Nina Hoas of LGT (right) and Silvia Bastante de Unverhau (left) of LGT Philanthropy Advisory in Kenya, tree planting

Global annual philanthropy giving today is estimated at over $1tr. The world will see the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history by 2045, some $84tr being passed down in US alone. Next gen inheritors are finding purpose in their wealth, responding to urgent causes, and driving change ‘in my lifetime’. LUX Leaders & Philanthropists Editor Samantha Welsh speaks with Head of LGT Philanthropy Advisory, Nina Hoas, on strategies for enhancing impact through collaboration, leadership, innovation and doing good, well.

LUX: What made you decide on a career centred on addressing inequalities and social justice?

NINA HOAS: I am Swedish,  but when I was growing up my family moved and travelled around a lot, from Latin America to Asia, and I had the opportunity to live in places like Bangkok in Thailand where my family was for seven years. So I grew up in a family that was not afraid of being in different communities or sharing their experiences and being with different cultures. Every year from when I was one year old we would go to Kenya to stay with my godparents who lived in Nairobi and had a holiday home outside Mombasa. We would go to the Swedish school for a few weeks where my aunt was a teacher, and visit the nature conservation areas. Those experiences in Kenya really shaped my awareness of the socio-economic contrasts to my own home in Sweden as well as of course nature and biodiversity.

Preserving and replanting mangroves, which store carbon, preserve coastlines and act as biodiversity incubators, is important to many next generation philanthropists

LUX: What did that perspective teach you about privilege and shape your ambition?

NH: That holiday home outside of Mombasa was a different world to Sweden, with the housekeepers Kasongo and Yomo living a long bike ride away, in a mud hut, in a tiny village with no running water or electricity. Every year our family would visit and see their kids growing up. Back in the day we only thought in terms of charitable giving, not the empowerment approach we promote today. Donating clothes and food to their extended family was my first real experience of doing good. Schooling and education was not taken for granted for these children either, and all those experiences formed my career path. My godparents lived in Nairobi and were part of the United Nations (UN) community there, so I knew quite a bit about the UN and decided that was what I wanted to do. I therefore studied political science, and received a scholarship by SIDA, Sweden’s development agency, to make a MinorField Study in a refugee camp in West Africa for my Master’s degree. But already before University, I had interned in Kenya with an NGO and UNICEF which coupled with my studies set me on the path to a UN career.

LUX: What for you is ‘doing good, well’?

NS: Strategic philanthropy advisory at LGT is about encouraging more and better philanthropy. We share our network of experts and change-makers, provide platforms where philanthropists can come together, connect and learn from each other with the aim to help them embark on the philanthropy journey in a more strategic way. Strategic philanthropy is about the long term impact your wealth can have.

LUX: What is the approach to wealth in strategic philanthropy?

NH: The relationship managers in our office, together with family advisors, have conversations with clients around the elements of wealth as the starting point. How their wealth was created, how it is invested, how it is spent, how it is given and how wealth is governed and passed on. Every time there is a financial transaction there is an opportunity to have a positive impact. It is about how family values are passed on with the wealth and how these values are reflected in the philanthropic activities.

Rainforests are a carbon sink and produce life-giving oxygen; they are also essential for the maintenance of the earth’s biodiversity, which is inextricably linked to the planet’s habitability and sustainability as outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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LUX: Has your network been affected by the women social investment entrepreneurs’ (SIE) phenomenal growth globally, also why are they so successful in scaling?

NH: We usually talk about seven trends and right now next generation funders and specifically women funders is a significant one within those. Looking at our philanthropy network, we have a lot of women philanthropists we are working with and we noticed that for them it is not only about giving. They are keen to have a strategic approach to their philanthropy and ensure impact. Women drive a lot of the development and community. As a woman, I hence see it as not only the right thing to do, but also economically efficient to focus on the women in communities.

LUX: How far is technology influencing next gen investing strategies?

NH: Technology is very important, especially in scaling various invtiatives, which our Guide to Strategic Philanthropy we co-wrote with Pi covers this in one chapter. Though we increasingly see foundations start asking for technology and even AI and they want it because they understand they can grow and deliver faster services. On the approaches towards social good, the giving is one part, but it does not matter what the methodologies are that you are using, whether through impact bonds, mezzanine funding or partly impact investing or pure giving, whichever, you have a social goal and there are many approaches. We notice some entrepreneurs are very successful in using technology and are very often the ones that also want to adopt or adapt their skills and their experience to do good and they’re using that space.

LUX: Has ‘giving while living’ and philanthropy within a limited time frame created volatility and been disruptive?

