The global production of paper and cardboard totals more than 400 million metric tons each year. This is just one of the reasons paper manufacturer Hahnemühle has launched the Protect What Matters campaign: a collaboration with six award-winning photographers designed to shed light on not only the ecological impact of paper, but the wider climate crisis and its ripple effects across the globe.
Hahnemühle is a German company which can trace its history back to 1583. It has been innovating for centuries, constantly responding to changing needs through the Industrial Revolution and into the digital age. To meet a growing awareness of – and demand for – sustainable options, Hahnemühle has designed new papers made from renewable bamboo, hemp, agave and sugar cane fibres. “These materials grow quickly, require no pesticides and little water for cultivation,” it notes. Hahnemühle is on the journey to becoming the first climate-neutral paper mill by 2030.
Protect What Matters brings together lens-based artists and documentarians Thomas Heaton, for example, creates work “all about the outdoors and telling a story.” His contribution captures a delicate, yellow-leafed tree that stands out against a deep forest backdrop, creating sense of mystery and narrative within the wilderness. Elsewhere, Peter Cairns depicts the Caledonian Forest at dawn. Mist hovers over the horizon. It was once a great, richly diverse forest, but has been depleted after centuries of human intervention.
Shown above is landscape photographer Paul Wakefield’s take on Fjallsárlón, a glacial lagoon in Iceland. Iceland’s 269 glaciers are a hallmark of the country’s topography, covering 10% of the land mass and contributing to its status as “the land ice and fire”. Due to global warming and melting, however, they are constantly retreating. What the Protect What Matters campaign does is start a conversation about how industries – of all kinds – need to evolve and innovate in a rapidly changing world. “Your prints should have an impact on the viewer,” reads one of the advertisements, “Not on the environment."
No comments:
Post a Comment