So I thought I'd start.
On a rainy saturday on Oxford, I popped into the Pitt Rivers museum, Oxford.
They have two exhibitions currently
Camel: A journey through fragile landscapes - by Roger Chapman
http://rogerchapman.co.uk/2014/01/camel-photography-project/
https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/camel_journey
Roger Chapman is, as his website describes, a cinematographer for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel has included films on diverse subjects from the Buddhist Kung Fu Monks of the Shaolin Temple, to war-torn Bosnia, the Great Rift Valley of Africa, drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro, the sacred Ganges river in India and the secretive world of Geisha in Kyoto.
In this project he's produced a series of 65 images describing the relationship between people and their camels, allowing them to thrive in some of the harshest environments in the world. There's images from the Thar desert in India, the Sahara in Sudan, the Mongolian steppes and of course camel racing in the United Arab Emirates.
In each of the countries, the camel has a different status and the photos reflect this, showing an interesting contrast between the cultures. Images from the multi-million-dollar industry of camel racing, where expensive camels, almost show animals, are shown alongside images from the Sahara, where the camel is crucial to survival, with the locals still needing it to travel long distances and care for their livestock. Images from Mongolia shows the result of climate change and over grazing. When a sheep grazes, it tears up the plant’s roots laying waste to the land, whereas a camel will leave the roots intact so the plant can grow again. Thsi is driving an economic migration to the cities as rural people struggle, leaving camels unwanted.
The photos themselves are very well presented in black and white, a variety of sizes but a lot printed large, which have real impact.
Camel’s milk, Outer Mongolia. By Roger Chapman[ONLINE] Available at:
https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resize/uploads/sitephotos/Camel_5-400x400.jpg [Accessed 23 July 2017].
Camel and boy, Outer Mongolia. By Roger Chapman[ONLINE] Available at:
https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resize/uploads/Camel_10-400x400.jpg [Accessed 23 July 2017].