NH: With next generation wealth holders in particular, they may have created a structure but want to show they are putting a time frame on it to clarify to donors, to family members and peers that if, for example, it is an endowment then they would spend down within 20 to 30 years. They are still relatively young, in the middle of their careers, and embarking on their philanthropic journey, and they want to act right now on the urgent issues, well before those issues worsen. They also feel strongly and passionately that they want to enjoy doing it in their lifetime and not leave the responsibility to another after their death.

Read more: Terre Blanche: The luxury resort pioneering sustainability

Recent research shows that forests are not just collections of distinct flora and fauna; they vast interlinked collective ecosystems which communicate with each other, and underpin sustainable development

LUX: What does inherited wealth mean to next gen U/HNWIs?

NH: LGT’s newest study is about wealth and about what wealth can do. We are asking only next generation wealth holders, the inheritors not the wealth creators (though some are both). Wealth needs to come with purpose. It is very hard for some of them inheriting and by being rich they do not want to feel poor. They want to separate themselves from their net worth and to have self worth. They want to use their wealth in a catalytic way to do good. They bring purpose to their own life if they can use their wealth through investment for a purpose to empower others. For example, one of our women philanthropists is working in communities in a few developing countries to empower women. In one community, she is reaching around 10,000 women and while they know the funds are coming from a specific foundation, they do not know that the founder is out there in person in the field alongside them as technical support; she remains anonymous to avoid the donor dynamic as she wants to be out there, able to hear if something is not right. She is caring for there to be a good systemic change on the ground and is concerned she will not get truthful feedback because the community will fear the funds will dry up if the project is not going right. She really wants to know what is going wrong so she can learn from mistakes, improve it and change it.

LUX: How does peer-to-peer collaboration help your clients?

NH: This is where strategic advisory comes in as well the connection to other philanthropic leaders. Our clients want to meet others who are focused on similar issues because they want to maximise impact and to collaborate to achieve that. Philanthropists can feel isolated so our purpose is also to connect philanthropists with one another, introduce them to others working in the same area, in order to learn and potentially to partner and to add value. This works well for example in the area of biodiversity and nature. We advise around 50 individuals that are focusing specifically on scaling conservation and nature-based solutions. In this context we took a group to the Massai Mara, which is one of the key initiatives of LGT Venture Philanthropy – the independent charitable foundation established by LGT Group Foundation and founded in line with the vision and values of the Liechtenstein Princely Family. The Princely Family’s long-term vision and commitment to sustainability are deeply rooted in LGT’s corporate culture, and they are very happy to collaborate with others also in philanthropy and impact investments.

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‘Tolstoy’. Courtesy of Michel Ghatan

Michel Ghatan works with the most difficult type of models. Animals.  Here he speaks to LUX’s Chief Contributing Editor, Maryam Eisler, about the importance of trust in wildlife photography and his most memorable moments on the job.

LUX: When did your passion for the animal kingdom and for photography come together?
Michel Ghatan: I think they grew at the same time. I was always fascinated by animals when I was growing up. I was fascinated by everything that is extinct. As a child, I was very curious. I had an encyclopedia and I used to read about these extinct species. My father who was an engineer based in Geneva would take my siblings and I on Sunday afternoons to the park or the tennis club, always camera in hand. Now that he is no longer with us, I realise what a great catalogue of pictures I have of our history and our youth. I even found films from the 60’s when he went with my mother to Jerusalem after the Six Day War and Jerusalem was completely empty! The majority of his images were terrible, out of focus, with bad compositions – but the memories remain. I now have all his cameras at home with me.

LUX: How important is technicality in your work, given the precision that is required when dealing with animals, especially when you cannot get close to them?
MG: I used to think that the quality of the gear was extremely important. When I started, I had the fastest Canon, the best and very big lenses, and then I realised I’m working the wrong way. That for what I do, I don’t need to have the most sophisticated gear, and that what serves my purpose is really the communication between me and the animal, not to mention the time I devote to it. I also hire the best guide. It’s now eight years that we work together. He not only understands the behaviour of animals but he is also very good at understanding photographers. He knows what I’m looking for and he always makes sure that everything remains safe.

‘Skull On The Dry Lake’. Courtesy of Michel Ghatan

LUX: Agility, mobility and keeping the equipment light are probably important parameters in your work, especially in that kind of lush and sometimes harsh nature.
MG: Exactly. The weight of gear is an issue. I also discovered that with gorillas and elephants, both of whom are dominant animals, if they don’t wish to be photographed, you simply will not be able to, even with lightest gear. They are extremely clever. They feel you. They challenge you and they see if you’re patient or not.

LUX: Talk to me about the thrill of the moment when you click and you know you have the shot?
MG: It’s incredible. There is a lot of intimate dating between the moment you arrive and the moment you take the shot. Nothing is staged. You’re dealing with wild animals, so everything is on their terms, not mine.

