The Monkey and the Cat
Mads Nissen
from Amazonas
Bameno, Yasuni National Park, Ecuador 2008
A monkey embraces a cat in a home in Bameno, a Waorani village in the Yasuni National Park - two world’s colliding in the Amazon rainforest.
'I had been walking through the rainforest for several days when I reached a glade. The rainforest stood like a dense, green wall surrounding me. From top to bottom the plants were struggling for light and nourishment - thick lianas, razor-sharp thorns and delicate flowers. Under each and every leaf it was teeming with crawling insects. That was how the rainforest was. Feeling as though I had disintegrated, I sat down on a tree stump … and let go. To me, nothing can surpass the Amazon rainforest.
The Amazon is a refuge for all sorts of people: escapists, fortune hunters, nomads, warriors, gold-diggers and others who want to get away. Civilisation pushes at the boundaries of this virgin territory, raw nature and the human compulsion to master it continue their dance in an eternal power struggle. The first humans came here approximately 12,000 years ago, but with the arrival of the Spanish, a greedy hunt for rubber, timber, oil and the legendary 'El Dorado' commenced. Diseases brought over by Europeans wiped out a large part of the indigenous population, while hundreds of thousands died as slaves on rubber plantations. The Amazon today has a population of 26 million, spread over nine countries. Unpredictable frictions play out between nature and culture, instinct and sensibility, predator and prey.’
Specification
Mads Nissen
For Mads Nissen photography is about empathy - an attempt to create understanding, an intimacy and closeness to his subject. He strives to build that connection while focusing on contemporary issues like inequality, human rights and our destructive relationship with nature.
Mads has twice won World Press Photo of the year, the most prestigious prize in photojournalism. In 2015, his photograph was of an intimate moment between a young gay couple from Russia, and in 2021, ‘The First Embrace,’ depicted an embrace between two women in a carehome in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mads has published three photo books: The Fallen (People's Press), AMAZONAS (Gyldendal) and most recently in 2018 the award-winning We are Indestructible (GOST Books). He has had solo exhibitions across Europe and Latin America.
Your Print
When will I receive my print?
We produce prints in a batch every two weeks. Shipping can take up to one week in the UK, and two to three weeks internationally. Orders should be received within 3-5 weeks depending on your location.
What will I receive?
Your print will be posted flat, in a protective sleeve, to avoid damage or curling in transit. Prints come with a Panos Prints provenance certificate with background information about the image and the photographer.
The paper is A4 sized, the image will be smaller than A4 with a white border around it - see Image Specification for exact image size. Borders will be laid out as demonstrated by the print images on the site. We do not provide framing services and images of framed prints are only meant to be illustrative.
Print Care
Paper and ink
We print on Hahnemuhle Baryta FB, an archival fibre based 350gsm fine art paper. It is a bright white paper with a traditional character finish and heavy weighting. This paper has long been the industry standard paper for digital printing.
What is a giclée print?
Giclée comes from French and literally means ‘squirt’, referring to the spray of very fine drops of ink that produce an inkjet print. We print with archival paper and pigment inks to the accepted standards of fine art giclee printing found within the collectors market. Prints should last over a hundred years and with care longer than this. Avoiding extremes of light, heat and humidity will help prolong the life of your print.