Photojournalist Mike Bowers asks us to look beyond the alluring images of white sands and palm trees of one tiny Pacific nation and recognise there is trouble in paradise.
Showing from 27 May - 8 June as part of the Head On Photo Festival, Kirabati A Line in The Sand, examines how the existence of this Central Pacific country is threatened by climate change.
Kirabati consists of 32 coral atolls and one raised limestone island with an average height above sea level of only two metres. Islanders must battle against the seas with storm surges and high tides eroding precious living space and contaminating the delicate fresh water that is beneath each atoll.
Bowers depicts how the rising tides threaten the country and impact its people. More and more of them are moving from outer islands to the main one, Tarawa, which now has 51,000 people jammed into a 35-kilometre-long silver of coral, a population density on par with London.
Kirabati has the highest infant mortality rate in the region with 35 babies in every 1000 dying before their first year, a statistic more than five times that of Australia. Many babies die of chronic diarrohoea caused by water-borne illnesses.
The President of Kirabati, Anote Tong, believes his country has 30 to 60 years before it is uninhabitable because of inundation and contamination of its water supply.
Mike Bowers discovered his love of photography during his school years. A teacher told him he would never excel in anything so he should work hard at photography.
He took that frank advice to heart, embarking on an extensive career that saw him work for publications such as The Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald and cover coflicts around the world including Cambodia, Kosovo and The Middle East. He has published three books and is currently working on his fourth with journalist Paul Daley.
The exhibition is at X88 Gallery, 88 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale. Opening hours are Wednesday - Friday, 11am-6pm and Saturday, 10am - 3pm.
Children play on a British-made 8-inch Vickers gun. It was sold to the Japanese during the Sino-Russian conflict and transported to Tarawa by the Japanese during WWII to be used against the United States during the costly battle of Tarawa in November 1943. Photo by Mike Bowers.
'Te Euangkerio' (The Gospel) was once used to ferry supplies and people between the Kiribati islands. Now abandoned and rusting with other metal waste, it makes a challenging – and dangerous – playground for children. Photo by Mike Bowers.
With space at a premium, the main waste disposal area on South Tarawa is situated on a narrow causeway with the sea on one side and a lagoon in the other. All garbage generated on the islan is either discarded in the ocean or ends up in this finite space. Photo by Mike Bowers.