These photos show a ‘profoundly hopeful’ side to rainforest life

“We must ask ourselves if we can truly fathom the disappearance of something we have never seen,” writes Elaine ML Tam in the introduction to Record, a new monograph by the Tokyo-based photographer Stefan Dotter designed by Jonny Lu Studio. It’s a thought-provoking quote, and in this case it refers to the deforestation that’s devastated many of the world’s rainforests – something that affects all of us, even if we’re thousands of miles away and have never laid eyes on their flora and fauna. Record, however, shows us that “profoundly hopeful” things are happening beyond our limited horizons as well.

“Climate action, environmental protection, and especially reforestation are very abstract concepts if you haven’t seen them firsthand,” the photographer tells Dazed. “We are highly engaged with countless global issues, and we hold opinions about everything, yet we mostly experience the world through screens. Being there, in the lungs of the planet, is humbling. Seeing deforestation is heartbreaking. But standing inside a 15-meter-high forest that was completely reforested, where nothing existed just 13 years ago, is profoundly hopeful.”

Dotter pieced the project together over four years, working with the non-profit organisation Health in Harmony, which provides vital services for Indigenous (and often remote) communities in areas affected by deforestation, in exchange for reforestation work and rainforest protection services.

The connection with Health in Harmony began in the Brazilian Amazon in 2021, at the tail end of his Hope initiative, which helped evacuate photography students from Afghanistan to Brazil, and he stayed in close contact with Health in Harmony in the years that followed, eventually visiting their sites across the world. “Their work was fascinating to me, and radically different from most organisations I had worked with,” he says. “It reminds you that not everything humans do is destructive – that coexistence is possible, and tangible.”

The photographs in Record document Dotter’s time embedded in the rainforest communities of the Amazon, Borneo, and Madagascar during this time, capturing the people, trees, insects, and occasional monkeys that crossed his path. Designed by Jonny Lu Studio, the book itself draws inspiration from natural science documents and 20th-century field journals, also featuring Dotter’s essays and observational notes. All proceeds from the book will go directly to Health In Harmony.

Below, Dotter tells us more.

You travelled far and wide to bring Record together. What did your life look like during this time?

Stefan Dotter: I wasn’t continuously traveling for this project – it unfolded over four years. But being a climate-action project, budgets were, of course, limited. So it was just me, a Mamiya RZ67, three lenses, a bag of film, and a tripod for each of the three-week trips. I slept in hammocks along the Amazon, on boats in Borneo, and spent countless hours in a jeep going off-road in Madagascar. Life was very different indeed.

How did you select the locations and communities featured in the project?

Stefan Dotter: All of the locations in the book are places where Health in Harmony is active. Among other things, the NGO focuses on providing healthcare to Indigenous and remote communities in regions heavily affected by deforestation. In the Amazon, I travelled on a small boat with a dentist whose entire portable clinic fit into two suitcases, moving from community to community to provide care. Every community shown in the book is one that collaborates with Health in Harmony.

Did you learn anything from these communities, about the relationship between humans and nature, that might prove surprising to a more ‘western’ audience?

Stefan Dotter: I think the matters at hand are far more pragmatic in these places. Yes, people have a deep, spiritual relationship with nature – a mutual respect between people and forest – but it’s less romantic than some might imagine. What I’ve always loved most is how knowledgeable everyone is, and how that knowledge is passed down. It’s autumn now in my neighbourhood in Tokyo, with leaves of every colour drifting around. I couldn’t tell you which trees they’re from. That lack of basic knowledge about the plants and trees immediately around me feels almost embarrassing now – and I plan to learn more about my local flora and fauna.

The project benefits Health in Harmony. Why was it important to make this material, financial commitment, beyond just documenting and highlighting their work?

Stefan Dotter: It’s a circular project, in a way. The book was made with the support of a grant from Future Being, and the photographs were created in collaboration with the communities and the NGO. I’m grateful for the experience, and I think it’s important to make a record of these places – to show the beauty that exists, and the beauty we risk losing. Having all profits flow back into the work, into the forest, and into the communities is the only thing that makes sense to me.

Record by Stefan Dotter is designed by Jonny Lu Studio and was produced in support of Health In Harmony.