In a many countries, villages and the rural way of life are under threat on a number of fronts – urbanisation and industrialisation, environmental changes, increasing economic pressures and agricultural production becoming big business controlled by international corporations primarily motivated by profits rather than people. As a result, age-old traditions, customs, cultures, skills, practices and even landscapes are disappearing.
Based in Melbourne, much-awarded photojournalist Michael Coyne has travelled the globe extensively on various assignments and on these many trips he became aware of the many life-changing challenges facing small villages and communities which had been sustained, often for centuries, by smallscale agricultural activities or industrial production based on advice and skills passed down from generation to generation.
The photojournalist’s instinct to document something before it’s gone forever and highlight the issues kicked in, and Michael embarked on a project that took over two decades to complete. The result is , a volume of compelling black-and-white photography that documents the challenge facing so many small rural communities all over the world, but also celebrates those
