There is no doubt about the power of an image, but how to bring home the true impact of climate change and the refugee crisis? Award-winning photographer Gideon Mendel shares his remarkable visual dispatches from Calais’ ‘Jungle’ and across the ‘Drowning World’.
http://gideonmendel.com/artist-statement/
Gideon Mendel's intimate style of image-making and long-term commitment to socially engaged projects has earned international acclaim. During 2016, Mendel received the inaugural Jackson Pollock Prize for Creativity and the Greenpeace Photo Award. Shortlisted for the Prix Picket in 2015, he has also received the Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography, the Amnesty International Media Award, and six World Press awards. Born in Johannesburg in 1959, Mendel established his career with his searing photographs of the final years of apartheid. In 1991 he moved to London, and continued to respond to global issues, especially HIV/AIDS. Since 2007, Mendel has been working on Drowning World, an art and advocacy project about flooding that is his personal response to climate change. This work has been applauded for its unusual approaches to portraiture and the development of a variety of visual strategies and elements, including video, to deepen the impact of the endeavour.