Art with message: Nick Brandt's urgent photographs of nature

Art with message: Nick Brandt's urgent photographs of nature

Graz-Umgebung, Österreich - The British photographer Nick Brandt with his art in the Galerija Fotografija in Ljubljana causes a stir. His current exhibition presents moving pictures of a Kenyan family that has come together in front of a majestic rhino under a bright light bulb. The haunting portraits show the family, consisting of Alice and her baby as well as Stanley in the background, and convey a serious mood that indicates loss and the disappearance of habitats. Brandt sees itself not only as a nature photographer, but above all as a portrait ponder who captures the personality of both humans and animals. Its intention is clear: to illustrate the fragility of nature in an impressive way, as reported.

But that's not all. Brandt is also a co-founder of the "Big Life Foundation", a non-profit organization that campaigns for the protection of the wildlife and the threatened ecosystems in East Africa. The organization was born out of the urgent need to make the loss of habitats and poaching clear. According to Photo-eye , for example, up to 20% of the sales committees of Brandts Photographs flow into this foundation. In recent years, the poaching has accepted alarming proportions, as Brandt itself reports. The focus is on elephants in particular, of which up to 35,000 are killed due to the ivory trading.

art and consciousness

In his artistic work, Brandt not only shows the beauty, but also the dangers that the animals are exposed. In addition to his photos, he passionately comments about the Situation in Africa. In his series “Inherit the Dust”, he sets up great portraits of wild animals in former habitats, which are now characterized by garbage or settlements. He thus draws attention to the dramatic loss of habitat for large land animals, such as geo

In addition, the Cukrarna Gallery in Ljubljana shows with the Austrian Dorit Margreiter Choy an exciting exhibition called "Passage", in which it focuses on economy and gender roles in architecture. Their work that contains films, mobile and photographs play with the boundaries between physicality and abstraction, and visit visitors to think.

One floor higher are the works of the Croatian artist David Maljković, whose painting entitled "Consolidation with Venice" questions the idea of ​​image and concept and the audience challenges to deal with his own perception.

Overall, a platform is offered in Ljubljana that not only stimulates discussion, but also raises awareness of the challenges in front of which the wildlife and our society are facing. It remains to be hoped that the messages of these artists, similar to Brandt's impressive photographs, stick in the memory and motivate them to act.