The River Runs Wild by Matthew Phipps

Rivers are the metaphorical and literal channels that bring us together as a civilization. After 15 years of living and shooting around the world, Matthew Phipps ties his travels together with photos all taken within 1 kilometer from a river.

THE RIVER RUNS WILD

By Matthew Phipps

Since the beginning of human civilization, rivers have played a vital role in shaping the way our societies developed. Rivers provided food, water, irrigation and transport to communities from the Nile delta all the way to the Amazon rainforest. 

The landscape of our modern world is carved by waterways that are thousands of years old. Rivers act as borders, sometimes between countries or states, or dividing cities and economic opportunities. Every major city around the world lies directly on the path of a river or other significant body of water. 

At some point, humans became heavy handed, losing their symbiosis with waterways and nature as a whole. Now cities rely on vast international shipping networks that mostly utilize fossil fuels to deliver products to communities instead of a river’s current. According to the The World Commission on Water for the 21st Century, half of the world's rivers are seriously depleted and polluted. Only two of the world's major rivers, the Congo and the Amazon, are classified as healthy, mainly due to the lack of settlements and industrial centers along the rivers. Scientists say that if either of these two rivers are lost, life on earth will quickly become unsustainable.

Rivers are not just physical, but are also metaphorical paths and currents taking us through our lives, navigating emotions both exciting and devastating. Water is a timeless spirit that transcends all borders and barriers. Rivers have played a crucial role in cultural and religious ceremonies since the beginning of time. For example Chalchiuhtlicue, the Aztec god of rivers and water, or Mami Wata, the African water spirit among hundreds of others. Native people from all over the globe worship or revere different deities to honor a place's water source or abundance. Water is so amazingly common, that sometimes it’s hard to remember the irreplaceable value it holds.

When going through my archive of more than 15 years of photographs taken in over 25 countries, I realized that the majority of the photos are made within four kilometers of a river. My work highlights the commonalities of the human existence while investigating the diversity of individual and local cultures and customs. A mentor once told me that in order to make profound work, I must not simply take pictures from the outside looking in. I have to get comfortable, learn about the environment and make educated photographs instead of walking around aimlessly with the camera.

I believe that any specific moment cannot live on its own. Every moment we live is connected to a moment already gone and another yet to come. My photographs capture the past, present and future in an exact moment. I take into consideration the history of a place to help me understand its current state. After understanding the past, I can fully focus on the present in the moment. That understanding gives clues to the future of any given place or community.