NICK BRANDT – THE DIRECTOR’S CUT:
THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S FAVOURITE 25
Nick Brandt is an English photographer (b. 1964) whose themes always relate to the disappearing natural world, before much of it is destroyed by mankind.
From 2001 to 2018, he has photographed in Africa. In his celebrated trilogy, On This Earth, A Shadow Falls Across The Ravaged Land (2001-2012), he established a style of portrait photography of animals in the wild similar to that of the photography of humans in studio setting, shot on medium format film, attempting to portray animals as sentient creatures not so different from us.
In Inherit the Dust (2016), in a series of epic panoramas, Brandt recorded the impact of man in places where animals used to roam, but no longer do. In each location, Brandt erected a life-size panel of one of his unreleased animal portrait photographs, placing the displaced animals on sites of explosive urban development, new factories, wastelands and quarries.
This Empty World (2019) addresses the escalating destruction of the natural world at the hands of humans, showing a world where, overwhelmed by runaway development, there is no longer space for animals to survive. Working in color for the first time, in visually complex tableaux populated by both humans and animals, This Empty World is a tour de force of contemporary image making.
Brandt has selected for us the favourite 25 images from his 20-years long career.
Bridge Construction with Elephants and Workers at Night, 2018 (Crop)
Archival pigment print
Charcoal Burning with Giraffe and Worker, 2018
Archival pigment print
Highway Construction with Elephants, Workers & Fence, 2018
Archival pigment print
Portrait of Lioness Against Rock, Serengeti 2007
Archival pigment print
Ranger with Tusks of Killed Elephant, Amboseli 2011
Archival pigment print
Underpass With Elephants (Lean Back, Your Life Is On Track), 2015
Archival pigment print
