Origines

For Olivier Grunewald, photography is as much a pretext for plunging into the heart of earthly forces as it is an objective in itself. His quest? To capture the world as it was in the earliest days of its creation. For over thirty years he has explored the wildest reaches of the planet in search of erupting volcanos, shifting light, and fleeting scenes of animal life. His work has won multiple World Press Photo and Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards. Olivier is also a film-maker and his last documentary is “Dallol, at the frontiers of life” (2016). From geography, which she studied and taught, to ecology which she practiced for ten years at the helm of the Rhône-Alpes Federation for the Protection of Nature, Bernadette Gilbertas passion for nature has led her to travel the world at Olivier’s side. An inveterate conservationist, the independent journalist-cum-writer is committed to the protection of ecosystems and to sharing the stories of the men and women, scientists and activists, who devote their life to it.

Created by scientists, Olivier Grunewald and Bernadette Gilbertas, the association Aux Origines du Monde works toward protecting, promoting and building our understanding of areas that are particularly sensitive or of major value as natural heritage. Through research, scientific exploration, artistic creation, exhibitions, documentaries, its members aim to raise awareness in France and abroad about research on and the major importance of these sites and ecosystems, and mobilise public authorities to protect them.

The association carried out its first multidisciplinary and international scientific expedition at the hydrothermal site of Dallol, in northern Ethiopia, under the direction of Purificación López-García, researcher director, CNRS, and fellow, Université de Paris-Sud.