The Day May Break

MrHCB and I got married in Kwazulu-Natal 19 years ago.  We loved South Africa and visited as often as we could.  There must have been signs of climate change already by then, but as a tourist we never saw them.  It seemed like a Garden of Eden.

As an anniversary present to myself :-) I have just received Nick Brandt's newly published "The Day May Break".  At first sight you might think that the images are composites with the animals being "photoshopped" in next to the people.  But they aren't, they are staged, but they are single images.

The people have all been personally impacted by climate change, cyclones, droughts, floods...

The animals are all from Refuges, victims of hunting, habitat destruction, poisoning...  They can't be returned to the wild, either because there is no "wild" left or because they would not be able to survive in it.  Their handlers are just off-camera.

The photographs were all taken in Zimbabwe and Kenya in late 2020 - what a lockdown project!

Nick's own opinion is that we have already passed the tipping point.  It is no longer possible to avert climate catastrophe.  But it is still absolutely imperative that we do all we can to lessen its devastating impact.

The most powerful protest statement I have seen recently was posted as an extra by kendallishere on 24th September.  The young man holds a banner reading "You'll die of old age but we'll die of climate change".