8 Photos that Show the Majesty and Vulnerability of the World’s Water
Hundreds swim in a crowded public pool in New York City. Children sit in dry stretches of desert in Pakistan. Men bathe in a river in India. American photographer Mustafah Abdulaziz’s pictures offer a peek into the many ways that people across the world interact with water.
The Berlin-based photographer has spent the past four years snapping pictures of water for his series of photos that fall under the broad title of Water. He has committed to photographing water until 2025, making his project a 15-year-long venture.
Abdulaziz's photographs focus on limited access to water, pollution of shared sources, and the impact of climate change on access to drinking water. By 2025, half the world’s population will live in water-scarce areas, according to the World Health Organization.
While much of the work highlights access issues, Abdulaziz is quick to point out that the project isn’t limited to a single issue. He said the series creates “a new way of portraying water by what our behavior with this resource means to ourselves and our planet.”
Abdulaziz hopes the series encourages people to become “closer to their natural world, to feel like despite tragedy or difficulty, that our planet is something we share, and that it is a magnificent place hanging in the balance of many problems.”