits are lifted and we see that triumph is everywhere: from the blind long jumpers to the the wheelchair athletes, and from the multiple layers of support staff and officials to the unsung coaches and physios.The Paralympics are a pinnacle of human endeavour and sacrifice.

The Science/Art collaboration with the  Infectious Disease and Oncology research scientists at Astra Zeneca’s Waltham, Massachusetts laboratories has been successfully realized. These enormous collaborative artworks now hang in both AZ’s research centre and in their corporate board room in London. Born out of an art residency in the summer of 2011 these images explore the interface between the humanity and science in the early 21st century.

How do chemicals feel – 2012

In all visual representations of information preconceived structures and languages control perceptions. In the world of the science laboratory these parameters manifest themselves not only to define but also limit the vocabulary of colour, symbol and form. Built from multiple layers, How do chemicals feel  provokes a viewpoint at odds with conventional practice and in turn asks questions about which questions we ask.

Arle Capital Partners have chosen Lyon’s Exodus series for their first art in residence at their St James’s head office. Additionally they have commissioned Lyon to create a series of 48 large format 5 x 4 film based portraits starting in 2012. The series will explore the full breadth of human resource in their portfolio of companies. Lyon will be given full artistic control over the body of work which will be exhibited at The Avenue in April 2012.

Exodus III – London, UK – 2010

As human ability to circumnavigate the globe increases exponentially we challenge our ability to define our identities geographically. The global citizens of airport lounges and business hotels ascend to another world where the realities of real community become strangely mixed with notions of belonging to a different society of frequent flyer points and concierge services. Edition of 7.

BRIC II São Paulo has been consigned to the Latin American Auction at Phillips de Pury, New York on 04.11.11. This  annual auction represents the best of contemporary art from across the continent. The Lyon will be sold alongside works by Varejão, Muniz and Salgado. BRIC II, 2008 explores the exponential rise of the southern hemisphere’s largest and richest city from the rural obscurity of a town with 250,000 inhabitants in 1911 to the megacity of 21 million today. The print  is the 5th  from the edition of 10.

BRIC II – Centro, São Paulo, Brazil – 2008

São Paulo officially became a city in 1711 having been founded in 1554. Its origins as the urban powerhouse of Latin America date from the economic prosperity created by the coffee industry in the 19th century. Ever increasing waves, of predominantly European immigrants during the first half of the 20th century have swelled the city’s population from 250,000 in 1900, to 20.1m today. The late 20th century has seen São Paulo become the business hub of South America and enter the top 20 of the world’s richest cities. Its exponential growth has spawned a myriad of social problems including the dual urban evils of pollution and crime. Edition of 10.

Exodus IV was auctioned alongside work by Picasso, the Chapman’s, Taylor-Wood and Vik Muniz at the 2011 Full Circle Event in central London for the Bottletop Foundation(www.bottletop.org). The funds raised will support projects in urban Brazil that empower local communities with work and economic development. Exodus images have also been donated to support the capital campaign for new buildings at the Photographer’s Gallery (www.photonet.org.uk) and for the ground breaking Photovoice (www.photovoice.org).

Exodus IV – Hong Kong, China – 2010

Driven by rampant consumer demand Southern China has become the workshop of the world. As millions migrate from rural China to the factories of Guangzhou to manufacture goods, consumers hoard gadgets and define themselves through the ownership of a cornucopia of products transported across the globe in colourful metal boxes. Edition of 7.

Lyon has been commissioned to produce 3 large-scale artworks in collaboration with Astra Zeneca’s Infectious Disease and Oncology scientists in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. The process will involve a residency in the US followed by a creative process, led by the artist from his studios in London, that will endeavour to break through the silo-ed worlds of science and art to produce imagery that informs and inspires both spaces.

Everybody has a compound – 2011

Alone in a lab, working on ever descending threads of exploration and experimentation, do scientists risk loosing a critical connection with the human condition? Without this link science is adrift; disconnected from the life-changing role that it plays in communities and families across the globe. The image Everybody has a compound allows the collaborative process to come to life through the projection of the written hopes and aspirations of AZ employees layered onto an extended matrix of chemical compounds from the company’s database: each bottle a potential key to a cure for a human illness or disease.

Exodus launches at The Great Room, 1508 in central London. In Exodus, Lyon explores the most significant migrations of the early 21st Century. As the ability of humans, goods and services to circumnavigate the planet increases exponentially we are left disconnected from a simple view of our common identity. Indeed, as our economic and geo-political differences intensify the unstoppable movement and expansion of actual and digital assets challenge both the power of the individual in society, the state and corporations to control opinions, actions and environment. Exodus provokes questions concerning the biggest changes in contemporary society through large-scale representations of the key themes that influence globalisation and the modern world.

EXODUS VI – West Lamma Channel, South China Sea – 2011

The movement of goods by sea is an unseen migration of raw materials and products around the planet. Covering 71% of the planets surface the ocean is temporary home to 90% of global cargo (7.4 billion tons of goods) transported in a fleet of 70,000 vessels. Wrapped, packed and contained the waters of the world bear witness to mankind’s desire to move mountains in the name of progress. Edition of 7.