Explore our planet’s most unique places and cultures

Our physical world is changing faster than ever. Climate change and global socio-economic shifts are threatening our magnificent natural landscapes and disrupting small communities. In keeping with this, there is value to be found in confronting and documenting our at-risk environment. For World Photography Day, we invite you to explore A World of Difference, a new online exhibition on Google Arts & Culture offering a perspective of these diverse stories through the lens of Italian photographer Angelo Chiacchio, in collaboration with Art Works for Change. Follow him on his solo journey around the world to capture some of the most fragile landscapes and cultures.

From the resilient women of Namibia’s Himba Tribe to the other-worldly landscape of Venezuela’s Mount Roraima, discover the stories of over 25 locations and communities who call these endangered places home. Explore Tibetan culture in the Himalayas, how life is changing for Tanzanian communities near Mount Kilimanjaro, and how locals are adapting to winds of change in Brazil’s wet desert. Learn what traditions and crafts teach us and how communities are overcoming new challenges to preserve their way of life.

The lessons learned during Angelo’s journey to document the earth’s fragile heritage are those of respect for the natural world and balance in how we live in it. Although the Miccosukee people of Florida’s Everglades mostly live a modern lifestyle, they still find ways to preserve their heritage. The Uro community of Lake Titicaca, who have lived on floating reed-built islands for thousands of years, have found a way to strike a balance with its growing tourism industry and offer an opportunity for their youth to keep their traditions alive by hosting visitors through homestays and sharing their culture first-hand. Across the territories and cultures of this exhibition, Angelo unearths life philosophies that are universal in their application, and utterly breathtaking in this medium.