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Environmental disaster in Ogoniland, Nigeria (2013)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

The World Is Screaming

The power of an image can be far reaching. A story can be told—or a message delivered— in even a single photograph.

And when a space is filled with images that have a common theme, the story becomes exponentially compelling.

This is the impact of photographer Philippe Chancel’s series “Datazone”—photographs made in remote and diverse corners of the world to reveal realities that we don’t ordinarily see. The interwoven essence becomes increasingly clear.

The aftermath of natural disasters
Tohoku, Japan (2011)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

This series of images delivers the disturbing message that our planet and its inhabitants are in trouble.

Chancel is adept at crossing cultures to reveal the signs and symptoms of what Datazone Curator Michel Poivert calls a world in decline. “The world is screaming,” Poivert says. And we have to take notice.

Philippe Chancel’s Datazone at the Rencontres d’Arles
© Meredith Mullins

“Datazone” at the Rencontres d’Arles

The Datazone exhibit was one of the highlights of the 2019 Rencontres d’Arles photography festival. The images filled the cathedral-like Église des Frères Prêcheurs. The 16^th century gothic space lent a symbolic importance to the visual storytelling.

Directional lines on the floor led to each of the countries represented, reminding us that the world’s problems are not isolated to a few “hot zones.” We are surrounded by turmoil.

Chancel includes 14 countries in the Datazone exhibit.
© Meredith Mullins

Chancel’s sensitive and thoughtful explorations from the past 15 years show us brutal dictatorships, environmental tragedies, the effects of climate change, war, natural disasters, and the dehumanizing effects of modernization.

French photographer Philippe Chancel
© Meredith Mullins

The Datazone exhibit includes 14 different sites, from Fukushima to Haiti, from Marseilles to Nigeria, from North Korea to Afghanistan, from Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates, from the West Bank in Israel to the Greece/Macedonia border. From Kazakhstan to South Africa. From the U.S. (Flint, Michigan) to India (Mumbai).

Marikana, South Africa (2012)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

The places were chosen by Chancel as areas in peril. They became part of his journey perhaps because of a specific disaster or social or political event. But they were often selected because the issues were off the main media’s radar or were insidious growths, moving slowly toward danger.

Dehumanizing modernization
Marseille, France (2017/2018)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

Moments of Truth

Once on site, Chancel chooses his photographic moments carefully. No clichés. No staging. No special effects. Just reality, which is sometimes subtle and sometimes dramatically direct. He shows us hidden truths.

In many scenes, Chancel shows us the future conjoined to the past. Skyscrapers mixed with barren desert land. Opulence and poverty in close proximity. High speed roads alongside well-trodden paths. Natural beauty overtaken by industrial disaster.

The past and future together
Abu Dhabi (2007)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

Chancel shows us not just the effects of war, but the change in life as a result of years of war. We are shown the compounds, surrounded by barbed wire, built to protect the rich warlords from attack . . . and the mercenaries who guard the concrete structures with Kalashnikovs.

Guarded compound in Kabul, Afghanistan (2012)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

He shows us the aftermath of natural disasters, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor tragedy of the Tohoku region of Japan.

The photographs are not the immediate headline-grabbing scenes, but images that tell of the long struggles and hardships that follow such tragedies for years.

The people of Haiti continue their life after the devastating 2010 earthquake
(Port au Prince, Haiti, 2011).
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

He unveils the theater of a dictatorship that requires blind loyalty and enthusiastic support, as well as the growing international tendency to create border barricades to prevent the influx of refugees.

Theater or truth?
North Korea. Pyongyang (2013)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

In several series, he shows us how the pristine beauty of many places on earth is in jeopardy and how once thriving ecosystems have been destroyed.

We see the oil seeping into the life of the people of the Niger Delta from fractured pipelines, threatening the very existence of the farmers and fishermen of the area.

Oil-scarred land of the Niger Delta
Ogoniland, Nigeria (2013)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

And we sense the melting ice of Antarctica, once described by explorer Charcot as “a vast, magnificent city made from the purest marble”—a dream that he would like to keep dreaming. That collection of “towering amphitheaters and temples built by divine architects” is melting. Yes. Climate change is very real.

Melting majesty
Charcot Point, Antarctica (2017)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

Although the Datazone exhibit has ended, additional exhibits of the Rencontres d’Arles can be viewed until September 22. The Datazone work will next be shown at Paris Photo 2019 in the Grand Palais of Paris from November 7–10 at the Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency and can also be seen on Philippe Chancel’s website.

Contrasting realities
Abu Dhabi (2007/2011)
© Philippe Chancel. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Melanie Rio Fluency.

Oh I See: A Wake-Up Call to the Planet

When Chancel’s images are taken as a whole collective—crossing cultures on so many continents—the future seems all too clear. This is a wake-up call to the world. The only question that remains is what shall we do . . .

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