A Dynamic Force For Change

This piece was first pubslihed in Hadara Magazine

By Anna Seaman

“Imagine, if you will, there is a tsunami raging across the planet and it has been sweeping across the world for 200 years wreaking disaster in its wake.” These powerful words by celebrated National Geographic photographer and filmmaker Chris Rainier were part of the opening address at the sixth annual Xposure International Photography Festival in Sharjah last month. He described a “tsunami of modernity” taking with it catastrophic numbers of species, wildlife, habitats and biodiversity as well as traditions, languages, cultures and indigenous communities. “But what does this have to do with photography?” Photography, he answered, is the most dynamic force for change. 

Activism was at the heart of this year’s festival. Entering Sharjah’s vast Expo Centre, visitors were ushered through a large yellow-framed door to a darkened tunnel where screens showcased some of the many thousands of images that comprise Joel Sartore’s The Photo Ark—a groundbreaking 25-year initiative to document every species in human care around the world. Sartore, a long-time contributor to National Geographic, works with zoos, aquariums, wildlife rehabilitation centres and breeders to showcase biodiversity and help save species from extinction. Simple portraits invite the viewer to look animals directly in the eye, to see their beauty, grace and intelligence. Black and white backgrounds level the playing field, making a mouse as grand as a wild cat. Here, they are equal. “We can’t wait [for] future generations,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be a catastrophe in order to start caring. It is imperative that people wake up, before it’s too late.”

DANIEL KORDAN, top—The argish, a train of connected sledges, is loaded with the family’s possessions as the Nenets people move north with their herds. Above, JAMES NACHTWEY—Darfur, Sudan. A mother comforts her son in a medical centre. Nachtwey believes that public awareness is essential to effect change.

Saving the planet is more nuanced than protecting wildlife and habitat alone. Rainier, an acclaimed documentary photographer who highlights endangered cultures and traditional languages, said that protecting indigenous communities is the best way to guard our planet and precious ecosystems from destruction. “We must all re-indigenise our minds and hearts if we are to survive the 21st century,” he concluded.

It was a fitting introduction to an event that was packed full of compelling narratives from around the world, and images that conveyed the full gamut of human emotion from pain, suffering and terror to relief, joy and love.

A photo essay by Russian landscape and travel photographer Daniel Kordan chimed with Rainier’s opening remarks. His exhibition documented the Nenets people, nomadic reindeer herders in Russia’s frozen Yamal Peninsula, as they set about their annual spring migration, or argish, to find food for their herds. They move their settlements, made up of small tents, or chum, across the icy tundra. Kordan stayed with a Nenets family last winter, shedding light on the way they live and their delicate existence in harmony with nature was important to him. “These people are a very sensitive probe for climate change, they feel every single change,” he said.

Conservation was a focal point for the seven-day festival, including the addition of a full-day conservation summit committed to the cause of saving the oceans. 

BRIAN SKERRY, top—This female sperm whale calf is important for the future of her family since sperm whale societies arematrilineal. Skerry named this calf Hope. CHRIS RAINIER, above—Rainier documents endangered cultures and traditional languages around the globe. Here, Raven Mask, Alert Bay, British Columbia, Canada.

Conservation was a focal point for the seven-day festival, including the addition of a full-day conservation summit committed to the cause of saving the oceans. Dedicated exhibitions for ocean photography—complemented by a huge fish tank and immersive soundscape—were full of striking underwater images from photographers such as Jennifer Hayes, whose documentation of shark tourism from Spain to the Philippines was memorable, and Brian Skerry, whose exhibition was a celebration of the lives, personalities and culture of whales. French photographer and biologist Laurent Ballesta dived to depths of up to 200 metres to capture his cinematic images of what remains a relatively unknown world. He talks of shooting portraits of strangers on borrowed time.

