London-born Brandt shoots exclusively in Africa, almost always with the goal of showing how the natural environment of wild animals is being destroyed by man. Brandt says he hopes his photography will start a dialogue about the serious threats facing African wildlife.
Related: Half the World’s Wildlife has Been Wiped Out in the Past 40 Years
To create his new series, Brandt transferred life-size prints of the animals onto giant panels. The panels were then matched with various background scenes, resulting in stunning images of animals that seem to be staring in awe at the surrounding destruction of their home.
According to Brandt, his work is focused on recording the lives of the beautiful creatures before they no longer exist.
“I’m not interested in creating work that is simply documentary or filled with action and drama, which has been the norm in the photography of animals in the wild. What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of Being. In the state of Being before they are no longer are. Before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us. To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live, and this feeling, this belief that every animal and I are equal, affects me every time I frame an animal in my camera. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically vanishing before our eyes.”
Inherit the Dust will be on display at the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles from March 24 to May 14, 2016.
+ Nick Brandt
Via My Modern Met
Photos via Nick Brandt
