A 'Drowning World' in photos
South African photographer Gideon Mendel has been studying climate change for more than a decade. His photo essay on flood victims from around the world are on show at "Extreme. Environments," an exhibition in Frankfurt.
Joao Pereira de Araujo (2015)
Joao Pereira de Araujo stands in front of his home in Rio Branco in Brazil after the river Acre rose to a record high of 18.4 meters in March 2015. Nearly 100,000 residents were affected by the extreme flood. Photographer Gideon Mendel portrays flood victims worldwide to draw attention to their fates. His works are part of the show "Extreme. Environments" at Frankfurt's photo triennial, RAY 2018.
Francisca Chagas dos Santos (2015)
With his project "Drowning World," Mendel has been exploring the personal impact of climate change within a global context since 2007. "In a flooded environment, life is suddenly turned upside down, normalcy no longer exists and people need to adapt," he said. Francisca dos Santos is captured here outside her flooded home in Rio Branco, Brazil, in 2015.
The home of John Jackson (2007)
The South African-born, London-based photojournalist started his "Drowning World" project when he documented widescale flooding in Yorkshire in 2007. "At that time I had small children and two questions occupied me for their sake: In what kind of world do we live; and what will the world look like in the year 2050?" he asked at an exhibition of the series in Zingst, in northern Germany.
The home of Shirley Armitage (1) (2014)
Mendel's images show how water is the great equalizer that makes everyone the same. This photo of a photo found in Shirley Armitage's home in Somerset, England was one of many destroyed by flooding in February 2014. Mendel created another photo series called "Water Marks" that looks at how floodwaters have transformed very personal family photographs.
From the home of Abdul Rashid (2014)
A water-damaged photograph from the home of Abdul Rashid in Kashmir, India, also in 2014. "I am fascinated by the arbitrary but shocking effects that floods have on precious keepsakes," says the photographer.
Florence Abraham (2012)
This is Gideon Mendel's personal favorite: It shows the baker Florence Abraham from Nigeria, who had a bakery with 50 employees and lost everything in the flood of 2012. The show "Extreme. Environments" can be seen until September 9, 2018 in the Fotografie Forum Frankfurt.