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Photographer Jimmy Nelson's 'Homage' To Our World's Indigenous Cultures

Jimmy with the Mundari in South Sudan. (© Jimmy Nelson Pictures BV)
Jimmy with the Mundari in South Sudan. (© Jimmy Nelson Pictures BV)

With Meghna Chakrabarti

Photographer Jimmy Nelson is out with a stunning new book of pictures and stories of indigenous people around the world — as they see themselves, not as we see them.

Guest

Jimmy Nelson, photographer and photojournalist. Author of the new book “Homage To Humanity” and of “Before They Pass Away.” (@Jimmy_P_Nelson)

Photographs From The Book

View a gallery of images from “Homage to Humanity”

From The Reading List

Watch on YouTube.

Watch on YouTube.

British Journal of Photography: “Portrait of Humanity: ‘Keeping “the other” away is a disaster for our planet’” — “Jimmy Nelson has spent the last 30 years photographing indigenous cultures around the world, culminating in his latest project ‘Homage to Humanity.’

“As we welcome people to submit photographs to Portrait of Humanity, an initiative celebrating our shared values of individuality, community and unity, we also highlight the work of photographers who have done just that. And perhaps no one has embodied this ethos more so than Jimmy Nelson, who has spent the last 30 years photographing indigenous cultures around the world, in the hopes that we might be able to learn from them.

“Jimmy Nelson’s latest project, Homage to Humanity, has just been released. This time, his work has been produced not only in the form of a book, but also digitally, with an app that has the capacity to scan over every photograph in the book, and to bring them to life with interviews and films. This allows people to see the making of the work, and to understand the process behind it.”

New York Post: “How photographer Jimmy Nelson pays ‘Homage to Humanity’” — “Photographer Jimmy Nelson is on a mission to preserve culture.

“‘I’m not a journalist. I’m not an ethnologist. I’m not an anthropologist. I’m an artist,’ Nelson, 50, told The Post. ‘I’m provoking a discussion.’

“The photographer, who spotlights remote tribes and environments in his work, will be honored by Donna Karan at the Stephan Weiss Apple Awards on October 24.

“The Amsterdam-based photographer’s 2013 book, ‘Before They Pass Away,’ features a collection of photographs from across the globe, including portraits of Ethiopian tribes and communities in Mongolia and New Guinea.

“‘The title was melodramatic,’ Nelson said. ‘A little naive. Everyone got upset saying, “Who’s dying?” It was a little bit naive, but then it actually paid off because it caused a big discussion.’ ”


“To accompany “Homage to Humanity,” Jimmy and his team have created a companion mobile app. It is a remarkable record of their journeys on a state-of-the-art platform, with immersive 360 films, behind-the-scenes footage, storytelling and more.”

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.