Nick Brandt. FLORENTINO AND APTHAPI, 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 32x41 inches paper, Limited Edition of 12.

Archival Pigment Prints on Hahemhule Museum Etching 350gsm.

With signed and numbered label.

About the Work

In December 2021, a flood destroyed the land belonging to Florentino and his family. There had been a few other floods in the past, but nothing like this one, intensified by climate change. The family lost all of their crops, as well all their  irrigation.

Florentino believes that it will take about ten years to earn the necessary money to get the land back to a place where it can be planted again. The money that the family made for being part of this photo shoot helped toward this. 

Apthapi is a lowland tapir, around eight years old when photographed. He was rescued when just five to six months old by the police from a hotel where they kept animals for entertainment. Apthapi was sent to Senda Verde Animal Sanctuary where this photo was taken.

Tapir populations are declining. They are very exposed to local extinction due their slow reproduction and hunting for their meat and hides. Habitat loss is also a major factor. 

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.