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LUX: What is the process of building the relationship between you and the animal?
MG: It’s a process where you try to measure each other out. Then you have to build a trust and a connection and try to move smoothly whilst keeping your distance, especially with elephants. When an elephant starts moving, they cannot stop. Everything is in slow motion and you have a lot of kilos moving towards you; you need to anticipate that. Measuring the distance between you and the animal whilst predicting his behaviour as well as what he is allowing you to do is a big part of what I do.

‘Lord Vader’. Courtesy of Michel Ghatan

LUX: What is your most memorable moment between you and an animal?
MG: I can close my eyes and still feel that moment as if it happened 10 minutes ago, the thrill … It was back in 2020 when I started taking trips to Kenya during Covid. It was a time when nobody would be around. So, I got a filming permit from the authorities where I could even sleep in my jeep if I wanted to and go off road if need be. The whole purpose was to take a picture of a single elephant, Tim; he sadly died a few days after I left. He was the biggest known elephant in Africa, with incredible tusks. My wish was to be right in front of him. I wanted him to stop and pose for me. I wanted to reach a point where he would say “okay take it, here I am”. And this is exactly what happened. It took me five days, and twelve hours a day for me to find him. And when I did, it was raining!

LUX: How did you find him?
MG: We work with Maasai rangers. The region is about 250 square kilometers in length, and it was not easy to find information as to his whereabout. For the first few days, it was really challenging. You have to understand this is a 51-year-old elephant who is extremely dominant and he knows that he has the biggest tusks. So he hides behind the bush for you not to see his tusks. Elephants know what you are interested in. It took about four or five days to build trust between me and the animal. And then one day, I got four or five meters from him. He knew exactly where I was. My guide was right next to me and he said “get on the ground”. It was very wet and I was on my knees for a good 15 minutes waiting for him. When he did come out, he came towards me in a straight line; next thing I know is he is standing smack in front of me! His eyes were gunning at me. He came forward and he stopped for a good 30 seconds, which is very rare for an animal of his size. Totally stable. If you look at the picture, you see that there is a perfect triangle, where his ears are open, his trunk is down and his tusks are also down (a sign of relaxation). I took two or three frames only, but it was really incredible because he made sure I clicked, then I clicked again and again, at which point, he decided to move on. All of this lasted 30 seconds and I didn’t need to have a look at my camera. I knew I had the shot.

‘Gentle Giant’. Courtesy of Michel Ghatan

LUX: Do you feel the animal allowed you into his inner space?
MG: Exactly that. It’s something you cannot delete from your memory and it’s something that is more powerful than the artistic consequence of my action. You reach a level where you have incredible connection, and yet, you know that you’re dealing with a wild animal, and a very dangerous one too.

LUX: What has been your most thrill- seeking moment when shooting an animal?
MG: I’m very lucky to say I never experienced a dangerous moment.

Michel Ghatan photographing wildlife in East Africa during the pandemic

LUX: Talk to me about a moment with a gorilla. They have such human qualities.
MG: With the gorillas I had my heart pounding but I never experienced a dangerous moment. It took me a while to get interested in gorillas. In the 90s, I remember the images of the civil war in Rwanda. They have remained ingrained in my brain. In this region of the Virunga mountains, you had ongoing conflict, so my interest was first and foremost geared towards genocide and war. Then one day, I said “well I need to see the mountain gorillas”, because they are the only ones that are close to us humans. With gorillas you’re looking 98.4% at yourself. We went to Mount Muhavura where there is only one gorilla family. This family is quite interesting because they have three large silver backs, and they are very dominant. It was really not what I expected as we had a very short foreplay. I would say that it’s a hit or miss for photographers… we share so much in terms of DNA that we have to be extremely careful about the amount of time we spend with them.

‘Cheetah Statue’. Courtesy of Michel Ghatan

LUX: How different are gorillas from elephants behaviourally?
MG: Elephants, usually are alone. With gorillas, there is an element of family unit and its ongoing dynamics. There are a lot of social elements involved with gorillas that you don’t find with other animals. And you have a problem of time. You can’t really spend over an hour with them.

LUX: Why is that?
MG: Gorillas are very sensitive to our illnesses so to protect them we are only allowed one hour . You need to be fast. You need to anticipate the animal’s behaviour, and the vegetation is very problematic, as is the light. The light you have in the Virunga mountains is twofold : either mist which blocks your vision, or you have clear blue sky, with the sun reflecting strong and making it difficult to take a clean shot. And then you are hoping they don’t act against you as well. It’s all very overwhelming.

