During the pandemic, when we were denied access to the world and were left only with our personal spaces—our homes, our backyards, at most our neighborhoods—photographer Joel Sartore, recipient of this year’s Indianapolis Prize Jane Alexander Global Wildlife Ambassador Award, found some comfort in the fact that people were finally finding joy in the small things.
Undistracted by big jobs, big journeys, or big plans, people started focusing on their inner lives, their families, and their communities. Some took up gardening, bird-watching, or drawing. They saw the detail, they appreciated the quiet. They seemed to have grasped that the small things in life mattered hugely. For a while, at least, they gave the small things the recognition they deserved.
Mr. Sartore was pleased to see this because, for more than a decade and a half, he had been beating the drum for the tiny creatures we rarely find the time to notice. “I’m the person who captures the insects and amphibians, the mollusks and minnows, and all the other creatures that get no airtime in debates about the catastrophic extinctions that are happening on our planet. I hope my photographs give a voice to the flying, crawling, swimming, walking, wading, breathing beings that live and die unseen and unheard.”
