City of excess

Oasis Mall car park Nikon D810, 24mm, 1/200sec at f/9.5, ISO 490

I spoke to Nick Hannes on an unseasonably sunny early April morning, the day after he was presented with the Zeiss Photography Award 2018 at the glittering World Photography Awards (WPA) gala. His winning series, ‘Garden of Delight’, was shot in Dubai during five visits across a period of two years, and explores the phenomena of globalisation and market-driven urbanisation. It’s very much a personal project. The soft-spoken Belgian is thoughtful and eloquent, and it’s clear he’s deeply concerned about the effect we’re having on our planet, but also believes in the power of photojournalism to inform.

‘My work is about how we shape our environment,’ he explains, ‘how we sometimes f*** it up – about the human condition in general. I don’t like to focus on individual stories, but more on phenomena. For example, not the single story of a refugee but the general picture – what is migration about? I look at the world from more of a distance; I often take a step back to see more.’

Hannes’s style is often aboutkind of critique in my work, but I hope it’s not moralistic. I think it’s very important not to pretend that I know everything and I have the truth. But this is my opinion and I will share it with you; if you want to understand you can, if you think differently when you look at my pictures, that’s fine as well.’