Read more: Geoffrey Kent: Six safari destinations you need to know about

LUX: Talk to me about the most beautiful landscape you have seen in Africa. The one that has really touched you the most?
MG: If I had to pick one I’ll tell you it was in Kenya. It was also last year, during Covid. I went back to Amboseli. Next to Amboseli there is a conservancy called Kimana which is an extension of the Amboseli eco-system where they have a lot of elephants visiting; there’s a corridor between Kimana and Amboseli, which is a very good place to see elephants. The ‘wow’ moment I experienced was after a very long day. That day we couldn’t see the Kilimanjaro. It was hiding behind the clouds, but around 5:30pm, half an hour before sunset, we saw a family of elephants entering the bush because it was getting dark. The Kilimanjaro suddenly became visible and you still had light and I managed to capture the moment. It’s a picture called The Terrestrial Paradise. I looked at the scene and said “this is the most beautiful canvas I have ever seen!” A family of elephants in slow motion ….two groups of clouds, one low, one high, and the Kilimanjaro in the middle, full of snow, with dusk light shining on it all.

The Terrestrial Paradise. Courtesy of Michel Ghatan

LUX: When you describe it to me like that, I see infinity, the absolute, heaven and earth coming together, almost divine. In moments like these, do you ever feel a greater power ruling the universe?
MG: 100%. There are plenty of moments when you feel it but in this particular magnificent moment, I remember thinking to myself, that somebody has created all of this, and that it’s not a myth. When I took the picture, I was intent on showing its grandness so I took three frames and stitched them together, for a full panoramic vista, with all its sublime power.

LUX: You have a show coming up in May at Alon Zakaim Fine Art in London. Is there a theme to it?
MG: The theme to the show is basically a series of trips that I took during Covid times to Uganda and Kenya. It’s called From Kilimanjaro to the Virunga Mountains.

‘Father and Son’. Courtesy of Michel Ghatan

LUX: It seems like Covid presented you with a silver lining of some sort?
MG: Absolutely. It’s selfish to say but it was a paradise for photographers, especially if you were seeking remoteness and alone time without being disturbed with extreme closeness to nature.

LUX: When and what is your next adventure?
MG: I’m going back to Kenya in October and I’m going to focus on the dry lake of Amboseli. At the end of the dry season, the lake basically becomes a desert and there are elephant crossings which I always wanted to photograph. It’s also a completely different landscape from the bush.

Find out more: www.michelghatan.com @michel.ghatan

Richard Leakey (Left) Geoffrey Kent (Right)

Richard Leakey FRS passed away at the age of 77 on the 2nd January 2022. His old friend, Geoffrey Kent, founder, co-chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Kent looks back at the extraordinary life of the Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician

Richard Leakey’s groundbreaking research contributed to the recognition of Africa as the birthplace of humankind.  One of his most celebrated finds came in 1984 when he helped unearth “Turkana Boy”, a 1.6-million-year-old skeleton of a young male Homo erectus. Most recently he commissioned a museum of human history to help bring cultural tourism to Lake Turkana, a World Heritage site.

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He began his second career in 1989 when Kenya’s then president, Daniel arap Moi, appointed him to head what would become the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). It takes a visionary to forge new strategies to protect wildlife – and Richard was nothing if not that. Who else would burn a huge pile of ivory? That became the defining moment in turning the tide in the ivory wars. In the 11 years that followed, the elephant population in Kenya increased from 16,000 to 28,000.

Based on our lifelong friendship, he became a trusted ally for private sector travel companies like Abercrombie & Kent that wanted to support conservation efforts. This kind of public-private partnership was far less common in those days, yet he embraced the idea wholeheartedly, and of course A&K stood ready to make a difference. Together we brainstormed cutting-edge efforts to involve communities through conservation clubs and field tested the translocation of rhinos. We even persuaded HRH Prince Charles to lend his support for these efforts.

Read more: ZeroAvia’s Val Miftakhov On Zero-Emission Aviation

Time and time again he cheated death. He fractured his skull as a boy, was bitten by a puff adder, the most-deadly snake in the world, almost died after receiving a kidney transplant, lost both legs in a 1993 plane crash and was treated for skin cancer.

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of the legendary Richard Leakey, paleoanthropologist, conservationist and head of Kenya Wildlife Service for many years, but also my childhood friend and, no doubt, African wildlife’s best friend. From our first meeting at age 6 when we were learning to ride on the South Kinangop to our recent trip together to Kenya just before the pandemic, I enjoyed every moment with him and will truly miss his companionship and wonderful sense of humour,” commented Geoffrey Kent, founder, co-chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Kent.

