The Big Picture

Google Earth's eye from the sky reminded me of something I stumbled upon in Nicosia en route to Turkish Cyprus.

Yann Arthus Bertrand's open-air exhibition titled "The Earth from Above" is a stunning collection of 120 prints from more than 75 countries across the world with a common theme - all of them are shot from the sky!


Heart in Voh, New Caledonia

This and many other prints in the collection are a veritable treat for the eyes. Probably because the men in them are either invisble or too insignificant to mar the picture perfect beauty.



And then there are images like the one above of Mexico, which at first glance looks like a vibrant mosaic of latino colours but on closer inspection reveals a huge rubbish dump. Understandably this ruffled the feathers of quite a few Mexicans.

"Many Mexicans were disappointed that one of the main images I show of their country is that of a rubbish dump, when Mexico has one of the richest biodiversities in the world. But through this photo, I wanted to condemn the frenetic production of rubbish, which is common to the whole planet, and does not only concern Mexico."

Which is also why he's brought his exhibition to Nicosia, the last divided capital in the world.

For, as he says, from the sky he doesn't see any line dividing Nicosia.

Click here to view "The Earth from Above"

(All the above info has been collected from the net. We didn't stop for the exhibition as we were in a rush to get into Turkish Cyprus. We never made it into the Turkish north but then that's another story. Grist for another post.)