The Science Museum today announced Water Pantanal Fire, a free photography exhibition documenting the world’s largest wetland and the challenges it faces from climate change. Over 60 images, captured by two of Brazil’s leading documentary photographers, will go on display in an exhibition curated by Eder Chiodetto and produced by the Brazilian initiative Documenta Pantanal, contrasting the beauty of this natural wonder with the destruction it has suffered.
Wetlands were a major focus at COP30 in Belém this November, highlighting their role in climate change mitigation and the need to protect them. Recognised by UNESCO as a Natural World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve, the Pantanal is a tropical wetland covering approximately 200,000 km2, straddling Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. This region is home to a rich and unique biodiversity including animals such as jaguars, howler monkeys, caiman, marsh deer, and an abundance of fish and birds. Often referred to as a paradise on Earth, life in the Pantanal follows the rhythm of the alternating dry seasons and wet seasons that flood the land.
Water Pantanal Fire showcases work by two leading Brazilian photographers: Lalo de Almeida and Luciano Candisani. Captured between 2007 and 2024, their images reveal a stark contrast between a watery region teeming with life and, after the droughts and fires, a barren landscape.
Relatively well preserved until recent decades, the Pantanal’s delicate ecosystem is now threatened by an overuse of its resources and other human activity. Deforestation, intensive farming and climate change are contributing to the Pantanal drying out and to devastating wildfires. In 2020, a record-breaking wildfire ravaged the Pantanal, burning 26% of the region and killing 17 million vertebrates. Such catastrophic events are occurring ever more frequently, with the most recent major wildfire happening in 2024.
Anna Ferrari, Curator of Art and Visual Culture at the Science Museum, said: ‘We are proud to host this important exhibition at the Science Museum. Water Pantanal Fire will give visitors the opportunity to discover one of the world’s most beautiful and extraordinary environments, while highlighting how human activity is causing its destruction and pushing it towards a tipping point.’
Candisani’s images focus on water: an omnipresent element of the Pantanal, vital for the preservation of the rich biodiversity that thrives in its rivers, streams and lagoons. Whether taken from the air or by plunging into the waters of the wetland, Candisani expertly captures this breathtaking aquatic paradise. His underwater images offer close encounters with the exceptional wildlife that flows through the Pantanal, while his photographs taken from the skies will give visitors a glimpse of this immense biome where lives are shaped by the water.
A group of people standing in front of a fireAI-generated content may be incorrect. A deer crossing a dirt roadAI-generated content may be incorrect.
Volunteer firefighters assess the wildfire on Jofre Velho ranch, Porto Jofre, Mato Grosso, 2020. © Lalo de Almeida; Marsh deer crosses the Transpantanal roadway amid thick smoke from the forest fire. Poconé, Mato Grosso, 2020. © Lalo de Almeida.
Almeida turned his camera towards the 2020 and 2024 fires that engulfed the wetland, and the disastrous consequences of climate change on the region. His dramatic images document the destructive fires and the desolation they left behind, contrasting the luscious forests and flows of the Pantanal with the fires and ashes he found in their wake. Powerless firefighters, wetlanders and wildlife that witnessed this destruction appear against the backdrop of scorching flames and barren lands in these moving photographs.
Eder Chiodetto, Curator of Water Pantanal Fire, said: ‘Water Pantanal Fire is an exhibition intended to make an impact on people’s minds and hearts regarding the path we are charting for our planet. With a powerful visual impact, photographs by Lalo de Almeida and Luciano Candisani address the climate crisis and the misuse of soil and water. Produced by Documenta Pantanal, this travelling exhibition is taking place simultaneously in several cities in Europe and Brazil, with a strong educational focus.’
Exhibited in the UK for the first time, Water Pantanal Fire is part of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture 2025-26, organised by the British Council and Instituto Guimarães Rosa, the Brazilian government’s organisation for cultural diplomacy.
The exhibition began its international tour in 2024 at the Instituto Tomie Ohtake in São Paulo, Brazil, before visiting the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg, Germany, the National Museum of Natural History and Science in Lisbon, Portugal and the Brazilian Embassy in Berlin, Germany.