Richard Leakey 19 December 1944- 2 January 2022

Peter Beard & Mock Elephant Charge (1985), by Mirella Ricciardi

Born in Kenya, Mirella Ricciardi has worked as a photographer for over 65 years, shooting everything from high-profile fashion campaigns to documentary series. Following the opening of her latest exhibition Past and Present: Vanishing and Contemporary Africa, Rosie Ellison-Balaam speaks to the prolific artist about her influences, creative process and archival work with her daughter

1. How did you decide which of your photographs to show in Past and Present?

We judged the images from the Past according to how they were received in previous shows. For example, The Somali Cattle Herder with Turban recently purchased at Augustus Brandt, in this new large format, as a chromogenic c-type print and then, we introduced my unseen contemporary work taken from 2008 onwards.

Mirella photographing a Paramount Chief in Kenya. Image by Shaibu Shakua, Mirella’s Assistant on Vanishing Africa.

2. How do you think your work fits into the surroundings of Augustus Brandt?

They fitted wonderfully into the elegant Edwardian setting of Newland House, alongside Nicola Jones’s [curatorial] vision that complimented the modern and antique concept.

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3. Which photographers have most influenced your practice?

Harry Meerson and Sam Haskins for their high contrast images, and the Italian camera man Antonio Climati, who taught me to shoot into the light source.

Cover image of Ricciardi’s book Vanishing Africa featuring Pokot Dancers in Western Kenya, East Africa (1968), by Mirella Ricciardi

4. Which series do you feel most proud of?

What I did on my Vanishing Africa shoot, where I quite instinctively seemed to capture the soul of the wild and gentle tribal people I was photographing.

Read more: Chaumet’s latest exhibition in collaboration with photographer Julia Hetta

5. What was it like working alongside your daughter?

It wasn’t always easy because Amina [Ricciardi’s daughter and director of the photographer’s archive] had her own very strong opinions on the work we were dealing with due to structural differences, i.e. I was more interested in the visual aspect while she needed to maintain the acceptable status quo of the photographic establishment.

6. How does your approach to a shooting documentary series differ from a fashion project?

They are two entirely different approaches: documentary focuses on storytelling, while fashion focuses on visual form.

‘Past and Present: Vanishing and Contemporary Africa’ runs until 20 November 2019 at Augustus Brandt, Newlands House in Petworth, West Sussex. For more information visit: augustusbrandt.co.uk/mirella-ricciardi/

To view Mirella Ricciardi’s full portfolio visit: mirellaricciardi.com

‘Charline & Blanche’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen

Dutch artist Viviane Sassen is known for her visceral portrayals of the human form in all its beauty and frailty. Maisie Skidmore meets the Deutsche Bank Lounge artist for Frieze London this year to discover more ahead of her new photographic series set in Versailles

DEUTSCHE BANK WEALTH MANAGEMENT x LUX

Tucked quietly into the extensive grounds of the Palace of Versailles, on the outskirts of Paris, the historic Small Stables contain the Galerie des Sculptures et des Moulages. It’s a secretive institution, closed to the public except for special events, within which the Palace’s damaged sculptures are kept for restoration. For many, the rows of fractured alabaster bodies make for an eerie sight. For Viviane Sassen, discovering them was like stumbling upon buried treasure.

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“I started shooting the old sculptures, many of which were broken, missing hands, or legs, or arms, or heads,” she says, her voice quickening in excitement. The Dutch photographer’s masterful work has long distorted and elevated the human form, so the Galerie made for fertile soil when she was granted run of the Palace’s grounds to create a new series inspired by Versailles. The resulting work, Venus and Mercury, is on display as part of the Visible/Invisible exhibition in the Palace’s Grand Trianon until October 2019, when it will be reconfigured for Deutsche Bank’s Wealth Management Lounges at Frieze London & Frieze Masters. “It was amazing to see. Usually these bodies don’t have flaws, they’re beautiful, sculpted to perfection,” she says. “Seeing them in decay, ripped apart, or in storage with stickers on them…” It couldn’t be more appropriate given the illicit and often disease-ridden underbelly of life at the French court in days gone by. “I loved it.”

‘La Mauresque’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen

Sassen’s fascination with Versailles’ regal sculpted forms had been seeded long before, when her parents first brought her to visit the Palace at the age of 13 or 14. Then, coming from her small hometown in the east of Holland, its sensuality came as a pleasant shock to the system. “I vaguely remember being overwhelmed by its beauty, the very first time I visited Versailles,” she recalls. “I was especially drawn to all the nude sculptures in the gardens. I think it triggered my imagination on an erotic level; as a young teenager I was just waking up, in that sense. Seeing all these gorgeous bodies…” Her soft, clear voice still sounds somewhat awestruck. “And you’re allowed to look at them!”

