United Kingdom - Born in 1964

This Empty World

“On This Earth, A Shadow Falls, Across the Ravaged Land.” A single expression was not enough for Nick Brandt. Made up of the titles of his first three books, On This Earth, A Shadow Falls, Across the Ravaged Land *, he alerted the world to the dangers of hunting and poaching African wildlife early on, championing the cause through his commitment and his NGO, Big Life Foundation. 
Despite some progress made in the field of conservation – such as the closure of the ivory market in China – the photographer is continuing the fight. With This Empty World, he decries the rampant urbanisation that results in the loss of natural habitats for animals – the main threat to ecosystems today. In photographs where dystopia rubs shoulders with surrealism, elephants, rhinos, lionesses and giraffes wander aimlessly amid scenery created from scratch by Nick Brandt and his teams. His pictures are produced by merely superimposing two images. No other trickery is involved. A process that is very much like its creator: ambitious, committed and visionary. This latest monograph, a first in colour for Nick Brandt, is a striking illustration of a world in which there is little room left for animals, overwhelmed by rampant human development, to survive. This is a work that questions us about the future of our world.

GARAGE

Reference publications: This Empty World, Thames & Hudson, 2019.