Jimmy Nelson – Before They Pass Away
The other drive is about the packaging and presenting my journey. One of the reasons why it has achieved the attention it has, is because of my very personal approach – I am not somebody to be pretending what I am not: I have no education past the age of 18, it’s a lot about self discovery, it’s a lot about having accidents, but by putting myself on the line and opening doors that wouldn’t necessarily have opened for me. Finally, if I can make someone else happy and curious by showing my art to them, that’s for me the icing on the cake. My art is also acting as a catalyst for further thought and discussion.
Dirk Terpstra: During a TED-talk in Amsterdam you explain that as a young boy you became ill with malaria and as a result of an overdose of antibiotics your hair fell out. You didn’t change of course but people started treating you differently. You then travelled to Tibet in an attempt to find yourself. What did you truly find there?
Jimmy Nelson: It was not just to find myself but I also wanted to escape, I wanted to feel, I wanted to touch, I wanted to be part of, I wanted to disappear without realizing the consequences prior to leaving and Tibet seemed to be a remote enough destination.
Dirk Terpstra: What did you learn in Tibet?
Jimmy Nelson: That I was very naive, that I was very foolhardy and at the same time, by being that way I got very far. I learned within the process and I ended up not only traveling with Tibetans but also with the Chinese military who got me into Tibet.