‘Penicilline’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen

The human form has long been a source of fascination for Sassen. A sensitive and intuitive child, she was born in Amsterdam, but spent three formative early years in Kenya, where her father, a doctor, ran a polio clinic. Sassen grew up playing with young friends whose bodies looked profoundly unlike her own, marvelling together at their similarities and differences. Later, back in the Netherlands, when an adolescent growth spurt propelled her slim frame to just under six feet tall, Sassen’s curiosity with the body manifested in strange corporeal sculptures which she would create herself, standing naked in front of her mirror. Limbs contorted into unexpected shapes, and twisting torsos closely cropped, have been a recurring motif in her work ever since.

Read more: Spanish artist Secundino Hernández on flesh & creative chaos

Which, of course, serves to set Sassen apart from her peers in fashion photography – an industry whose primary occupation is to reify the human body, and a world she has deftly kept one foot in for many years. She has worked with Dior, Hermès, Missoni and Miu Miu, and has shot editorial fashion images for many magazines. All the while, her personal practice continues quietly but fervently, news of a new solo exhibition or book surfacing with stunning regularity.

‘Syph #01R’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen

How does she switch so effortlessly between the two? It’s a question of balance, she says. “To travel in a light and simple way in Africa with my husband and son, and two weeks later, to be in a studio shooting in Paris with a big team, with so many professionals. I feel very lucky that I’m able to go in and out of these very different worlds.” The two sides seem to maintain a symbiotic relationship, she continues; the fact that they are so unalike in nature doesn’t faze her. “I’m really drawn to opposites,” she says. Light and shadow; introversion and extroversion; heaven and earth; they all underpin her practice. She mirrors them in her character, even. “On the one hand, I am, like the Dutch generally, very blunt and straightforward, practical, pragmatic. On the other hand, I’m a dreamer.”

‘Occo’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen

Nonetheless, Sassen’s practice is rooted not in logic, but in emotion; it’s often only in hindsight that a series’ conceptual roots within her own lived experience becomes clear. Take, for instance, Umbra, a 2014 project about shadow and, more abstractly, a way to wrestle with the idea of death. “It was a kind of revisiting of my past,” Sassen says, softly. “My father passed away when I was 22. He ended his own life. That has been a huge influence in my life and also on my work. He was a doctor, and the human body as a form of expression – but also containing many ambiguities and paradoxes – that is always present for me somehow. In Venus and Mercury, it comes across again; the erotic, or the body as a sculpture, but also the decay. Fear of sickness, fear of death…

Read more: Art photographer David Yarrow on his image ‘The Unusual Suspects’

“But after I did Umbra, I had this urge to do something about life and fertility, and my own motherhood. Femininity and the organic, as opposed to the more masculine and the abstract.” Looking back, she can trace the origins of these ideas to their starting points within her own story, she says. “[But] when I start working on something new, I often don’t really know what it is about. Along the way it becomes clear. I think, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this has something to do with me!’”

‘Leïla’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen

Looking at her most recent body of work through this lens, Sassen has yet to determine the resonance of Venus and Mercury, which extracts five stories from the Palace of Versailles’ tumultuous history for examination in image form. The result is at once sensual and sinister, often profoundly poetic. But it’s vivid and experimental too; the images are punctuated with paint and pigment, multimedia studies of subjects, scenes, manuscripts from throughout the Palace’s past and grounds.

As is often the case in Sassen’s practice, the stories it tells were unlocked in part through the characters she cast to enact them. Stepping outside the Palace’s sprawling confines for lunch in a nearby Japanese restaurant, she met Leïla, a French-Senegalese teenager, who seemed an ideal candidate to disrupt the oppressive interior. “She was such a cool girl – she had these grey braids, she was wearing cool clothes, she studied psychology in Paris. So I invited her to be photographed at Versailles, and to bring her friends.”

‘Secret letter/pink’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen

The resulting juxtaposition: of a troupe of young women at ease in denim within the gilded walls, is irrepressible; a modern-day incarnation of the frivolity we can only imagine once took place there. “They went wild doing their own photoshoot while I was shooting them – on their phones, doing selfies, owning the place and themselves in it,” she continues.

Seen through Leïla and her friends’ eyes – and, in turn, through Sassen’s watchful lens – Versailles’ ornate monument to opulence becomes fresh, exciting and relevant once more. “It would be amazing, wouldn’t it, if they could gatecrash their predecessors’ party?” Sassen says, laughing. We can only imagine what Marie Antoinette might have thought.

‘Agias, Red’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen

HIDDEN HISTORIES

In Venus and Mercury, Viviane Sassen sheds light on the history of Versailles through five stories. Here, she shares some of the tales from the palace’s heyday that still fascinate her:

‘Code/Blue’ (2019), by Viviane Sassen.

