Prix Pictet Ushirikano: Building a sustainable future in Kenya's Northern Ranglands [Hardcover]

Prix Pictet Ushirikano: Building a sustainable future in Kenya's Northern Ranglands [Hardcover]

Well seen and stunning photographs by Chris Jordan. The Prix Pictet Commission is an invitation for one of the photographers short-listed for the Prix Pictet to document a sustainability project in a particular country or region. For the third Commission, Chris Jordan took photographs on a field trip to the Nakuprat-Gotu Conservancy in Northern Kenya, an initiative led by tribal Elders, which aims to bring peace and prosperity to a region ravaged by violence and climate change. Jordan’s photographs both document the problems - particularly the poaching of elephants - and celebrate the heroes and triumphs of what he calls a “quiet revolution” aimed at building a sustainable future for this community. Africa is perhaps the most romanticized continent, especially when it comes to nature and nature photography. "Ushirikiano" is a picture book depicting scenes from Kenya - its rural and tribal regions, as well as the environmental dangers that its residents and the wildlife are struggling with. The photographer Chris Jordan manages to capture the beauty of African landscape and life with a keen eye for the details that may escape many others as secondary or irrelevant - a rusting barrel on the side of the road, a colourful water reservoir, a digital wristwatch on a traditionally ornamented arm of villager, randomly scattered cloths on the grand inside of the scouts' house. These choices of subject matter give this book a distinctly journalistic feel. The most prominent photograph in this book is also the most disturbing one: it's a fold out four-page spread of a dead bull elephant carcass. It's an unsettling image of an elephant whose tusks and trunk removed. Its mutilated head has a nightmarish quality, and it brings home the horrors of ivory poaching. One of the aims of this picture book is to bring attention to the environmental degradation that this part of Africa is suffering due to climate change. However, aside from the gruesome pictures of elephant poaching (which could have in principle been taken at almost any point in Africa's long history) it is hard fro me to perceive the devastation that is alluded to in the book's introduction. The semi-arid landscapes that feature prominently throughout the book look just like the kind of landscape that have become familiar to the Western audiences form the decades of well-made nature documentaries. It is possible that the climate change has affected the aridity for the worse, but based on the photographs in this book it is hard to come to that conclusion. There is a lot to commend about this book in terms of pure aesthetic value. Chris Jordan manages to capture the people and their immediate environments very eloquently and beautifully. The contrasts between the colourful traditional garbs of African villagers and their more modern accessories create powerful dissonances that capture one's attention. Nonetheless, this is not entirely a feel-good coffee table book. It serves an important social purpose of creating awareness of the problems and challenges faced by people who live far away from us - both geographically and culturally. It is a tribute to the art of photography and to Chris Jordan's indubitable skills that a book like this one can bridge those vast distances and make its subjects feel more intimately close to us. Well worth purchasing. RRP: £26.95 Price: £22.91 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions You Save: £4.04 (15%) Look and buy here.Prix Pictet Ushirikano: Buliding a sustainable future in Kenya's Northern Ranglands .