Latest news with #NickBrandt
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Why do animals turn to stone in this stunning African lake?
We all love to consume soft drinks, but at the same time we know that these drinks might not be a healthy addition for the body, but what if someone tells that there is a waterbody cradled between the volcanic highlands and the Great Rift Valley, that is as frightening as its beauty, and is made of salt and soda! From a distance, it seems like a haven of stillness, its glassy waters reflecting the skies above, framed by rugged terrain and far from the bustle of human life. But when observed too closely, it can be seen that this beauty hides a kind of natural alchemy that has puzzled and inspired many. Apart from this, what has shocked the scientists is that it eerily preserves remains of animals that died near or in its waters that look no less than statues made of cement! The lake that turns animals into stone! Lake Natron , located in northern Tanzania near the Kenyan border, is among the most chemically extreme lakes in the world. With its waters reaching a pH as high as 10.5 and temperatures soaring to 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius), this alkaline lake is an unforgiving environment for most forms of life. The caustic nature of the lake is due to the sodium carbonate and minerals that wash in from the surrounding volcanic hills. These compounds, especially sodium carbonate, were once used by Egyptians in the mummification process in order to preserve them, and this has raised some of the most haunting images of the African wilderness. Photographer says that the chemical contents are extremely high! Photographer Nick Brandt documented this aspect of Lake Natron in his book Across the Ravaged Land. While exploring the lake's shoreline, he came across the remains of various birds and bats encrusted in white mineral deposits. 'I unexpectedly found the creatures, all manner of birds and bats, washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron,' Brandt wrote. 'No one knows for certain exactly how they die, but … the water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. ' Brandt's photos got international recognition for their artistic value, 'I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in 'living' positions, bringing them back to 'life,' as it were,' he explained. 'Reanimated, alive again in death.' Not all animals turn into stone! However, not all animals simply turn to stone upon contact with the water. While deadly to those unadapted, Lake Natron sustains a surprisingly rich ecosystem. It is the most important breeding site for the lesser flamingo in Africa. During the breeding season, over 2 million flamingos nest on the small, ephemeral islands formed during the dry season. The flamingos feed on the lake's bounty of cyanobacteria, which breed and live in the highly alkaline water. Despite its ecological importance, Lake Natron remains under threat. The Ewaso Ngiro River, the main water source feeding the lake, is the proposed site for a hydroelectric power project. If realized, this development could drastically change the lake's hydrology and jeopardize the flamingo population and other wildlife. Apart from that, the lake also needs environmental protection, though it remained virtually unknown to Europeans until 1954, today Lake Natron stands at the crossroads of environmental preservation and industrial expansion.
Forbes
17-04-2025
- General
- Forbes
The Echo Of Our Voices: Nick Brandt's Poignant Photography Captures A Vanishing World
Nick Brandt, The Cave, Jordan 2024 A new photographic series from visionary photographer Nick Brandt documents with skill and sensitivity a human race on the verge of environmental catastrophe. The Echo of Our Voices–chapter four of Brandt's seminal photographic series The Day May Break–depicts displaced Syrian refugees in Jordan's Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan as they battle against the challenges posed by war, displacement and climate change. In 2024 Brandt photographed Syrian families in the deserts of southern Jordan who had been displaced by the war in Syria between 2013 and 2013. His sculptural photographic compositions give a voice to these brave and stoic people who are forced to continually resettle and face daily challenges posed by the lack of water in Jordan, one of the world's most water-scarce countries. Ftaim and Family, Jordan, 2024 © Nick Brandt Brandt photographs the Jordanian families as they sit and stand together on stacks of boxes in a barren desert landscape or seek shelter from the blistering heat in the crook of a mountainside cave, creating sculptural images that present metaphors of pedestals for the unseen or forgotten peoples living on the perimeters of society. The families live a nomadic existence in search of agricultural work and in the hope of the elusive rain that will enable the growing of crops. Despite the daily challenges this peripatetic uprooted existence poses, Brandt's photographs capture their dignity and pride in the strength of their family units. Brandt and his team maintain contact with the families he photographed in Syria, and they remain hopeful that someday they will be able to return to their homes since the fall of the Assad regime. Laila Standing, Jordan, 2024 © Nick Brandt Nick Brandt explains how The Day May Break photographic series presents a visual document of the challenges faced by people in war-torn or developing countries ravaged by climate change caused by the complacency of industrial countries and their over-indulgent carbon emissions: 'Spread across the planet, there is a common link between the countries in which I have photographed this series so far: They all are among the countries that are the least responsible for climate breakdown. Their global carbon emissions have been tiny compared to industrial nations. Yet, like so many other poorer countries in the world, they are disproportionately harmed by its effects. The grim irony is that many people in these countries are the most vulnerable to the calamitous consequences of the industrial world's ways.' The Echo of Our Voices is a departure from the first three chapters of Brandt's photographic series The Day May Break, for it demonstrates the solidarity of people in the wake of adversity, and how they hold on to each other tightly when most of their worldly possessions are lost. Nick Brandt Making of 'The Day May Break, Ch. One', Richard and Sky © Nick Brandt There is a stillness in Nick Brandt's photographs that doesn't settle—it haunts. The celebrated photographer captures a world already unravelling. Shrouded in mist and heavy with metaphor, the images show displaced people and rescued animals standing together in shared vulnerability—a visual elegy for a planet in peril. Brandt made a reputation for himself with evocative portraits of African wildlife and landscapes and has spent the past two decades documenting the ecological and human toll of environmental collapse. With The Day May Break Brandt turned his lens toward those already living on the frontlines of climate change—communities driven from their homes by drought, flood, and economic upheaval—and animals orphaned by habitat destruction. Patrick and Flamingos, Zimbabwe, 2020 © Nick Brandt Photographed in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, and elsewhere, these staged but emotionally raw scenes are more than just portraits; they're parables. In fog-drenched sanctuaries and shelters, humans and animals coexist in surreal proximity, gazing into the camera—or beyond it—as if already living in a post-collapse world. The mist that veils each frame isn't just atmospheric; it's symbolic. What makes The Day May Break photographic series so unforgettable is Brandt's refusal to rely on spectacle. Instead, he finds quiet power in the dignity of his human and animal subjects, many of whom have experienced climate-related displacement or trauma yet manage to retain a quiet resilience. Brandt's use of monochrome and soft light lends the work a timeless, almost mythic quality. But this is no fantasy—it's a mirror. Climate change, Brandt insists, is not some distant specter but a crisis unfolding now, disproportionately affecting those least responsible for it. The Day May Break is not just art; it's a clarion call that the world needs to wake up and confront what is happening to humanity and the planet. Through powerful imagery and accompanying narratives, Brandt urges us to confront a truth we often ignore: the fate of humans, animals, and the planet is inseparably linked. Brandt's work resists easy optimism, but it isn't devoid of hope. There's tenderness in every frame, a recognition of our shared fragility and the possibility of compassion. In a world fractured by crisis, The Day May Break offers a rare kind of clarity—the kind that comes not from distance, but from standing close enough to see the humanity in every face, human or otherwise. Brandt's The Day May Break series has been exhibited all over the world including at the Milan International Photography Fair, the Cankarjev Dom Culture Center in Ljubljana, and most recently at Art Dubai. He will be exhibiting at AIPAD in New York from 23rd until 26th April, and will feature in group exhibition Rhythms at the Latvian National Museum of Art, Latvia in May. Other upcoming exhibitions include a solo exhibition at Polka Galerie in Paris in September 2025 and a solo show at Hangar Art Center in Brussels in September 2025. Brandt will be publishing a photographic book The Echo of Our Voices with Skira Books in September 2025,
