Leave Them Creatures Alone

Nick Brandt's pictures are almost too beautiful. They're black and white photographs of large, wild animals in a strangely uncluttered world, that seems on the verge of doom. What saves them from faltering on the side of kitsch or sentimentality, is that their beauty really cannot be indulged for a period of time without an unease creeping up on you. Whether this is an intended function of the image or not - it may be partly a result of projection - is immaterial.
Despite or due to the almost eerie, Eden-like majesty of their environment, we are confronted with our grotesque egotism and disregard for their autonomy: ever more encroaching on their space, destroying their habitats and their air, while prancing around in their (faux) skins like we're the masters of the universe or trampling them in front of our hearths like they're trophies.
In these pictures Brandt focuses on their intelligence, dignity and complexity, both individually and collectively. Studying them, you actually feel like shying away from their space - in awe and with respect - and realize with renewed urgency that they're as much entitled to this world as we are. Brandt's beasts do not ask for our pity: they ask for us to leave them alone...
Nick Brandt Photography

Pictures: Hippos on the Mara river, Maasai Mara, 2002; Elephant herd, Serengeti, 2001; Baboons in profile, Nakuru, 2007; Windswept lion, Serengeti, 2002