"Ashes and Snow" by Gregory Colbert

“When I started Ashes and Snow in 1992, I set out to explore the relationship between man and animals from the inside out.”

“In exploring the shared language and poetic sensibilities of all animals, I am working towards rediscovering the common ground that once existed when people lived in harmony with animals. The images depict a world that is without beginning or end, here or there, past or present.”

The Ashes and Snow exhibition includes more than 50 large-scale photographic artworks, a one-hour film, and two short film "haikus". None of the images have been digitally collaged or superimposed. They record what the artist himself saw through the lens of his camera. While Colbert uses both still and movie cameras, the images are not stills from the film.

Since he began creating his singular work of Ashes and Snow in 1992, Colbert has undertaken photographic and filming expeditions to locations such as India, Egypt, Burma, Tonga, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Kenya, Antarctica, the Azores, and Borneo.

The show first opened at the Arsenale in Venice, Italy, in 2002. The Nomadic Museum, the travelling home of Ashes and Snow, debuted in New York (March to June 2005) and then travelled to Santa Monica (January to May 2006), Tokyo (March to June 2007) and Mexico City (January to April 2008), and is charted to travel the globe with no final destination.