“For over a decade, photographer Nick Brandt has distinguished himself by crafting powerful visual narratives that explore the complex relationship between humanity and the natural world. His latest project, The Echo of Our Voices…turns his empathetic lens towards the often-unseen plight of displaced Syrian refugees in Jordan.

Against the starkly beautiful yet unforgiving backdrop of the Wadi Rum desert, Brandt’s meticulously composed black and white photographs elevate these individuals, presenting them as “human islands” grappling with the compounded injustices of war and environmental devastation.

Through striking sculptural compositions featuring families posed on powerfully symbolic pedestals, Brandt moves beyond mere documentation or portraiture, offering a profound commentary on resilience, the enduring human spirit, and the interconnectedness of global crises.

His work not only captures moments of profound intimacy and strength but also shines a light on the disproportionate impact that climate change makes on the world’s most vulnerable populations.”

— Cary Benbow, FStop Magazine

“A seminal photographic series from visionary photographer Nick Brandt documents with skill and sensitivity a human race on the verge of environmental catastrophe.

What makes The Day May Break photographic series so unforgettable is Brandt’s refusal to rely on spectacle. Instead, he finds quiet power in the dignity of his human and animal subjects, many of whom have experienced climate-related displacement or trauma yet manage to retain a quiet resilience.

Brandt’s use of monochrome and soft light lends the work a timeless, almost mythic quality. But this is no fantasy—it’s a mirror. Climate change, Brandt insists, is not some distant specter but a crisis unfolding now, disproportionately affecting those least responsible for it.

The Day May Break is not just art; it’s a clarion call that the world needs to wake up and confront what is happening to humanity and the planet. Through powerful imagery and accompanying narratives, Brandt urges us to confront a truth we often ignore: the fate of humans, animals, and the planet is inseparably linked.

Brandt’s work resists easy optimism, but it isn’t devoid of hope. There’s tenderness in every frame, a recognition of our shared fragility and the possibility of compassion. In a world fractured by crisis, The Day May Break offers a rare kind of clarity—the kind that comes not from distance, but from standing close enough to see the humanity in every face, human or otherwise.”

— Lee Sharrock, Forbes Magazine

“Why do I find myself unable to turn away from these images, or to stop gazing at them?…The images suggest meticulous attention to detail, from consideration of tone and movement of light, to shapes of faces and the direction of the wind; in the end, we find ourselves before a piece as intricate and cohesive as lace.

Brandt’s work on the subjects’ gestures, their faces and foreheads, the light in their eyes and the selection of groupings—with the backdrop of mountains and desert, between peak and cave, sand and sky—results in photographs that brim with life, inviting questions while offering no answers. They deftly dismantle our ready-made assumptions and give rise to tomes of questions, floating gently in extended silence.

In these photographs, the arrangements of refugees tell tales of sadness, of lives suspended in temporary time. The images speak of absence, yet also of love. Despite shifting meanings of pain, disquiet, and the unknown, Brandt reveals that love is the thread of their survival.

Each photograph is a painting, and each painting is a small detail in a larger scene of gripping pain the photographs attempt to address. When I stand before them, time itself stands still.

Each photograph contains a rebellious cry. The images tell us, with solemn dignity: Do not avert your eyes.

These images are not only photographs, they draw from theatre, film, and poetry; they are the daughter of reality. Deeply truthful, and deeply imaginative. Imaginative for the intensity of pain and that silent cry, truthful as they are rooted in the refugees’ reality.”

— Extracts from the foreword by Samar Yazbek, Author of Where the Wind Calls Home

“Nick Brandt is a photographer whose camera aims to convey the rumblings of an uncertain future. Traveling across continents and getting to know different communities, Brandt’s objective as an artist is to strikingly reflect the reality of climate change by working with those who have been most affected by its rapid escalation…an aritst who not only aims to capture the magnificence of nature and its inhabitants, but one who is able to facilitate a story of the Earth as well. His work is poetic, focused on bridging the different iterations of an increasingly communal narrative through metaphor and exhibition.

The most remarkable aspects to his work are the stakes and scales of these projects, the tenderness behind each frame, and the way it resonates into the viewer’s understanding of the story his images tell.”

— Carlota Gamboa, WhiteHot Magazine of Contemporary Art

“Photographer Nick Brandt is a master of contrast and balance. His photographs practically vibrate with both: jagged rocks and tattered furniture softened beneath Fiji’s shimmering water; a delicate mist swirls around people as they pose with elephants, cheetahs, and bears; and, most recently, Syrian families trek through Jordan’s unrelenting Wadi Rum Desert.

Even in the face of such precarity, Brandt’s photographs mine the resilience and humanity necessary to withstand displacement, especially as it relates to climate change. Each composition in The Echo of Our Voices envisions its subjects as permanent rather than fleeting entities, as sturdy as islands in a vast ocean. Entire families scale rugged cliff faces and pedestals, the arid landscape unfolding behind them endlessly. Despite the desert’s seeming desolation, there’s tenderness here: an embrace, hands pressed together, an arm gently slung around a shoulder. Touch and proximity reign, as they almost always do, and it’s this sense of contrast that elevates The Echo of Our Voices beyond mere social commentary.”

— Eva Baron, My Modern Met