Nick Brandt
Overview
Born in England, Nick Brandt has devoted his photographic career to showing the disappearing natural world of East Africa, and its rapid destruction at the hands of man. Starting in 2001, he photographed and published a trilogy of works, charting this progress from paradise to diminished reality. The consecutive titles of the books form one sentence: On This Earth, A Shadow Falls, Across the Ravaged Land.
In 2016, Brandt completed and published ‘Inherit the Dust.’ In a series of epic panoramas, Brandt 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, setting the panels within a world of explosive urban development, factories, wasteland and quarries.
His project This Empty World (2019) addressed the escalating destruction of the natural world at the ands of humans, showing a world where, overwhelmed by runaway development, there is no longer space for animals to survive. Working in colour for the first time, in a visually complex tableaux populated by both humans and animals, This Empty World is a tour de force of contemporary image making.
His latest series The Day May Break (started in 2021) is an ongoing global series portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction.
Chapter One was photographed in five sanctuaries in Zimbabwe and Kenya in late 2020, the animals in this series are almost all long-term rescues, victims of everything from the poaching of their parents, to habitat destruction and poisoning. These animals can never be released back into the wild. As a result, they are habituated, and so it was safe for human strangers to be close to them, and photographed in the same frame at the same time.
In 2022 he photographed Chapter Two The Day May Break in Bolivia. The photographs were all taken at Senda Verde Animal Sanctuary where the animals are all rescues, victims of everything from habitat destruction to wildlife trafficking. These animals can never be released back into the wild. Because they were nearly all habituated, it was safe for human strangers to be close to them, photographed together in the same frame.
His newest chapter SINK / RISE, focuses on South Pacific Islanders impacted by rising oceans from climate change. The 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.
Now living in California, in 2010, Brandt co-founded Big Life Foundation, a non-profit organisation devoted to protecting the wildlife and ecosystems of a large area of East Africa.
Featured Exhibitions
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Nick Brandt: Across the Ravaged Land
21/10 — 09/11/13
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Nick Brandt
Platinum Prints01/07 — 31/10/17
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NICK BRANDT – THE DIRECTOR’S CUT:
THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S FAVOURITE 25
23/04 — 13/06/20
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NICK BRANDT: THIS EMPTY WORLD
07/02 — 07/03/19
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NICK BRANDT: THE DAY MAY BREAK
16/09 — 06/11/21
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Photofairs New York
07/09 — 10/09/23
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SINK / RISE, Chapter III of The Day May Break, Nick Brandt
06/09 — 31/10/23
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Nick Brandt: The Day May Break, Chapter Two
14/09/22
Akessa and Maria on Sofa, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Joel by Cliff, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Petero by Cliff, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Serafina and Keanan on Bed, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Onnie by Cliff I, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Serafina, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Akessa and Maria, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Maria and Onnie, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Maria by Reef, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Mika Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Serafina and Keanan on Chair, Fiji, 2023
Archival Pigment Print
Everything is shot in-camera underwater
Bus Station with Elephant and Red Bus, 2018
Archival pigment print
Wasteland With Elephant, 2015
Archival Pigment Print
Quarry With Lion, 2014
Archival Pigment Print
Wasteland With Rhinos & Residents, 2015
Archival Pigment Print
Road To Factory With Zebra, 2014
Archival Pigment Print
Quarry With Giraffe, 2014
Archival Pigment Print
Factory With Rhino, 2014
Archival Pigment Print
Alleyway With Chimpanzee, 2014
Archival Pigment Print
Wasteland With Lion, 2015
Archival Pigment Print
Wasteland With Cheetahs & Children, 2015
Archival Pigment Print
Factory With Elephant, 2014
Archival Pigment Print
Underpass With Rhino & Egret, 2014
Archival Pigment Print
Ranger With Tusks of Killed Elephant, Amboseli, 2011
Archival Pigment Print / Platinum print
Elephants Walking Through Grass, Amboseli, 2008
Archival Pigment Print
Line of Rangers With Tusks of Killed Elephants, Amboseli, 2011
Archival Pigment Print
Lion Before Storm II, Sitting Profile, Maasai Mara, 2006
Archival Pigment Print
Cheetah And Cubs, Maasai Mara, 2003
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant With Exploding Dust, Amboseli, 2004
Archival Pigment Print
Gorilla on Rock, Parc Des Volcans, 2008
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant on Bare Earth, Amboseli, 2011
Archival Pigment Print
Two Zebras Turning Heads, Ngorongoro Crater, 2005
Archival Pigment Print / Platinum print
Rhino on Lake, Nakuru, 2007
Archival Pigment Print
Portrait of Lioness Against Rock, Serengeti, 2007
Archival Pigment Print
Cheetah & Cubs Lying on Rock, Serengeti, 2007
Archival Pigment Print
Wildebeest Arc, Maasai Mara, 2006
Archival Pigment Print
Hippos on The Mara River, Maasai Mara, 2002
Archival Pigment Print
Leopard Staring, Masai Mara, 2010
Archival Pigment Print
Lioness Against Dark Foliage, Serengeti, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Lion With Monolith, Serengeti, 2008
Archival Pigment Print
Babboons in profile, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Buffalo Group Portrait, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Buffalo with lowered Head, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Buffalos head to head, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Cheetah in tree, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant Against Sky, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant and Baby sleeping, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant Five, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Group of elephants on Bare Earth, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant in Dust, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant mother and baby at leg, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant Mother and two babies, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant Skull, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephant with Tattered Ears, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Elephants Alone on Lake Bed, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Giraffe fan, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Giraffe Tryptic, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Giraffes and Dust Devil, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Giraffes in the evening Light, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Kilimanjaro Lioness, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Lioness wildebeest, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Lion Circle, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Lion Couple, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Lion in Shaft of Light, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Lion Roar, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Lioness with cub feeding, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Lionesses ready to hunt, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Old Chimp Portrait, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Rhinos in Lake, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
Sitting Lionesses, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print
The two elephants, Amboseli, 2012
Archival Pigment Print