Nick Brandt

The themes in Nick Brandt’s photographic series always relate to the destructive impact that humankind is having on the natural world and humans themselves. "The Day May Break" is a global series portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction. The people in the photos have all been badly affected by climate change - some displaced by cyclones that destroyed their homes, others such as farmers displaced and impoverished by years-long severe droughts. Photographed in the same frame as the people, the animals are almost all long-term rescues, victims of everything from the habitat destruction to wildlife trafficking. The Day May Break: Chapter One, photographed in Kenya and Zimbabwe in 2020, was published in 2021. photographed in The Day May Break: Chapter Two, photographed in Bolivia in 2022, is published in 2023. SINK / RISE (2024) is the third chapter of The Day May Break, and focuses on South Pacific Islanders impacted by rising oceans from climate change. The local people in these photos, photographed underwater in the ocean off the coast of the Fijian islands, are representatives of the many people whose homes, land and livelihoods will be lost in the coming decades as the water rises. Everything is shot in-camera underwater. "This Empty World" (2019) addresses the escalating destruction of the African natural world at the hands of humans, showing a world where there is no longer space for animals to survive. The people in the photos also often helplessly swept along by the relentless tide of ‘progress’. "Inherit The Dust" (2016), records the impact of man in places where animals used to roam, but no longer do. In each location, Brandt erects a life size panel of a previously unreleased animal portrait photographs, setting the panels within a world of explosive urban development, factories, wasteland and quarries. From 2001-2012, Brandt worked on a trilogy of photographic series, charting this disappearing world. The title of the three bodies of work form one consecutive sentence: "On This Earth, A Shadow Falls, Across The Ravaged Land." Brandt has had solo gallery and museum shows around the world, including New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Paris and Los Angeles. Born and raised in England, he now lives in the southern Californian mountains. He is co-founder of Big Life Foundation, a non-profit working to protect the animals of a 1.6 million acre area of Kenya and Tanzania.