NICK BRANDT (England, 1964). 'Wasteland with Elephant & residents' (Inherit The Dust series).2015.

NICK BRANDT (England, 1964). 'Wasteland with Elephant & residents' (Inherit The Dust series).2015. Archival pigment print, ed. 6/8. Reproduced on the cover of the book "Nick Brandt: Inherit the Dust",2016. Label of the gallery 3 Punts, Barcelona. Work referenced on the artist's website. Measurements: 66 x 140 cm; 85,5 x 162,5 cm(frame). Brandt's photographic work generally focuses on the rapid disappearance of the natural world as a result of environmental destruction, climate change and human action. In 2014, Brandt returned to East Africa to photograph the increasing changes in the continent's natural world. In a series of panoramic photographs, he recorded the impact of man in places where animals used to roam. At each location, he erected a life-size panel of one of his animal portrait photographs, setting the panels in a world of urban development, factories, wastelands and quarries. A book about the work, Inherit the Dust, was published in 2016. In the book, Brandt writes, "Right now we are living the antithesis of genesis. It took billions of years to arrive at a place of such wondrous diversity, and then, in just a few shockingly short years, an infinitesimal pinprick of time, to annihilate it." In LensCulture, editor Jim Casper stated, "The resulting wall-sized prints are impeccably beautiful and breathtaking, as well as deeply haunting. They convey the vast spaces and light of contemporary Africa with cinematic immersion and incredible detail. Standing in front of his images, the viewer is transported into the scenes, at times with awe and joy, and at other times with overwhelming sadness, despair and disgust." Photography critic Michelle Bogre further noted, "Nick Brandt's new photographic work, Inherit the Dust, is his visual cry of anguish about the coming apocalypse for animal habitats in Africa.... The resulting images are both beautiful and horrifying, because they illustrate the irreconcilable clash of past and present.