Captured in a shot!

Photographer Jimmy Nelson has been to the farthest corners of the world – from Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject of Russia, which is a “13-hour continuous flight from Russia”, to establish contact with the natives Chukchis to Mongolia and meet the Kazakhs. Since he was 18, Nelson (now 52 years) has been documenting indigenous tribes across the world.

His latest short film Blink! And They’re Gone Away is a joint effort between J Walter Thompson India and Amsterdam to bring to fore the depletion of the world’s tribal communities. 

The film features over 1,500 still images of 36 different indigenous tribes from different parts of the world. These images, shot by Nelson in his 30-year career, were selected from more than 100,000 images of the Huli Wigmen from Papua New Guinea, the Kazakhs of Mongolia, the sadhus of India, and the Wodaabe from Chad, among others featured in the short film. 

The idea is to use technology – the very thing that is wedging a division between the tribal communities and the urban populace – to spread awareness about their depletion. “If we let the cultural identity of the indigenous people disappear now, our rich human cultural diversity and heritage will be lost forever. The depth and wealth of our humanity will shrink.”

But Nelson is not without critics of his work, who condemn his glorification, aspirational stylised presentation of cultural aspects. In June 2014, Nelson’s project Before They Pass Away came under attack from Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights. Corry, in his review entitled Turning a Blind Eye to Pure Old Vibrations, Corry said Nelson’s work presented a false and damaging picture of tribal peoples and maintained that his pictures bear little relationship either to how the people pictured look now or to how they’ve ever appeared. 

Nelson, however, defends his artistic integrity – “I am an artist and my work is an artistic, creative and subjective documentation. It is a valid perspective.” In addition, he also believes that this beautification is necessary to promote a discussion around conservation of tribal culture.

Senthil Kumar, Director of the film & Chief Creative Officer, J Walter Thompson India, is grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with Nelson. "It was life-changing to travel far and wide across the earth, through each one of Jimmy [Nelson]’s stunning photographs. The ambition is to share the cultural evolution of these remote and ancient indigenous cultures, which will move every viewer to share the experience with the world.”

India calling 

Nelson shares his experience of visiting India for Blink! And They’re Gone:

“I was especially excited to visit the Drokpa in Kashmir, who have been hidden in a bubble since the Partition. They live in a small valley, right at the border of Pakistan, high in the Himalayas, and are still connected to their traditions. Many years ago, the region must have been far richer in its culture and how relatively little there is today. As for the Rabari in Gujarat and in Rajasthan, their numbers are far more prolific and ingrained into the deeper soul of the more contemporary Indian culture. The colours the jewellery, the way, the women decorate their bodies is like nothing else in the world.”