About the Photographer
Britta Jaschinski, born in Bremen, trained as a photographer in Germany before studying the art of photography in England. Jaschinski is a photographer of nature – but not in its conventional forms. While her work encompasses the inherent beauty and purity of the natural world, she is also keenly attuned to the frailty of nature: its susceptibility to manipulation and desecration at the hands of its most self-important element, homo sapiens.
Jaschinski has worked extensively to document the sad and scary world of captive animals. Her portraits of these animals are poignant and often pathetic. Dark, disjointed representations of creatures in concrete and metal compounds convey the displacement that characterized their existence. Jaschinski currently focuses on animals in their natural habitat to illuminate the beauty and fragility of our planet. Jaschinski’s images owe their inspiration to art rather than documentation. She explores new ways of looking at animals, removed from conventional representation and cultural baggage. Her images provoke questions about the destiny of life on earth. Phaidon Press and Thames & Hudson have published her books, she has won several awards and exhibits her images world-wide at prestigious art festivals, museums, auction houses and galleries.
I arrived in Ndutu only days after a huge bushfire had ripped through the area, burning down a vast number of majestic acacia trees. I could smell ash and cinders in the air. The destructive power of these fires is immense. I found many empty, whitened tortoise shells and saw disorientated impala and dik-dik wandering around with nowhere to hide.
And then, a cheetah appeared on the blackened soil. This fire must have been a windfall for large cats - their prey was confused and out in the open. But the cheetah, too, looked unsettled, alienated and lost - almost ghostly. I took the photo and then watched as he melted into the singed background. The cheetah is endangered due to loss of habitat, reduced prey and direct persecution. I feel this photo symbolises how exposed and vulnerable this species is.
Nikon FE2, Nikon Fixed Lens 200 mm, Black/White Negative Kodak 400TX
