Hundreds of shark heads in the nets of Mauritanian fishermen. A herd of 8000 in a dairy cow breeding station in Wisconsin. US photographer and geophysicist George Steinmetz documents industrialized food production with his long-term project “Feed the Planet”. Displayed at Sharjah's 9th edition of “Xposure” photography festival.
“Most people don't really have any a really realistic understanding of where their food comes from or the impact of the choices they make every day, they make three times a day and so that was a big part of my project was to kind of break that down so people can understand”, explains George Steinmetz. “So, you'll see the advertising of something like you think like you know like your butter comes from a cow that's sleeping under a tree and it's like no, that cow probably isn't sleeping under a tree, in fact that cow probably never gets outside.”
Right at the start, 12 years ago, the photographer was arrested in the US state of Kansas: he had taken pictures of a huge cattle farm with 100,000 animals from a paraglider. Creating the aerial shots he became famous for.
“It was kind of a wake up call for me that there are parts of our food system that some people don't want us to see. And as a journalist when you ask kind of a simple question people get strange on you, you realize maybe you're on to a bigger story. And so, I started digging a little deeper into food and I realized that it's much more interesting than I thought.”
According to the UN the global population is expected to reach 9.8 billion by the year 2050. Combined with the rising standard of living in rapidly developing nations, it is estimated that we will have to increase the global food supply by 60%.
“I went to a lot of research labs and I was very impressed by improvements being made in genetics and irrigation systems and whatnot and so I think we actually can double the food supply”, says George Steinmetz. “The key to me is trying to conserve the wild places that we have left and I'm not looking at this as like what's, you know, as a nutritionist I'm just more looking, really more as an environmentalist and I think if we can maintain our food systems in the current shape then we can maintain wilderness and wildlife which is really important.”
The National Geography photographer’s work is an examination of how the world can meet the rapidly expanding challenge of feeding humanity without putting more natural lands under the plow.
Filmmaker Pippa Ehrlich tackles another hunger: that for pangolins. Its scales are used in traditional Chinese medicine, that has developed into an ever growing pharma industry. Its meat is considered a delicacy. Her new documentary, “Pangolin: Kulu's Journey”, will be released April 21.
“Our film is specifically about one little guy called Kulu. He's a Temmix ground pangolin, and these are very special little animals, because they walk on two legs, like humans, with their paws in front of them like this, and they're very sweet, very, very intelligent. They say they're kind of as intelligent as a German shepherd dog. Incredible sense of smell, incredible kind of intuition and way of knowing what's going on around the world.”
The South African is committed to environmental protection with her non-profit organization “Sea Change Project”. Using science and storytelling to connect humans to the wild. With success: her documentary “My Octopus Teacher” won an Oscar.
“If you walk up to someone and say, this is what you need to do, the planet is dying, we're all in huge trouble, immediately this kind of wall comes up. But if you can tell them a story about someone that they can relate to, and take them on a bit of a journey with that story, and make them fall in love with something, then by the time they get to the end, hopefully they've come to that conclusion on their own, and you're no longer in a space where you're asking someone for something or telling them to do something.”
The combined effects of climate change, monocultures and plundering of resources by large corporations are shown in Lys Arrango's work “Until the corn grows back”. In Guatemala, she got to the bottom of undernourishment and malnutrition.
The region has suffered a prolonged six-year drought, leaving the land impoverished and vulnerable to extreme weather phenomena such as storms, floods and heat waves.
“El Niño phenomenon is destroying the crops every single year. And they are obliged to leave their lands, travel to the areas a little bit more fertile, to work as seasonal workers in the sugar cane plantations or in the coffee plantations. And then the last chance that they have is to try to sacrifice, as they say, and take one of the members of the family to leave to the United States and get some money from there.”
The Spaniard, who won the “Pictures of the Year” award in 2023, lived together with Maya communities in the so-called “Dry Corridor”, where climate change is destroying the harvests of hundreds of thousands of small farmers. Fuelling a humanitarian crisis. One child in two suffers from chronic malnutrition, the highest rate in Latin America and the Caribbean.
They cannot develop, they cannot grow as much as a normal kid with a normal food they would be able to. So, at the end, the consequence is that when they go to school they cannot concentrate”, explains Lys Arango. “So, they drop the school at a very young age, and then once they grow up they won't have the same opportunities. So, we can say that in the country there are 50 % of the population suffering from chronic malnutrition, but in the Mayan communities there are more than 80 % of the population suffering from this type of malnutrition.”
For the indigenous people, corn is more than just a foodstuff. It is a sacred part of their culture. Maize literally means “that which preserves life”.
“They have many traditions related to ceremonies with the land to keep it fertile and also to the rain, but nowadays it's raining less and less, so the consequences is that they
have to leave, and when they go to other countries or to other regions, they are leaving part of their spirituality and part of themselves in their land, so it's very painful for them.”
