Click to enlarge
The Virgin of Global Warming Statue:
"If we do nothing, there will be no more hope..."
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Soon after I put out a global email appeal for iconic or near-iconic or soon-to-be-iconic photographs that depicted our angst over global warming issues and anxities, now and for future generations, I received a letter from a French writer Yann Quero who sent me a simple black-and-white-photo and wrote:
''Dear Dan,
Please find attached a "The Virgin of Global Warming".
Best wishes,
Yann.''
Curious and intrigued, I wrote back to Mr Quero and asked for more information and background details about the statue in the photograph: where the church was, in what country, who took the photo, was there a copyright, was the statue perhaps created from dead coral from a coral reef and then placed in the church as a statue of the Virgin Mary, and then , when was the photo taken?
In a few minutes, later, in internet time, from the other side of the globe, Mr Quero wrote back with the backstory:
"The statue was not made of coral but of regular limestone.
It was gnawed by the elements as it is on the pediment of a church located in Lorient, not far from the ocean, in French Britanny."
Mr Quero, who is a novelist and a short story writer of international repute, then added:
''The legend beneath this statue or for the photograph of it, should it ever be published anywhere on social media worldwide, as an iconic global warming photo, could be : "If we do nothing, no more hope..."
I then asked who the photo belonged to and who took it and if it had even been displayed before or reported on before in France or any other nation, and Mr Quero replied, again in internet time:
''I took this picture in 2011, but I never showed it before.
And I didn't write about it (so far!) except for the legend or titled that I suggested earlier."
He added, after I asked if I could have permission to post the photo on a blog and perhaps in an online newspaper: ''You may use the photo and the legend for what you think will be the best, including via social media, just mentioning my name as the photographer.''
''I also have a close-up of the statue [which he attached; see above]. They may both be used. The first is probably a stronger image for the titled of the picture because of the cross above the church, but the second shows more cleary the damage to it by the elements.
And it could indeed be a good idea to show a non-deteriorated statue [see below] just to show viewers what the original might have looked like, long ago."
I had written in my email blast to writers and artists worldwide just the day before, with this appeal and with these suggestions. This is what Mr Quero was replying to:
HELP!
Desperately seeking an original (by YOU) photo that depicts the essence of our global warming human angst in an iconic way, with face(s). Social media remuneration. [RSVP: send pics via email]
Desperately seeking an original (by YOU) photo that depicts the essence of our global warming human angst in an iconic way, with a human face or faces. Children? Adults? Location? Your choice and creativity. Photo can be in your earlier files or a new photo taken specifically for this photocon.
*Social media remuneration. See * BELOW:
[RSVP: send pics via email]
We are looking for an iconic photo, black and white or COLOUR, which has the iconic power to reach millions of people with its gravitas. A photo for our times. A photo that can come to symbolize the efforts to combat global warming and to become aware of it.
All photos will be looked at carefully. When we see the photo we are looking for, we will know it. we have no idea what it will look like now. We are open to your creativity and vision.
*When the finalist is selected, this blog will use its considerable social media power to blast your photo and your credit byline for taking the photo IN YOUR NAME and we will do all we can to make your photo and your NAME go viral and global. There is no funding for this. But we will do all we can to make your photo famous worldwide with your name attached to it. A career boost for sure.
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