Underwater Maldives Photos Reveal Climate Change Future

It takes time to fully grasp what you see in the photographs by Edoardo Delillé and Giulia Piermartiri from the Maldives. In one image a sea turtle seems to swim beside a couple on a motorcycle, while in another a family of five poses in the hallway of their home, beneath which, it seems, a diver in full gear is swimming.

Shot underwater in the Indian Ocean, these images hint at a scenario that, scientists predict, could become reality by the end of the century if the climate crisis is not addressed. With an average height of only one meter above sea level, the Maldives is the lowest country in the world and thus faces significant risk. Some reports project that by 2050 80% of its territory could become uninhabitable if sea levels continue to rise at current rates. These images illustrate a potential future.

A series shot in 2019, formerly known as “Maldives Diving,” became the launching point for the photobook “Atlas of the New World,” recently published by L’Artiere (these images are now exhibited at the Cortona on the Move festival in Tuscany). The photographers visited six regions most vulnerable to climate change to make tangible the extreme ecological realities predicted for this century. Their technique blended scientific data with surreal visualizations, and the photographs were created using an analog process with a battery-powered projector connected to a flash.

“We realized that showing the present isn’t enough,” Delillé explained during a video call. “So we looked at how global warming will alter the morphological shape of the landscape directly at the end of the century, which better illustrates the seriousness of the problem.”

Technique and the Concept of Future Landscapes

Each chapter of the book – which also includes California, Mont Blanc, Mozambique, China, and Russia – uses the same tools to emphasize different variants of a similar story with striking results. In one shot from Paradise, California – the state where the area affected by fires arising from drought could increase by 77% by 2100 if planetary pollution does not decrease – a man calmly browses the contents of his refrigerator as bright orange flames fill his kitchen. In the Mont Blanc series, the highest peak of the Alps and a site of rapid glacier melt, blooming green meadows overlay the snow.

Images taken from various stock libraries show landscapes that already have a climate similar to the forecast; for example, Nevada desert photographs are projected onto houses in California, and in the Mozambique series, images of the Namib Desert in Namibia predominate.

All photographs are accompanied by comparative data – primarily drawn from the United Nations Environment Programme or local databases forecasting fires in the United States – that illustrate the gaps between current statistics and forecasts for 2100 (presented both in the text and in the infographic). Additionally, the work is underscored by a collection of accompanying essays written by various experts.

“Everything is shocking,” Delillé continued, alluding to the weight of their research. Usually based in Florence, the photographers were first motivated by watching global climate protests in September 2019, when people around the world took to the streets demanding action; in Italy, reportedly, more than a million people participated.

From the outset, Delillé and Piermartiri decided that The Atlas of the New World should be more than a coffee-table book – a scholarly project; later they saw greater potential, noting that the project should serve future generations and have a place in educational institutions.

“This is a kind of handbook,” – Piermartiri agreed, reflecting on the feedback they’ve already received from lectures and exhibitions. – “When children look at our photographs, they immediately understand the problem. These images speak of the future, and most importantly – that this message reaches them.”

In conversations with local people who appear in the photographs, the authors emphasize that it is the on-site dialogue that made the project truly meaningful. Delillé explained that interviews conducted before shooting helped better understand how current climate changes affect residents’ daily lives, and that in each place people had their own unique perspective on the issue.

“It was very important to conduct interviews before the shoot,” – Delillé said. “We really want to know what they think about how global warming affects their lives. And in each place they had an absolutely different mentality about the issue.”

In the end, the authors discuss the future of their project: they see it as a guide for future generations and hope to make it part of educational programs, to visually convey the scale and consequences of climate change through art and real-life discussion.

“This is a kind of handbook,” – Piermartiri. “When children look at our photographs, they understand the problem from the very start. This message about the future must reach them.”