CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 3/17/2015

Olaf Otto Becker: Reading the Landscape

"Ghost Trees After Deforestation, Malaysia" (10/2012) is reproduced from Olaf Otto Becker: Reading the Landscape, published by Hatje Cantz and released this week. Becker writes, "My pictures and videos are an attempt to report on what I’ve experienced, on what I’ve seen with my own eyes and what has, for that reason, deeply moved me. For many years I’ve been visiting places where human beings have encountered pristine nature, either directly or indirectly, and I’ve watched as these places have shrunk at an alarming rate. While researching the subject, it first seemed to me almost paradoxical that the so-called western world was behind both the destruction of the primary habitats and the attempts to protect them. I saw how both sides in the conflict were using impoverished and poorly-educated local populations for their own interests. For the most part, local people can only powerlessly watch as these dramatic changes take place."