was when I went to photograph a terrible drought in the North of Kenya which was an effect of global climate change . But when I began to first photograph floods something clicked in me and I realized there was something very iconic about them . Floods have been around for many thousands of years and have affected almost every single nation around the world so I think a flood is something quite deeply engrained in us . change increasing the amount of fires around the world . Perhaps after fire , I could be looking at air . These are just thoughts I ’ m kind of debating , I don ’ t really have these issues resolved right now .
ANDREA : What impact have your images had on people ? Do you think your project has changed people ’ s consciousness about climate change ?
ANDREA : Do you think this project will ever end ? Do you think in your mind you will ever feel that it ’ s complete ?
GIDEON : Yeah , that is a question that is coming up for me now because I ’ m trying to put a book together when the project is finished , so when is the project going to be finished ? On one level I feel like I want to do a few more trips to some of the wealthiest countries that are flooded or the ones that emit the largest amount of greenhouse gases that cause flooding like China and America .
ANDREA : Your photographs have a poignancy and drama to them that ’ s inherent by the subjects that you choose . What would your photographs look like if you weren ’ t photographing subjects like this ? Would they have the same impact ?
GIDEON : I think I ’ m drawn to dramatic situations , and people , and situations of great difficulty . And I suppose often when I give talks and presentations one of the most common questions I have is “ what kind of impact does this have on you ? How do you deal with this psychologically ? How do you deal with being in a different situation personally ?” I ’ ve always struggled to find an answer to that question and I was talking about it to my wife Sara . She said , you know that answer is really kind of easy : I ’ m the kind of person who often struggles to connect with the people that I ’ m close to but I find that I have a great ability to connect with people in difficulty and difficult situations around the world and that I am able to create a degree of intimacy .
ANDREA : Have you thought about what project you ’ d like to do next ? I know there are many aspects to Drowning World so do you see yourself continuing to be immersed with this subject or moving on to something new once this is finished ?
GIDEON : I think in many parts of the world , particularly in America , there ’ s a ridiculous argument thing about climate change denialists . I would like to think my images published in National Geographic and elsewhere might be instrumental in trying to end that outrageous argument . In terms of climate change and for what needs to be done it ’ s very hard for us to do things but what ’ s really important is what governments do and what governments can do . Legislation is incredibly important , so my work has been most recently seen at the UN Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul , at The Paris Climate Change Conference and my work has been used at the conference at the recent UN summit . They were also these huge billboards that feature Drowning World , in and around Paris and used in these protests around Paris . It ’ s hard to tell if my work has any particular influence in that area . I like to think of it as part of the movement . What extent that photography played a part in it is very hard to forensically judge but I know that it was part of something .
ANDREA : This issue is about chaos ; would you say your life is chaotic or this project is the most chaotic one that you ’ ve ever had ?
GIDEON : Chaos is a good issue for me because I do naturally lean towards chaos in terms of my organization and my mind , thank god you can ’ t see my office behind me , but my work is often very structured . Both the images I create and the narrative structures I put my work into are very structured . I think in my Drowning World project I ’ m operating in chaotic situations but I think I ’ m trying to create formal structured images . For example , I ’ ve been editing some of my images from the Flood Lines series which are the most symmetrically structured images .
ANDREA : Putting yourself in these chaotic situations , have you had any disasters yourself ?
GIDEON : I ’ m debating various options truthfully . One scenario is that I continue with floods and make a book . Another is that in maybe the next year I visit a few more flood locations but then be done with the project and stop with floods and move onto other elements . I ’ m thinking of moving onto fire due to climate
GIDEON : In 2008 , I went to photograph a massive flood , it happened about a year before the earthquake . In a span of like 3 weeks , Haiti was hit by four hurricanes and the town of Gonaïves was terribly flooded . I got into the town of Gonaïves , the town was covered in a thick layer of mud . The first thing that happened is that it began to rain really
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