Nick Brandt. JOHN AND MAK, ZIMBABWE, 2020. Limited Edition.
JOHN AND MAK, ZIMBABWE, 2020, photographed together in the same frame.
About the Work
The Day May Break is an ongoing global series portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction.
Chapter One was photographed in Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2020.
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 several sanctuaries and conservancies. The animals are almost all long-term rescues, victims of everything from habitat destruction to wildlife trafficking.
These animals can never be released back into the wild. As a result, they are almost all habituated to humans, and so it was safe for human strangers to be close to them, photographed in the same frame at the same time.
The fog is symbolic of a natural world now rapidly fading from view. Created by fog machines on location, it is also an echo of the smoke from wildfires, intensified by climate change, devastating so much of the planet.
However, in spite of their loss, these people and animals are the survivors. And therein still lies possibility.
John and Mak
John lived with his wife and grandkids. Because of droughts intensified by climate change, the family has to walk two km every day to collect water, and their farming plot remains unplanted.
In 1986, Mak’s mother was culled. Mak, a traumatized calf, was rescued. When he was 5, he ended up in the safe care of Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservancy. A century ago, there was an estimated 10 million elephants across sub-Saharan Africa. Today, in 2022, mainly due to poaching for their ivory, there are at best just 400,000. But now with habitat loss & climate change, conflict with humans grows, with animals always the losers.
Editions Available
20 x 26.6 inch image size on 24 x 30 inch paper, Edition of 15
28 x 37.2 inch image size on 32 x 41.2 inches paper, Limited Edition of 12.
Archival Pigment Prints on Hahnemuhle Museum Etching 350gsm.
With signed and numbered label.
Learn more about Nick Brandt.