1. “In the 17th and 18th centuries, Versailles and its gardens were full of prostitutes. There was a lot of syphilis. One of the signs that people had suffered with it was that their noses caved in to their faces, so they wore prosthetic noses. I was fascinated by the fact that all these people are long dead, but their noses are still there.”

2. “Historians still don’t know exactly what the relationship was between Marie Antoinette and her longtime friend Axel von Fersen – if it was purely platonic, romantic or sexual. They kept up a correspondence from when they met for the rest of their lives. Now those letters are in the Archives Nationales in Paris, where I photographed them. They’re written in code.”

3. “La Mauresse de Moret was a mixed-race child who was brought to an orphanage in the South of France, where she became a nun in a convent. She was supposedly the daughter of the Queen of France, Maria Theresa of Spain. The French court always denied it. Nobody knows exactly who her father was.”

4. “La Voisin was a kind of witch who lived in 17th-century Paris. She made potions. People in the upper classes went to her – she was very renowned. But later, she was convicted of poisoning people, sacrificing newborn babies to use their blood in Black Mass, and was sentenced to death.”

5. “In 1783, Marie Antoinette had herself painted by the female painter Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, who became a friend of hers. She painted her in a muslin dress, which was very modern at the time. But it became a scandal; it was too sensual.”

Viviane Sassen’s series ‘Venus & Mercury’ will be exhibited at the Deutsche Bank Wealth Management Lounges at Frieze London & Frieze Masters from October 2-6, 2019. For more information visit: deutschewealth.com

This article was originally published in the Autumn 19 Issue.

A black back mountain gorilla in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abercrombie & Kent’s Founder and CEO, and LUX contributor Geoffrey Kent has visited 148 countries, racking up a total of 17 million miles (since he last counted). In his latest exclusive column for LUX, the modern-day explorer shares his top 5 life changing travel experiences

1. Seeing mountain gorillas in the wild

Sir David Attenborough summed it up the best when he said, following an encounter with a mountain gorilla in 1979, that “there is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance with a gorilla than any other animal I know – they are so like us.”

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Seeing a silverback or female with a playful infant in the wild will undoubtedly change your whole outlook on wildlife conservation. While the mountain gorilla is one of the most beloved animals, it is also one of the most endangered. But there is cause for some celebration – according to WWF, who released the results of a new census early this year, Central Africa’s mountain gorilla population has now risen to above 1,000. This is a 25 per cent increase since 2010.

In 1985, I convinced General Museveni (the then future president of Uganda) to set aside the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest as a national park, on the condition that I build a luxury camp and bring in clients, so I’m very proud to have played a part in helping to protect these magnificent creatures.

Geoffrey Kent cruising the Arctic Ocean

2. Voyaging to the Poles

In 1999, I needed a new frontier to conquer. I had suffered a near-fatal polo accident in 1996 and was asking myself “what would it take for me to be on top of the world again?” Then I realised, I could go to the top of the world. With fast research I learned there was an expedition to the North Pole in July 1999 – the last cruise of the century. I predicted that the 12-day journey to the Arctic would be one of the most lunatic endeavours I’ve set out on – and I was right.

A journey to the Arctic Ocean would give any man new energy. It may be freezing but it’s a thoroughly fascinating place. In the Arctic there are so many shades of blue. From aquamarine to sapphire, it’s rich and dazzling in a way you will have never seen before. It’s also a place where all the implications of climate change resound with the greatest force, and you’ll return home with renewed commitment to reducing your own contribution to the problem.

View of Kilimanjaro from Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Image by Sergey Pesterev

3. Climbing Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro has two main peaks – Kibo and Mawenzi which are connected by a saddle. Kibo is the taller of the two at 19,341 feet and Mawenzi is shorter, at 16,896 feet. The saddle is about 16,000 feet up. Altogether Africa’s most iconic mountain covers 995 square miles. The name ‘Kilimanjaro’ means ‘impossible for the traveller’. It comes from a saying of the Chaga people, who traditionally live on the southern and eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and Meru, suggesting that Kili is so great that men should be warned against even trying to climb it.

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At 17, in 1959, I climbed it from the Kenyan side. To train, I rose at 5am for a five-mile run and spent every day for weeks building my stamina and strength, because once you’re on Kili, there’s no easy way off. When most people tell you they’ve climbed Kilimanjaro, they’re usually referring to Gilman’s point but the very top – the peak of Mount Kibo – is Kaiser Wilhelm Spitze (now known as Uhuru Peak). The view from there is all sky and open space – it’s overwhelming in its simplicity. A&K has a summit success rate of 97 per cent, higher than most as we give clients more days to acclimatise to the altitude (and appreciate the journey!). I’ve never forgotten the experience of my first Kili climb.

