brief encounter

Tanjun Puting NP (Borneo, Indonesia) is one of the last places on Earth where we can observe orangutans in the wild. Since there are different programs to reintegrate injured specimens back into their natural habitat, these great apes do not see us as a threat. That allowed me an incredible rapprochement.

At their side, one becomes aware of the enormous similarities between orangutans and human beings. The distinction between man as a rational being and all other animals on Earth loses meaning. As it is meaningless as well to consider that human species have a natural right to rule the planet for our sole benefit, and to consider that all the others lack the right to subsistence.

This sentiment inspired this series of portraits in which I try to reflect its closeness to our kind.

Photography is a brief complicity between foresight and chance, John Stuart Mill