How do you photograph the end of the world? Nick Brandt stages the unthinkable

A young girl stands defiantly atop a tall pedestal of stacked blocks in the middle of a barren desert. — Laila Standing, Jordan, 2024 (Image credit: © Nick Brandt)

There's a photograph of two children on a seesaw. Nothing unusual, except they're sitting six metres underwater off Fiji, perfectly still, hair floating upward, performing an everyday gesture where human life cannot be sustained. For photographers, the immediate question isn't what it means (that's clear), but how Nick Brandt made it happen.

The answer reveals everything about Brandt's approach. In stark contrast to the way photojournalists work (capturing events as they unfold), the Oxford-born photographer stages elaborate scenes requiring months to plan and weeks to execute. As a result, 67 large-format images from his four-chapter series The Day May Break are being shown together for the first time at Gallerie d'Italia in Turin from 18 March to 6 September 2026.

The technical challenge

Despite what some may assume, that underwater seesaw – part of SINK / RISE, Chapter Three (2023) – isn't a digital composite. Brandt physically transported playground equipment to the Fiji seafloor, weighted it and worked with local families to create images that are simultaneously beautiful and devastating.

Two people sit on a wooden seesaw resting on the seabed, captured in a serene underwater environment. — Onnie and Keanan on Seesaw, Fiji, 2023 (Image credit: © Nick Brandt)

Two men sit at a wooden table on the ocean floor, surrounded by coral and clear blue water. — Joel and Sosi, Fiji, 2023 (Image credit: © Nick Brandt)

The technical demands must have been unbelievable. Managing natural light filtering through water. Dealing with visibility issues. Maintaining compositional control when everything wants to float away, ensuring subject safety.

But Brandt isn't doing this to show off. He's doing this because the people portrayed underwater, performing ordinary domestic gestures in an impossible environment, represent Pacific Island communities facing permanent displacement. It's a glimpse of futures already being written.

Months, not moments

From a photography point of view, we're a long way from the fashionable emphasis on spontaneity and decisive moments. Each chapter in Brandt's series involves months of preparation with local crews who understand terrain and communities. Scenes are carefully staged. Lght and atmosphere emerge through patience and responsiveness to nature's unpredictabilty. Weeks of printing and selection follow.

Chapter One (2021), shot in Kenya and Zimbabwe, sees rescued animals alongside people displaced by climate disasters (cyclones, droughts) placed within the same frame. These aren't candid shots but carefully composed tableaux. Chapter Two (2022) continues in Bolivia, where a monkey appears in sharp focus while human figures recede into fog. The staging is theatrical, yet subjects' dignity remains uncompromised.

A man sits on a wooden crate in a misty outdoor setting, positioned in front of a large rhinoceros under the glow of a lone lightbulb. — James and Fatu, Kenya, 2020 (Image credit: © Nick Brandt)

A man and a woman holding a child sit under a single hanging lightbulb in a foggy field, with a large rhinoceros standing behind them. — Alice, Stanley and Najin, Kenya, 2020 (Image credit: © Nick Brandt)

A large owl stands in the foreground on dusty ground, while several silhouetted figures walk through a thick, obscuring fog in the background. — Harriet and People in Fog, Zimbabwe, 2020 (Image credit: © Nick Brandt)

For photographers accustomed to working alone, Brandt's collaborative model is instructive. He works with local teams who know the communities, understand cultural sensitivities, and can facilitate the complex logistics of positioning people and animals in extraordinary circumstances. A behind-the-scenes section of the exhibition reveals this methodical approach in detail. It's a useful counterpoint to photography culture's romanticisation of the lone artist.

Refugees and resilience

The Echo of Our Voices, Chapter Four (2024), commissioned by Intesa Sanpaolo, makes its debut here. Shot in Jordan, it portrays Syrian refugee families in desert landscapes where water scarcity worsens with climate change. A young girl stands atop a concrete pedestal against jagged mountains, her wind-blown dress and direct gaze suggesting both vulnerability and resilience.

A large family group is posed in a pyramid formation on concrete blocks within a vast, misty desert landscape. — F’taim and Family, Jordan, 2024 (Image credit: © Nick Brandt)

Two women in dark, traditional clothing embrace while seated atop stacked stone blocks in a wide desert valley. — Aisha and Mariam, Jordan, 2024 (Image credit: © Nick Brandt)

Climate photography at this scale requires institutional support. Brandt's large-format prints and months-long production demand resources editorial assignments rarely provide. And overall, this exhibition's grand scale – 67 large-format images across four continents – offers photographers a case study in sustained project development.

Developing this show has involved years of commitment, complex production and ethical collaboration with communities under extraordinary stress. But it's been time well spent: the results are technically accomplished, morally engaged and uncomfortably timely.

Nick Brandt. The Day May Break. The light at the end of the day runs from 18 Mar-6 Sep at Gallerie d'Italia, Piazza San Carlo 156, Turin, Italy.

Tom May is a freelance writer and editor specializing in art, photography, design and travel. He has been editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. He has also worked for a wide range of mainstream titles including The Sun, Radio Times, NME, T3, Heat, Company and Bella.

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