I’ve just received a heart-rending book of photographs. It’s by Nick Brandt who has photographed and worked tirelessly with his Big Life Foundation with the wild elephants, lions and other dramatic fauna of Africa. Inherit the Dust positions examples of his righteous animal photography in views of African locations suffering Anthropocene conditions now.
Above, we see the beloved matriarch Qumquat where she and her generations of family were slaughtered for their tusks. See what the land of Africa is becoming.
Above, the lioness and the fate of her territory.
Above, her her mate with what the land becomes.
The long necks.
Above, the close relatives of those who maul the land.
If you follow the fates of Africa’s big life and lands you will experience these contrasts in your vitals. Something precious is being lost for something that bodes ill for humankind. These scenes recall the devastation left by World War II — but combatants have changed radically and the odds are harsh.
Nick Brandt’s Inherit the Dust shows us issues we’ll soon not be able to ignore.
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For moving contrasts see Brandt’s earlier books as On This Earth, A Shadow Falls and Across the Ravaged Land.
All images via ufunk, copyright Nick Brandt.