British-Dutch photographer Jimmy Nelson (1967) enjoys international acclaim for his iconic books 'Before They Pass Away' (2013) and 'Homage to Humanity' (2018). Almost continuously, he travels the world to portray unique communities in their pure beauty and traditional outward appearances in the most remote places. This was not always rewarded to him. "When I stopped fighting criticism, I was able to become the artist I am," he says. The photographer is currently exhibiting at the new photography museum in Maastricht.After the release of 'Before They Pass Away', Gentlemen's Watch published a major interview with Jimmy Nelson. Five years later, in his Amsterdam studio, he says: "It was almost impossible to get that book published. Publishers didn't believe in it. Indigenous peoples? Forget it. People want naked. Models. Fashion. Besides, I was told I was nobody. Not 'googleable'.
The eventual publisher marketed the book because he liked me and saw that I had done my best, but not because he believed in it. After publication, however, a tsunami of interest followed.
Some 4,000 publications have been published on the book. At first, feedback on my project was laudatory. But, in countries where English is the mother tongue, criticism soon arose. From the press, from individuals, from cultural organisations. I received threatening messages.
How dare I say these peoples are 'dying' and who was I to capture them as I did. They are staged images, in the sense that I determine the composition. The setting, nature, is real. The people are real. No Photoshop.
In many cases, they wear their everyday clothes or body coverings. In some cases, their traditional outfits. I photograph them at their very best. That's how I immortalise their cultural heritage as an artist."
BEYOND PHOTOGRAPHY
The negative publicity eventually brought the project to where it is today. As many as 350,000 copies of 'Before They Pass Away' have been sold. Jimmy's eyes twinkle. He continues: "I am determined in what I do as an artist. I don't like titles, but that's what I am and not an anthropologist. I have stopped fighting. That's the wonderful irony of life. You listen to a voice. You decide to follow that voice. Then you are vilified for it. What do you do then? Do you stick your head in the sand, or stop defending what you stand for? A new door opened in my soul. I experienced extreme things in my childhood (Jimmy Nelson spent his childhood at a British boarding school where he was emotionally and physically abused by fathers for years - ed. GW). I had dug a deep pit and poured concrete over it. Then the criticism came and I felt myself backed into a corner again, though of course in a totally different way. 'Why am I doing what I'm doing,' I asked myself.
Suddenly I knew. I need to live in a beautiful way. My art is the result of a deep investigation into what I feel and what I stand for. It goes beyond photography. It is about circumstances and experiencing life in the most profound and resonant way. Someone advised me to become a speaker so I could explain to the audience the real story behind my work. During my first TED talk, I cried on stage. The concrete broke open. I dared to look into the hole. It saved me. I became more honest. To myself. To those around me. After twenty-three years of marriage, I am divorced and it feels so much better for my ex-wife and me. Happiness is fragile. It is not a constant state of being, but I encounter happiness more and more regularly."
MULTIMEDIA PROJECT
2018 saw the publication of 'Homage to Humanity', the multimedia sequel to Jimmy Nelson's first book. A beautifully printed deluxe book as well as a free app that allows viewing explanatory videos and 360° images of the photo locations. Earlier, the Jimmy Nelson Foundation was set up to preserve the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples. "After 'Before They Pass Away', we were inundated with questions about the different peoples, their history and habitat. With 'Homage to Humanity', we are providing answers interactively." Jimmy shows the book. The stories behind the images are endless. For instance, he talks about the Huli tribe from Papua New Guinea and the ritual behind their ornamental wigs, made of real hair, which they have to maintain and decorate throughout their lives. Or about the Mundari in South Sudan, Africa. They live off the milk and blood of their cows.
Tribesmen grease each other every day with ashes from burnt cow dung, as protection from the sun and insects. "Gaining trust and constantly reconnecting with people are central to my work. Given my past, you can understand that allowing the male Mundari to rub me naked with the ashes was a huge surrender. However, allowing that worked tremendously healing."
KEEP MOVING
"The people I capture are truly connected to themselves, to each other, to their values and to Mother Earth. We can learn so much from indigenous peoples. It may sound evangelical, but it has nothing to do with religion: perhaps these peoples are the future or at least an important part of it. I travel obsessively, physically, mentally, emotionally and also financially to do my job.
I go through tunnels and arrive at a Shangri La. I hope to touch people with my work and make them live differently than they do now. We are destroying the world. Look at these people and how they take care of each other and the planet. Ask yourself: what is wealth, where are we going, where did we come from? Yes, I learnt a lot from them. Especially that I need to keep moving physically to grow old in a healthy way.That's why I no longer have a car and do as much as possible walking or cycling. I cherish my body, don't drink alcohol and eat vegan whenever possible. You can do that almost anywhere, except in frozen areas. But the most important thing I learned from the indigenous peoples is what it means to really live in the now and shed my ego. To be accepted as someone you have to come as no one."
MUSEUM ART
Jimmy Nelson is currently hard at work on a new step in his career: creating monumental images that will be part of a museum installation that, thanks to sound and scents, will stir all the senses. "I'm currently working with an analogue, fold-out 8 x 10 camera where photos are captured on large image plates. Of those plates, I can only take a limited number with me when travelling. Sometimes it takes a week until the right light arrives and I only have a few seconds to shoot the image. At home, it is only visible what is on the plates.
I am now doing what other photographers in the past perceived as technically 'impossible': portraying people in nature at 8 x 10 landscape format. So for the next five years, I will be busy taking the very last photographs of the very last tribes on earth in the most far-reaching way possible. Why five years? Because after that, many peoples in their current settings will no longer exist. Even in the most remote places, there are now smartphones and digitalisation is allowing cultural heritage to fade away.
Yes, this way of working requires a huge investment on all fronts. It is an intense process, but only in this way can I make an authentic connection with people. And, connection is what it's all about for me. "Jimmy Nelson's oeuvre exhibition 'Homage to Humanity' will be on display at Museum aan het Vrijthof in Maastricht until 15 March 2020.
www.jimmynelson.comTEXT Kirstin Hanssen
PHOTOGRAPHY Jimmy Nelson
PORTRAIT JIMMY NELSON Isaiah Hezekiah Artikem
English 
Dutch 
German