Photographer Chris Rainier has been in a race against time: recording the world's surviving ancient cultures before they are consigned to history.
Showing from 17 May to 8 June, as part of the Head On Photo Festival, People On the Edge charts Rainier's 30-year effort documenting indigenous communities and their struggles to preserve precious ways of life.
He has skilfully used modern technology such as smart phones, cameras, computers and video in his quest and to help empower ancient cultures tell their stories to a wider audience.
Rainier is considered one of the leading documentary photographers whose work has been shown by museums around the world. He is also a passionate supporter of indegenous communities under risk in the 21st century.
Photo by Chris Rainier.
He co directed the National Geographic Society's All Roads Photography Program that mentored photographers from developing nations and founded the Last Mile Technology Program to bring internet technology and skills to isolated communities.
Ironically, for someone so passionate about preserving ancient cultures, Rainier believe modern technology offers a way of preserving them.
In an article in The New York Times, he said: ``There's so many cultures that are still not connected and getting left behind in the digital divide. More and more, this is a world where you don't exist unless you're online.''
The exhibition is at Paddington Reservoir, 251-255 Oxford Street, Paddington, NSW. It is open daily, sunrise to sunset.
Photo by Chris Rainier
