Multimedia Art Museum (MAMM) was not on the ears of exactly two years, with the arrival of the famous American artist, very whimsical Joseph Kosuth. Now history repeated itself with the acclaimed British photographer Nick Brandt, who has turned out to be so picky, you had to run around half of employees. Before the Vernissage he decided to open his exhibition and asked to expel from her visitors: the photographer somehow afraid of them… And only when Brandt saw the Director of the Museum Olga Sviblova to his normal mind and he agreed to submit the project to “Inherit the dust.”
photo: Ksenia Korobeinikova
This 19 photos with conflicting names: “Garbage dump, Cheetah and children”, “Factory and the chimpanzee”, “Construction and Rhino,” “the Road to the factory and Zebra”, “Railway track and the lioness”.. . Filmed animals Brandt in Tanzania, printed their portraits in the meter formats, pasted on billboards and installed in those places where was once inhabited by these animals, but human intervention has disappeared.
Especially for this exhibition, Brandt photographed the same panels, by combining in one shot urban landscapes with images of animals. Their pictures are more like classic portraits, inscribed in the frightening scenery of the city suburbs and industrial zones. This is a conversation about the fragility of nature, which is slowly but inexorably disappearing from the human hand.
— Nick, you want to take pictures of endangered animals of Russia? ask Brandt before opening day.
— Even though I have, most likely, will refuse. Decided not to remove animals, as we’ll concentrate on the theory of extinction of wildlife. Trying to figure out how to prevent it. I dedicate this issue to his future non-photographic media project, which is realized, in Kenya, where will you go at once from Moscow. But to talk about the plans now can’t because I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.
photo: Ksenia Korobeinikova
Nick Brandt has not been able to find a place for the interview.
In the episode “Inherit the dust” you have not used photoshop, although many viewers I suspect you in this. What can they argue?
— I don’t care what people say — much more important than what they say themselves. When I did this series survived the shock from the speed with which nature is destroyed by human hand. Immediately realized that it is necessary to make the project expressive, to direct the eye. That showed pictures of endangered animals, where they were once found. Look at a chimp: the expression of her face conveys the melancholy and suffering — a world where she lived, disappeared. By the way, all the animals I photographed in natural conditions.
— Not afraid to shoot wild animals?
– No, I’m more afraid of people. They prefer the company of animals. The photos show how they turn into ghosts among the ruined landscape. We urgently need to do something. If we do nothing, future generations will inherit the pathetic remnants of a once-rich living earth. They will inherit dust.
Help “MK”: Nick Brandt studied painting and cinema at London’s School of arts named after St. Martin had a successful career as a music video Director. In the early 1990s he moved to USA, where he worked with Michael Jackson and Moby. Soon after he first came to Tanzania, where he ordered the shooting of the video for the song Jackson Earth Song dedicated to the protection of the environment. This trip radically changed the lives of Brandt — he fell in love with the nature of Africa and decided to devote himself to photography.
The exhibition is supported by Mastercard.