Photographer Jimmy Nelson is sending a warning that the world is at risk of losing its global cultural heritage by squandering the cultural identities of the last indigenous peoples.
The photographer launched a bid to preserve cultural diversity by issuing the caution: ‘BLINK. AND THEY’RE GONE’. A warning that if we don’t engage with indigenous cultures now, they will be gone forever, and which was masterfully illustrated by a campaign conceptualized and created in a joint effort between JWT INDIA and J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam.
The campaign kicks off with the short film made using over 1500 photographs taken by Jimmy Nelson during his journeys into the far corners of the world, showing the never-seen-before images of 36 of the last indigenous communities of this earth.
The images were selected from over one hundred thousand images, covering every picture of indigenous people that Nelson has taken over the last 30 years. The film took 90 days to edit, and features startling images of the Huli Wigmen from Papua New Guinea, the Kazakhs of Mongolia, the Sadhus of India, the Wodaabe from Chad – and countless others.
The film was directed by JWT India’s Chief Creative Officer, Senthil Kumar in Mumbai, working closely with J. Walter Thompson’s Global Creative Lead, Bas Korsten, who is based in Amsterdam.
The film is the first start of a wider campaign in 2019, which will see Jimmy Nelson work with JWT to raise awareness of indigenous cultures – and to foster pride and respect for their irreplaceable traditions. You can also join the fight for the preservation of cultural identity, here
