Polka Gallery is proud to present Nick Brandt’s The Day May Break Chapter Two, exhibited for the first time in France.
The Day May Break is an ongoing global series portraying people and animals that have been impacted by environmental destruction and climate change. The first chapter, on view a year ago at the Polka gallery was photographed at 5 sancturaries/ conservancies in Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2020.
The Day May Break Chapter Two was photographed in 2022 in Bolivia. It had been more than twenty years since the photographer had worked outside of Africa. As in the first chapter, the men, women and children who agreed to be photographed, 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 re-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.
« In spite of their loss, these people and animals are the survivors. And therein lies hope and possibility. » said the photographer.
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 early 2023, Nick Brandt will continue this long term work for a Chapter Three in the South Pacific.
A book with the eponymous title will be published by Editions Hatje Cantz.