Lys Arango’s project, developed over three years, seeks to make this reality visible and to show how climate change and socio-economic conditions are fuelling migration, causing thousands of people to flee northwards to escape poverty and hunger.
Running until February 26, Xposure International Photography Festival brings together 420 photographers, filmmakers, and experts in visual storytelling from 48 countries. It’s the Middle East’s largest photography trade and imaging show exhibiting more than 2,500 photographs.
Video footage of food production: use only in Xposure context, must credit “George Steinmetz – Feed the Planet”
Video footage of Mayan farmer: must credit “Martin Sorbets”
Sharjah/UAE, Source: ENEX
- Various shots of George Steinmetz’ exhibition at Xposure festival
- SOT George Steinmetz (english):
“Most people don't really have any a really realistic understanding of where their food comes from or the impact of the choices they make every day, they make three times a day and so that was a big part of my project was to kind of break that down so people can understand. So, you'll see the advertising of something like you think like you know like your butter comes from a cow that's sleeping under a tree and it's like no, that cow probably isn't sleeping under a tree, in fact that cow probably never gets outside.”
FILE Video footage of food production: use only in Xposure context, must credit “George Steinmetz – Feed the Planet”
- Various of food production Sharjah/UAE, Source: ENEX
- SOT George Steinmetz (english):
“It was kind of a wake-up call for me that there are parts of our food system that some people don't want us to see. And as a journalist when you ask kind of a simple question people get strange on you, you realize maybe you're on to a bigger story. And so, I started digging a little deeper into food and I realized that it's much more interesting than I thought.”
FILE Video footage of food production: use only in Xposure context, must credit “George Steinmetz – Feed the Planet”
- Various of food production Sharjah/UAE, Source: ENEX
- SOT George Steinmetz (english):
“I went to a lot of research labs and I was very impressed by improvements being made in genetics and irrigation systems and whatnot and so I think we actually can double the food supply. The key to me is trying to conserve the wild places that we have left and I'm not looking at this as like what's, you know, as a nutritionist I'm just more looking, really more as an environmentalist and I think if we can maintain our food systems in the current shape then we can maintain wilderness and wildlife which is really important.”
- Various shots of George Steinmetz’ exhibition at Xposure festival
- Cutaways of Pippa Ehrlich at Xposure festival
- SOT Pippa Ehrlich, filmmaker (english):
“Our film is specifically about one little guy called Kulu. He's a Temmix ground pangolin, and these are very special little animals, because they walk on two legs, like humans, with their paws in front of them like this, and they're very sweet, very, very intelligent. They say they're kind of as intelligent as a German shepherd dog. Incredible sense of smell, incredible kind of intuition and way of knowing what's going on around the world.”
- Cutaways of Pippa Ehrlich at Xposure festival
- SOT Pippa Ehrlich, filmmaker (english):
“If you walk up to someone and say, this is what you need to do, the planet is dying, we're all in huge trouble, immediately this kind of wall comes up. But if you can tell them a story about someone that they can relate to, and take them on a bit of a journey with that story, and make them fall in love with something, then by the time they get to the end, hopefully they've come to that conclusion on their own, and you're no longer in a space where you're asking someone for something or telling them to do something.”
- Various shots of Lys Arango’s exhibition at Xposure festival FILE Video footage of Mayan farmer: must credit “Martin Sorbets”
- Various of farmers cultivating their land
Sharjah/UAE, Source: ENEX
- SOT Lys Arango, photographer (english):
“El Niño phenomenon is destroying the crops every single year. And they are obliged to leave their lands, travel to the areas a little bit more fertile, to work as seasonal workers in the sugar cane plantations or in the coee plantations. And then the last chance that they have is to try to sacrifice, as they say, and take one of the members of the family to leave to the United States and get some money from there.”
FILE Video footage of Mayan farmer: must credit “Martin Sorbets” - Various of farmers cultivating their land
Sharjah/UAE, Source: ENEX
- SOT Lys Arango, photographer (english):
“They cannot develop, they cannot grow as much as a normal kid with a normal food they would be able to. So, at the end, the consequence is that when they go to school they cannot concentrate”, explains Lys Arango. “So, they drop the school at a very young age, and then once they grow up they won't have the same opportunities. So, we can say that in the country there are 50 % of the population suering from chronic malnutrition, but in the Mayan communities there are more than 80 % of the population suering from this type of malnutrition.”
- Various shots of Lys Arango’s exhibition at Xposure festival
- SOT Lys Arango, photographer (english):
“They have many traditions related to ceremonies with the land to keep it fertile and also to the rain, but nowadays it's raining less and less, so the consequences is that they have to leave, and when they go to other countries or to other regions, they are leaving part of their spirituality and part of themselves in their land, so it's very painful for them.”
- Various shots of Lys Arango’s exhibition at Xposure festival
- General shots of Xposure festival
