Gregory Colbert, on behalf of the elephants
Gregory Colbert is the photographer and videographer behind Ashes and Snow, a remarkable exhibition of three films and over 100 large photographs of animals, hoping to inspire a magical and inspirational view of nature. The show, hosted in a set of shipping containers – a nomadic museum – has been touring the world. He explains that it’s a “bestiary”, a poetic understanding of animals in their environment. “A universal bestiary has never existed, that features all the totemic animals from around the planet.”
He shows us ten minutes of his film, shot in sepiatone, featuring slow moving images of people juxtaposed with animals. Children sit in water, as an elephant’s trunk dangles. A child stands outside a temple, as a hawk lands on his back, making it look as if he has wings. It unfolds with a sort of dream logic, image after totemic image, as children and elephants swim under water, hawks fly down corridors and a young boy sleeps curled up with a leopard.
(Editorializing: Colbert introduces the film by telling us that none of the images have been retouched or digitally altered. This makes me wonder about the scene where a child is, apparently, attacked by hyenas – were the human performers people who trained these animals and had relationships with them? Or were his human subject placed in situations of incredible danger?)
Colbert suggests we should renegotiate our contract with nature. It is common practice to compensate people for fair use of their property in advertising – actors, musicians are paid for their roles. This has not been the case for nature and animals. He suggests that when Ford uses mustangs to brand a car, they have a responsibility to give back and sustain the environment that they’re taking from.
He’s founding Animal Copyright and the Animal Copyright Foundation. The foundation will collect 1% of all media buys that use animals, and will distribute these funds to conservation projects around the world. In three years, it will become the largest environmental fund in the world without any fundraising. “Corporate poachers” who don’t use Animal Copyright will be shamed by bloggers, the media and others if they don’t display an Animal Copyright symbol.
“On behalf of the elephants, thank you for listening”.
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March 1st, 2006 at 6:24 am
FLOSS Redux: Notes on African Software Politics
BySoenke Zehle The info-technological development of Africa is providing a critical laboratory for testing the utilitarian and egalitarian claims of the FLOSS community. The question of whether to adopt a free or proprietary route quickly expands beyond t
March 20th, 2006 at 11:43 am
[...] Entre chorradas varias como la de que una persona pretende que se le reconozcan a los animales derechos sobre su interpretación en las series, anuncios y pelÃcula, acabo de leer aquà que MetaMachine, la empresa que está detrás de eDonkey, tiene previsto sacar una nueva versión de su software que cumpla con las exigencias del caso Grokster. Haciendo un poco de memoria, el Tribunal Supremo de EE.UU. dijo en el caso Grokster que aquellos que pusiesen en circulación programas que se utilizasen fundamentalmente para infringir los derechos de autor eran responsables subsidiarios de dicha infracción. Ante esta decisión, casi todas las redes p2p se han apresurado para no ser demandados por la RIAA o la MPAA, y entre ellas está eDonkey. [...]
March 20th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
[...] copyright que no se paga a todos los animales. Más en http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=420 Trackback· [...]
March 21st, 2006 at 11:39 pm
So, if Donna Karan and other high-rollers are paying Colbert from $60,000 to $350,000USD for a photograph, how much has Colbert “paid” the animals that have appeared in his work? Does he get informed consent and release waivers from his subjects? When, exactly, is this Animal Copyright Foundation going to come online?
March 24th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I saw the films and photographs recently. I wonder if the animals were trained in some way. Those birds just don’t fly around dancers for fun and leopards don’t normally sit still for humans or anything else. Just a thought about the honesty of the show.
April 8th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
I just saw Colbert’s “Ashes & Snow” and thought it was amazing. It shows that if we respect other creatures and treat them as equals, they will accept us and allow us to be their friends. It was an honest and heartfelt portrayal of the world that most of only dream about sharing with these magnificent creatures. Those who criticize are just jealous that they weren’t there and couldn’t share those moments.
April 30th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
Why not explain for those few of us in the audience who are (although, like the rest of the audience, obviously amazed by the beauty of the exhibition) concerned about the saftey of the animals and the fair renumeration for the models?
I want to love it, but need my social conscience at ease in order to fully appreciate it.
I was relieved Mr. COlbert modeled himself in the most dangerous and moving images of the exhibit.
Those I went to the exhibit with, think I am off mark, and that it is just about the beauty, and the relationship between sensient animals and primitive wise humans.
I want to enjoy it as they did. Particularly after the tsunami, I find the elephants playing with humans in the mud a bit disturbing, albeit amazingly beautiful.
May 1st, 2006 at 10:03 am
It’s a good point, Ellen. I’m constrained by the fact that I’m reporting on a speech and didn’t have the opportunity to ask the speaker any questions. Like you, I’m fascinated and a little disturbed and have lots of unanswered questions about the safety of the animals and people involved.
June 15th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
[...] I had the wonderful opportunity to hear Gregory Colbert speak at the TED conference where he made an extremely rare public appearance talking about his photographic journey and exhibition “Ashes and Snowâ€. He also spoke about his controversial initiative to start the “Animal Copyright Foundation”, which will aim to collect 1 percent of royalties from companies using images of animals in their ads and distribute these funds to conservation projects around the world, which could become the largest environmental fund in the world. He suggests we should renegotiate our contract with nature. It is common practice to compensate people for fair use of their images in advertising but this has not been the case for nature and animals. I think this is a brilliant foundation to give back to nature and help keep it sustainable. There’s not much online about this foundation, but lookout for it soon. more via ethanzuckerman [...]
July 20th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Here’s an interesting article on this topic:
http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2006/03/should_advertis.html
June 25th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
[...] Ethan Zuckerman’s musings on Africa, international development and hacking the media: Gregory Colbert, on behalf of the elephants. [...]