Olaf Otto Becker

Primary Forest 02, Lake, Malaysia 10/2012, Altitude 240 m

Archival pigment print, in folder, with book
Sheet size 32.50 x 41.50 cm
Image size 31.50 x 39.50 cm
Signed and numbered
Edition of 15 + 4 AP


In images of the coast of Greenland from Broken Line, portraits of the icy landscapes of Greenland’s interior from Above Zero, and views of the natural wonders of Iceland from Under the Nordic Light, Olaf Otto Becker’s striking photographs show us natural terrains in a state of transition. Each of his images, even those of overwhelming beauty, documents a peril, the impending destruction of a unique world. “When I am photographing I try to imagine exactly how this particular view might look in fifty, one hundred, or even five hundred years. How will it have changed?” asks Becker. “What traces do people leave behind? How do we treat nature?”
Also in his most recent series of works, Reading the Landscape, which were taken in the jungles of Indonesia and Malaysia with a large-format camera, Becker sensitizes our gaze and our awareness of disappearing landscapes—in this case resulting from the excessive exploitation of natural resources. Our breathtaking Collector’s Edition, a large-format, archival pigment print, presents a magical scene of pristine nature, an enchanted lake in the Danum Valley nature reserve in Malaysia, still unspoiled by human intervention.