It is very difficult to post and like Jimmy Nelson without any criticism ..
Does he really think he’s doing everyone a favor by reproducing the silenced images of people that are already written out of the history books, left alive in the grave of history and dominant knowledge?
I see his beautiful work quiet through his hypocritical lens: Why won’t he use his photojournalism to talk about WHY they are dropping from existence and how westerners making this photographer rich by gobbling up his thieving renditions offensively toted as “art” is part and parcel of the capitalistic framework that has indulged the colonizer’s weeping savior complex and made it possible for entire civilizations to disappear without notice in the first place?
Some information about his Project: Spending 2 weeks in each tribe, Jimmy became acquainted with their time-honored traditions, joined their rituals and captured it all in a very appealing way. His detailed photographs showcase unique jewelery, hairstyles and clothing, not to forget the surroundings and cultural elements most important to each tribe, like horses for Gauchos.
According to Nelson, his mission was to assure that the world never forgets how things used to be: “Most importantly, I wanted to create an ambitious aesthetic photographic document that would stand the test of time. A body of work that would be an irreplaceable ethnographic record of a fast disappearing world.”
