Phosphorescence

Description

Phosphorescence presents Glasgow-based photographer Roger Palmer’s most
recent exploration of the tiny island of Nauru, 60 km south of the equator in the
Pacific Ocean. Staying at one of only two hotels on the island, Palmer cycled
the island’s roads exploring for 18 days. Composed of 47 color photographs,
Palmer shares with the viewer a mostly ravaged landscape from an island that
was once the world’s wealthiest welfare state. Phosphate deposits formed from
seabird guano used for military bombing technology once financed its 10,000
inhabitants, but after the mining profits dissipated, the landscape was
left stripped and devastated. Nauru, now a skeleton of its earlier self, receives
financial assistance by operating refugee centers as part of Australia’s Pacific
Solution of sending asylum seekers to detention facilities on Pacific island
nations. A simple photo essay, with a limited text by Lyn Detabene wrapped
around a complex story reflecting on colonial exploitation and human greed