Climate change caught on lens

Dubai - Wealthy nations can learn from Arctic peoples' way of life, says photojournalist

Photographs depicting the rapidly changing lifestyles of people living above the Arctic Circle have gone on display in Dubai. The exhibition is part of a series of events organised by the Alliance Francaise leading up to the Climate Change Conference that will begin in Paris on November 30.
The photographs were taken by French photojournalist Nicolas Mingasson, who has had a long career taking pictures of people who find themselves in extreme situations from Bosnia to Afghanistan and Tibet. However, for the last decade, Mingasson has dedicated himself to capturing the austere lifestyle of people in the northernmost edges of the globe.
In an interview with Khaleej Times, Mingasson said he sees it as his duty to share the different lifestyles he's witnessed with the world.
"I have this desire to share because the process would be too selfish if I kept these experiences, these encounters exclusively for me," he said. "It is a duty that we - travellers and scientists - have to share with those who do not have the opportunity to travel, see the world, to think otherwise."
Many of the regions documented in Mingasson's photographs that are on display face a number of threats, including climate change, a lack of economic and educational opportunities and rampant drug and alcohol abuse. Mingasson added that he believed that people in wealthy, industrialised nations can learn from groups such as the Nenets or the Dolgans, both of which live in sparsely inhabited regions in Russia's far north.
"The Arctic peoples have the practical intelligence, a sense of solidarity because they face extreme living conditions that leave them with no choice," he said. "But my images are not here to erect these civilisations as a model, this would be ridiculous. Through my work, I rather aim to invite viewers to think on such fundamental themes as sobriety, simplicity, solidarity, modesty and respect of the elderly.
"This will enable us, I think, to find a way out to crises we are experiencing, be they environmental, social or economic."
Looking towards the upcoming climate change conference, Mingasson said he hoped the world would hear strong messages and firm policies from global leaders on how to negate the global impact of environmental changes.
"I would like to hear our leaders, whether political or economic, to finally say 'yes, the machine, our western machine is out of control. Yes! We are living beyond our means. Yes! We have to make efforts to give up comfort and unnecessary things to which we have become accustomed without even realising it'."
Mingasson's black and white photographs will be on display at the Alliance Francaise in Oud Metha and his colour photographs at the Plantation bar and lounge in JBR's Sofitel until October 31.
bernd@khaleejtimes.com

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