An emergency that’s often explained with abstract data, catastrophic predictions, and threats to the planet and its species, the climate crisis can be difficult to comprehend. For decades, warming temperatures and rising waters were largely connected to plants and animals, with imagery showing the devastation as it relates to polar bears, coral, and other threatened species. There’s been growing interest in recent years, though, in documenting the communities most profoundly affected and highlighting the human impact already underway.

Gideon Mendel, a South African photographer living in the U.K., has been taking this approach in his two companion series, Drowning World and Burning World. On view now at The Photographers’ Gallery as part of Fire / Flood, Mendel’s portraits are deeply personal, showing individuals and families in their homes and neighborhoods that have been destroyed by natural disasters. Taken in 15 countries since 2007, the collection insists on recognizing that although the regularity and intensity of wildfires, hurricanes, and other weather events are increasing, humanity has been feeling the effects of the crisis for decades.

Mendel began Drowning World first after floods overtook Doncaster, a small city in South Yorkshire. He started by photographing people partially submerged in what was left of their homes, a position that he recreated a few weeks later when visiting India. “When I got back, I put these pictures side by side, portraits from floods in the U.K, and India, and I felt like something quite strong was happening—a shared vulnerability, despite the huge differences in wealth, culture, and environment. That was the beginning of the journey for me,” he told LensCulture.

João Pereira de Araújo, Taquari District, Rio Branco, Brazil, March 2015, from ‘Drowning World’

Whether captured in Haiti, Brazil, Pakistan, or France, the photos assert that no community is immune to the effects of a changing planet, although some are surely left in worse conditions. Mendel explains in a statement:

My subjects have taken the time—in a situation of great distress—to engage the camera, looking out at us from their inundated homes and devastated surroundings. They are showing the world the calamity that has befallen them. They are not victims in this exchange: the camera records their dignity and resilience. They bear witness to the brutal reality that the poorest people on the planet almost always suffer the most from climate change.

When Burning World followed in 2020, Mendel was able to compare the two types of disasters and find commonalities, most notably how his subjects unanimously found strength and endurance. He photographs each person standing upright, remaining assured amid the ruin and choosing courage over fatalism.

Fire / Flood is on view in London through September 30. You can find more of the series on Mendel’s site and Instagram.

Gurjeet Dhanoa, Rock Creek, Superior, Colorado, USA, March 2022, from ‘Burning World’

Florence Abraham, Igbogene, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, November 2012, from ‘Drowning World’

Jenni Bruce, Upper Brogo, New South Wales, Australia, January 15, 2020, from ‘Burning World’

Kevin Goss, Greenville, California, USA, October 2021, from ‘Burning World’

Top left: … Nigeria, November 2022, from ‘Drowning World.’ Top right: Uncle Noel Butler and Trish Butler, Nura Gunyu Indigenous Education Centre, New South Wales, Australia, February 28, 2020, from ‘Burning World.’ Bottom left: Rhonda Rossbach, Derek Briem, and Autumn Briem, Killiney Beach, British Columbia, Canada, October 16, 2021, from ‘Burning World.’ Bottom right: Joy Christian, Dorca Executive Apartments, Otuoke, Ogbia Municipality, Bayelsa State, Nigeria, November 2022, from ‘Drowning World’

Abdul Ghafoor, Mohd Yousof Naich School, Sindh Province, Pakistan, October 2022, from ‘Drowning World’

Amjad Ali Laghari, Goth Bawal Khan village, Sindh Province, Pakistan, September 2022, from ‘Drowning World’

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article In ‘Fire / Flood,’ Gideon Mendel Photographs Those Who Remain Amid Climate Disaster appeared first on Colossal.

For Shannon Haines, former executive director of the Maine Film Center, the most frustrating part of running an arts organization was getting bogged down in menial work. As one of just three full-timestaffers, Haines often found herself cleaning the office and stuffing envelopes, which meant less time spent promoting first-run screenings of independent films and organizing the annual Maine International Film Festival. Leaders at other Waterville arts nonprofits commiserated. So in 2014, several of them banded together to form Waterville Creates, to help streamline programming and marketing efforts while supporting and expanding Waterville’s unique arts assets.

By the end of 2018, Waterville Creates had officially absorbed three of its founding organizations, including the Maine Film Center, along with the Waterville Opera House, a live performing-arts venue, and Ticonic Gallery + Studios, focused on arts education and exhibition.

The organization maintains one nonprofit board, including representation from partner Colby College, a huge efficiency that helps avoid volunteer burnout. “We provide back-end support, including fundraising, HR, and marketing, for these amazing programs to grow and flourish,” says Haines, now the president and CEO of Waterville Creates. 

But not until now, with the opening of downtown Waterville’s Paul J. Schupf Art Center, last December, have all the divisions been under one roof. The center, owned by Colby and designed in partnership with Waterville Creates, houses the Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery of Art, a new downtown extension of the Colby College Museum of Art, and the Waterville Creates administrative offices. On the first floor is Ticonic Gallery + Studios, which includes a clay studio, arts classroom, and exhibition space. The Maine Film Center’s three-screen cinema, formerly located at Railroad Square, is on the center’s second floor, along with concessions (including beer and wine). 

The new building is also home to a dedicated rehearsal space, Studio 1902, and a costume room for the Waterville Opera House, with an enclosed glass sky bridge connecting the center to the historic 800-seat theater on the upper floors of the city hall, next door. “The fact that we’re all co-located is really energizing for people,” Haines says. “We’ve always been really good at collaborations and coming up with dynamic programs across the different media that we present, but to be in the same space makes it easier to generate those ideas.”

Scenes from the opening of downtown Waterville’s new Paul J. Schupf Art Center. Photos by Dave Waddell.

At the center of it all is the Ed Harris Box Office — the actor developed a fondness for Waterville while filming Empire Falls and donated to the building’s capital campaign. “Whether you are buying a ticket for the Waterville Opera House or the Maine Film Center, or registering your kid for an art class, you can now do it all in one consolidated location,” Haines says. “We’re counting on patrons who love the film center coming to a movie, seeing information about a show at the opera house, making that transition to also become opera house patrons, and vice versa.”

Haines is most excited about how the new location will help achieve the mission of arts experiences for all, thanks in large part to the building’s visibility, as well as the support already shown by the city and its residents. “We had more people come to our gallery in one day, in this new building, than came to an entire past exhibition at our former location,” Haines says. “We’re front and center in the heart of downtown. I think that says a lot about this community’s commitment to the arts as an important part of our future.”

Learn more about the Paul J. Schupf Art Center and Waterville Creates events and programs here.