Danakil

The Danakil Depression in the northeast of Ethiopia is one of the most fascinating and diverse desert landscapes on earth. The barren region in the so-called Afar Triangle lies on the intersection of tectonic plates of the earth’s crust in the border area of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Since centuries, it has been dominated by the nomadic Muslim Afar people, who subsist on salt mining and the breeding of camels, donkeys, and goats. Full of danger and at the same time unique, the desert has always held the irresistible allure of the unknown, of discovery, seeing, and understanding. It has also cast its spell on Ulrike Crespo, who has occupied herself intensively with the medium of photography since the 1990s and traversed Dallol – the hottest geothermal area on earth – in 2017. Following her successful photobook Iceland, also published by Kehrer, she now presents Danakil, which takes us to a region antithetical to the glaciers of Iceland, but of equally breathtaking beauty. Ulrike Crespo’s photographs depict impressive landscapes, which appear to be out of this world: bubbling sulfur pits, a saline lake that extends into the horizon, and sheer endless caravans of camels.