Nick Brandt. LUCIO AND CHASCAS, BOLIVIA, 2022. Limited Edition.

Editions Available

20 x 26.6 inch image size on 24 x 30.6 inch paper, Edition of 15

28 x 37.2 inch image size on 32 x 41 inches paper, Limited Edition of 12.

Archival Pigment Prints on Hahemhule Museum Etching 350gsm.

With signed and numbered label.

About the Work

Chascas, a spider monkey, is 3 years old. Senda Verde Animal Sanctuary, where this photograph was taken, received a call about Chascas after her mother was killed to get her babies.  Once Chascas arrived at Senda Verde, aged 5 months, she had nightmare flashbacks, screaming every night, for 2 years. Now she is a happy free-roaming monkey.

The black-faced spider monkey is listed as Endangered, with an estimated 50% population decline over the past 50 years. Habitat loss from deforestation is a major reason - for cattle farming, agriculture, mining and logging. But they are also hunted illegally for food, and babies are captured for the illegal pet trade.

Lucio, a farmer, lives with his wife & daughter. In 2021, floods came on a scale never before seen in the area. Lucio lost all his crops. Over half his land is now useless for planting. Lucio, like many in the community, is in a precarious economic situation, as he had everything invested in his crops. He sees a huge change from when he was a child. People are starting to abandon their farms and take safer jobs. The money Lucio earned on the shoot helped pay off the debts from the loss of his land.

About the Series

The Day May Break is an ongoing global series portraying people and animals that have been impacted by climate change, environmental degradation and destruction.

Chapter One was photographed in Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2020, Chapter Two in Bolivia in 2022.

The people in the photos have all been badly affected by climate change, from extreme droughts to floods that destroyed their homes and livelihoods. 

The photographs were 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 to humans, it was safe for  strangers to be close to them, photographed together in the same frame.

The fog is the unifying visual, symbolic of the natural world rapidly fading from view. Created by fog machines on location, the fog is also an echo of the smoke from wildfires, intensified by climate change, devastating so much of the planet. 

In spite of their loss, these people and animals are the survivors. And therein lies hope and possibility.

Learn more about Nick Brandt.