Human stories will always come to the fore in a festival of images from some of the best photographers in the world, and it is usually those of suffering and pain that have the greatest impact. Czech photographer and filmmaker Jana Andert focuses on conflict zones and humanitarian issues. Her photo anthology at Xposure, Inside the War on ISIS, was an unflinching portrayal of one of the worst catastrophes of modern times. The images, shot in Iraq and Syria from 2016 to 2021, show the destruction and humanitarian tragedy that the war against ISIS brought and the impact it has had on so many lives. “One picture that summarises the work is that of a little girl standing in the dark in front of soldiers, one of whom had a flashlight in hand. It’s the look of innocence on the child’s face that I can never forget. This picture always reminds me of the purity and innocence of children, even in the middle of a war,” Andert said. The image was taken in the Bashiqa mountains of Iraq on the Peshmerga frontline, the little girl and her family had fled Mosul which, at the time, was under the control of ISIS.

MUHAMMED MUHEISEN—The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner has been documenting the refugee crisis for over a decade. Here, a Palestinian child at the Al Amari camp near Ramallah.

Andert’s work is focused on the Middle East, but conflict and the suffering it brings is global. James Nachtwey, whose images of war, conflict and social issues date back to the 1980s, was one of the most prominent photographers at the festival. He is motivated by the belief that public awareness is an essential element in the process of change. Images can bring about an intervention and photography is a powerful means by which we remember history. In his moving exhibition, Unvanquished, there were images from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in New York, as well as the civil wars that engulfed Central America during the 1980s, in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. It was a rare treat to see so many works together in one exhibition. 

The beauty of the festival was the curation of heavy, heart-wrenching narratives alongside light, engaging stories as well as abstract artistic pieces that were simply fascinating to observe. Levon Biss, a British photographer, presented a body of work titled The Hidden Beauty of Seeds & Fruits. Over a period of six months, Biss studied the extensive collection of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and shot over 100 close-up images of seeds and fruits. Andrew Prokos, a New York-based architecture and fine-art photographer, staged an exhibition of award-winning, large-scale architectural abstract prints.

Jana Andert’s photo anthology at Xposure, Inside the War on ISIS, was an unflinching portrayal of one of the worst catastrophes of modern times.

JANA ANDERT—A female Kurdish fighter preparing her weapon before the operation to liberate the city of Hajin, Deir-ez-Zor Governorate, Syria, 2019.

Tariq Zaidi enlightened audiences with his work on the sapeurs of Congo. The sapeurs are members of a fashion-centric sub-culture in Kinshasa and Brazzaville—the word is an acronym for the Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes (or society of tastemakers and elegant people). Dressed in flamboyant colours, designer labels and handmade pieces, they choose clothes that match their personalities and bring colour to their communities. The images were all taken within a few metres of the subject’s home, displaying simultaneously the widespread poverty in Congo. It made for powerful images, showing the panache and flair of Zaidi’s subjects in front of dilapidated
buildings and dusty surroundings. “The reality is that this is where they live and the juxtaposition is what I wanted to show,” said Zaidi, who worked on this project for more than three years.

Zaidi was one of 70 world-class photographers at this year’s Xposure, sharing knowledge and images with audiences in Sharjah. Alongside the exhibitions, there were fascinating talks, workshops, the conservation summit and a seven-day programme of seminars, screenings, portfolio reviews and a product trade show. It was a celebration of the craft, and of the world around us.

LEVON BISS, top—The Hidden Beauty of Seeds & Fruits displays specimens from the carpology collection of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. TARIQ ZAIDI, above—Elie Fontaine, a 45-year-old taxi owner and sapeur in Brazzaville. The true art lies in a sapeur’s ability to put together an elegant look unique to their personality.

Of the countless images displayed at this year’s Xposure, perhaps the most harrowing were those of Muhammed Muheisen, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner whose photojournalism takes him to the middle of war zones around the world. The Last Farewell, an image of a Pakistani policeman, with a Kalashnikov rifle slung over his shoulder, taking a picture of a two-year-old lying in a coffin, pulls on the viewer’s heartstrings. Muheisen says showing such pain is necessary. “Change begins the moment these pictures reach the world and people start asking questions,” he said. “We live in a beautiful world but there are a lot of problems in life. I focus on people who get caught in the middle of chaos. The scenes I capture could happen anywhere in the world. My role is to keep reminding people that it is a marathon not a sprint and I keep on saying that. I focus on children to open people’s hearts and to show that this is a way to make a difference.”

JOEL SARTORE—Sartore invites the viewer to look animals directly in the eye, to see their beauty, grace and intelligence. Here, the endangered Bornean orangutan.