THERE are occasions when something you see or hear has an effect on you that might turn out to be life changing. One such occasion for me was the “Hard Rain” exhibition of photographs that happened to be on display at a Botanical Garden.
The setting, in peace and quiet amongst trees and shrubs from around the world, was the perfect place to ponder the meaning of what was on show. I have been pondering daily on the issues raised ever since.
The idea behind the exhibition is both simple and brilliant. Take a song, Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, and illustrate each line of that song with a photo that captures both the meaning and the warning behind it. The combination of words and images that results has an incredible power to move and shake one.
Hard Rain is the brainchild of Mark Edwards, a photo journalist who has travelled the world recording images of the tough lives led by many of the world’s poor and the environmental degradation caused by the activities of man. His idea for the project came as long ago as 1969 when, lost on the edge of the Sahara desert, he was rescued by a Tuareg nomad who took him “home” for shelter and food and who played him a recording of the Dylan song on a battery-operated cassette player.
Bob Dylan wrote the song during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and whilst it was about the catastrophe of nuclear destruction, its words have turned out to be far more prophetic and relevant to the world’s current situation than probably even Dylan could have expected.
And as Mark Edwards says in the book that accompanies the exhibition (Hard Rain – Our headlong collision with nature), “We now know that it is not only nuclear war that might bring about our downfall. Our headlong collision with nature makes us dangerous passengers on planet earth.”
The main thrust of the book is concerning the devastating effect that the unsustainable actions of humankind and the resulting climate change are likely to bring on the world. And whilst the science and predictions for that change are imprecise, there is now a strong consensus that such changes are unlikely to be helpful in sustaining biodiversity and the future of the human race.
The problem with such a world-encompassing issue is that here, in the relatively affluent and climatically stable UK, we are pretty well shielded from the day to day effects of what is going on globally.
For the time being at any rate. That is where the exhibition and the more readily accessible book have such an important role to play.
The pictures show us what is happening now in many parts of the world. And they show it in such stark horror, and yet strangely with such compassion too, that I think we would all do well to refer to it for just a few moments each day.
Simply to remind ourselves of what our actions are helping to create so that we can all try and do something about it. It is not just up to the politicians.
And there is much we can do as individuals, from reducing our energy consumption in our homes to creating a more friendly environment for wildlife in our gardens and localities. Plus, of course, leading by example and trying to persuade our friends, relatives and colleagues to do the same.
Which is why I’m telling you about Hard Rain because I believe it is something that will move you as much as it has moved me and might inspire you to start trying to put things right. Go on-line to www.hardrainproject.com, see for yourself, and order the book now.
