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Frost-resistant lichens flourish in the Arctic tundra; bacteria thrive around hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean; humans rebuild a town after a devastating tsunami. Life, as they say, finds a way.
A new exhibition highlighting this driving force of nature, as seen through arresting photographs and other artworks, premiered at Art Basel Paris this month and is now on display at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and online. The show, Resilience: Artistic Solutions for Human, Ocean, and Biodiversity Challenges, was born out of a partnership with UNESCO, Nautilus, Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy, and Discover Earth.
The show invites viewers to contemplate resilience manifested broadly, in the natural world and in the human one, as a blend of quiet persistence and defiance in the midst of catastrophe.
The exhibit contains two parts. Biodiversity: Through the Lens, is a collection of photographs of species that have adapted to changing landscapes, shifting climates, and the encroachment of human activity. In one work, we witness a polar bear stepping across the gap between two glaciers in Svalbard, Norway. In another, a thriving tropical coral reef grows right up to the roots of a mangrove forest in Indonesia. Still another pictures an elephant strolling through a misty Kenyan morning near the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the whole scene awash in golden light.
The companion piece is Tsunami: Sea Change for Resilience, a series of photographs and monumental paintings that consider the plight of those who have suffered through and survived tsunamis. These towering walls of water, capable of wiping entire communities off the map, leave in their wake a seemingly insurmountable devastation. Yet, the indefatigable human spirit always finds a way to rebuild. Homes are reconstructed, families reconnected, and societies re-knit themselves with remarkable grit.
Even as we face an era of unprecedented environmental loss, these collective works serve as a potent reminder that nature is not only fragile but also profoundly tenacious, that the will to survive endures.
Lead photo: The Polar Crossing by Michael Haluwana
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