Monarch
Desirée Dolron
2018, Netherlands
In recent years, documentary photographer Desiree Dolron has started focusing on natural phenomena such as underwater ecosystems, the flight of starlings, and the migratory patterns of butterflies. Every year, Monarch butterflies travel a distance of 4500 kilometres, from Canada to Mexico and back: one of the most striking animal migrations on the planet. But the butterflies are having an increasingly difficult time, due to the destruction of nature along their route through climate change and pollution.
In her photo ‘Monarch’, Desiree Dolron questions what borders actually mean. They have no significance for animals, who cross them without difficulty. Environmental decline and climate change don’t have borders either, which is affecting both humans and animals.
With this work, Dolron establishes a link between environmental pollution and migration. After all, people may also be forced to leave their own area because it becomes unliveable. But for them, borders are an obstacle.
In the words of the artist, Monarch shows ‘the relationship between our planet’s fragile ecosystem and one of the greatest issues of our time; the human migration flows that are manifesting and growing all across the world.’
Desiree Dolron is a Dutch photographer and filmmaker. Her oeuvre ranges from documentary photography and still lifes to portraiture and film. Throughout her career, Dolron has been investigating themes such as the passing of time, the relation between finite and transcendent and the complexity and impermanence of the human condition.
Dolron was awarded the Laureate Prix de Rome, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1996); in 2019 she was honoured with the title of Artist of the Year by the American Friends of the Museums in Israel, New York. Her work is represented in numerous international public and private collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the National Museum of Qatar, Doha, Qatar; Sir Elton John Collection, London, United Kingdom; The Joseph M. Cohen Family Collection, New York, to name few.