©Gregory Colbert

With bloodshot eyes, unshaved stubble, and a wide, friendly grin, Gregory Colbert looks dazed while recharging with a cup of coffee at a Roppongi Hills café. And with good reason. “I had 22 interviews today,” says the acclaimed photographer, filmmaker and creative genius behind the “Ashes and Snow” phenomenon.

The day before, a well-groomed and vibrant Colbert explained the philosophy behind his animal- and nature-focused work at a pre-opening event in the Mori Arts Center. Millions of hits on the “Ashes and Snow” website and wide press coverage have brought him fame. Yet the reclusive artist admits feeling conflicted between his popularity and his need for isolation. “I don’t seem to be able to balance that easily,” he said. “I’m really not interested in becoming a celebrity. I don’t even have an email address.”

So how does an artist like Colbert, who shuns the spotlight, reach art-star status? It is his work—a unique, breathtaking photographic and filmed “collaboration” between humans and 40 species of animals. Colbert calls his work a “21st-century bestiary, an ongoing project that goes back to the artistic installations in caves.” His gentle hypnotic films and warm sepia-tone photographs reveal startling images of children and adults closely communicating with animals, both wild and domesticated. It is the complete trust between the animal and the human, developed over time with careful, respectful effort, that has enabled Colbert to capture such unusual imagery.

In one short film, a boy and his grandmother appear in desert scenes with a wild lynx, cheetah and meerkat. Photographs show children in conversation with full-size elephants. “I would ask children about secret places that they would go which adults didn’t know about,” Colbert says. “In Kerala, they brought me to a place where elephants would bathe. Being there, with those giant gentle elephants rolling around at the bottom of the river, felt sublime.” In photos and on film, Colbert himself can be seen swimming submerged with giant whales and manatees.

Through June 24, the full “Ashes and Snow” exhibition can be seen along the Odaiba waterfront, within a portable, tailor-made, 5,300m2 “Nomadic Museum,” designed by award-winning architect Shigeru Ban. Known for his eco-conscious designs, Ban constructed the space using recycled materials, secondhand shipping containers and paper tubing. A handmade curtain made from 1 million pressed paper tea bags from Sri Lanka hangs from the main gallery ceiling. “Shigeru suggested Odaiba,” says Colbert. “It seemed like the animals could smile from there.”

Hung from cables and suspension rods in the main gallery is an installation of over 100 large-scale unframed photographic artworks printed on washi paper. A 60-minute film by cinematographer Koji Nakamura, edited by Academy Award winner Pietro Scalia and featuring narrations by actors Ken Watanabe (Japanese) and Laurence Fishburne (English), shows in a small theater adjacent to the main gallery. A pair of nine-minute “haiku” films by Colbert are showing at opposite ends of the gallery. Also included is a novel Colbert published in 2004, which contains a collection of fictional letters from which the title “Ashes and Snow” is derived.
The artist is currently working with Bedouin and Arabian tribes, which are part of what he calls the “leaver culture,” as opposed to the US and Canada, which he labels as “taker cultures.” But Colbert says he is feeling more optimistic about the world these days.

“I don’t have a noble idea of a utopian culture, but clearly something has shifted among the ‘taker’ cultures. I’ve become a cautious optimist.” Soon the artist will be on another journey to the ends of the earth to capture “nature’s living masterpiece.”

“I’m heading out to the Galapagos soon,” he says. “I can’t wait.”

The Nomadic Museum, Odaiba until June 24. See exhibition listings (other areas) for details.

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