Wildebeests spotted on a game drive. Image by David Clode

4. Going on safari

Life is undoubtedly messy. Getting up-close to the ‘circle of life’ is both humbling and thrilling. By nature, the only thing that’s predictable about a game drive is that it will be unforgettable. One day on safari is the great adventure that will change the rest of an individual’s life.

The Great Migration is one of nature’s greatest spectacles. Every year more than a 1.5 million wildebeest, 200,000 Burchell’s zebra and a smattering of trailing Thomson’s gazelle make a 1,900km odyssey between Tanzania’s Serengeti and the Masai Mara in Kenya. Instinct and the smell of rain spurs the herds forward with two things in mind: food and water. They are following the rains in search of fresh grass. Along the way, many migrating animals fall prey to waiting predators including lion, leopard, cheetah, crocodile and hyena.

Visit Tanzania between January and early March to see thousands of wildebeest being born each day, then from June through September, vast herds are on the move through Kenya.

Approaching the pyramids on the back of a camel is a breath-taking experience, says Geoffrey Kent. Image by Pradeep Gopal

5. Visiting the pyramids and sailing down the Nile

I’ve always been fixated on Egypt. Its history is epic – at sunrise, the pyramids appear blood red and your first sight of the Sphinx will haunt you like an apparition. Approach these ancient wonders on camelback and you’ll feel like you’re starring in a film. It’s a moment you’ll never forget.

I understand some travellers’ hesitation to visit Egypt, however the ancient country is awash with optimism right now, and it’s an ideal time to go. There are new hotels to entice, new tombs are being discovered regularly and the world’s largest archaeological museum, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will – partially – open in early 2019.

Discover Abercrombie & Kent’s luxury travel itineraries: abercrombiekent.com

Geoffrey Kent standing next to a helicopter in Tasmania, Australia. Image courtesy of Abercrombie & Kent

Founder and CEO of luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent, and regular LUX columnist, Geoffrey Kent began his career by taking tourists on safaris in Kenya. Now his business operates tours across the globe by land, sea and air – on board the A&K private jet, naturally. As Geoffrey Kent launches his Safari Collection of travel apparel and luggage, Digital Editor Millie Walton asks the luxury travel pioneer about his greatest memories, worst fears and how it all began

LUX: If you could relive one moment in time, what would it be?
Geoffrey Kent: The moment I turned down the opportunity to have dinner with Nelson Mandela. What could have been more important than that? I can’t recall now, but I do keenly feel the regret I have that I never met him. He was so inspiring.

Alternatively, I would relive the dinner I had in New York with former Secretary General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Laureate Kofi Annan, who passed away recently. I was so impressed with him and grateful to him for saving Kenya, my home, when he brokered a power sharing deal between the president, Mwai Kibaki, and the opposition leader, Raila Odinga, in the aftermath of the 2007-8 post-election crisis, bringing peace and prosperity back to Kenya.

On the action front, to win that US Open again would be amazing. It would be a ‘Field of Dreams’.

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LUX: What frustrates you the most about the current travelling industry?
Geoffrey Kent: The lack of regulation in the so-called ‘collaborative economy’ for businesses such as Uber and Airbnb. I’ve used Ubers and stayed in Airbnbs. I think both are amazing, innovative products. The problem is with licensing. I think if I were a taxi driver, I would be very unhappy about Uber. Likewise, Airbnbs are putting licensed hotel operators out of business. There can’t be rules for one and not the other.

Princess Diana congratulates Prince Charles and Geoffrey Kent at the Guard’s Polo Club, 1987. Image courtesy of Abercrombie & Kent

LUX: Where do you long to go back to?
Geoffrey Kent: I had the privilege to visit Gabon recently at the invitation of President Ali Bongo Ondimba. In an executive Puma helicopter, I cruised the coast and flew over forests, the sand cliffs, and Kongou and Djidji Falls. I fell in love with Loango National Park where I spotted elephant, hippo, and buffalo. One group of elephant were swimming off the beach with their trunks raised out of the water like snorkels. Tourism is still a fledgling industry in Gabon, but I predict it will take off in a big way and soon, and I hope A&K can be part of it. I’ll definitely be back.

Read more: Geoffrey Kent on finding new places in a well-travelled world

LUX: When were you last afraid?
Geoffrey Kent: I went into Iraq with some SAS guys in 2010. There were some hairy moments during that trip, however the thing that concerns me most on an ongoing basis is climate change. The polar icecaps are melting, there are prolonged heat waves and the sea levels are rising. My concern is there’s no way we can just throw up our hands and say “stop!”. We’re going down this chute far too fast and I believe it’s far worse than we think. Even if we stop burning fossil fuels in the next decade, we might tragically lose some low-lying countries. As both a father and a global citizen, I’m very afraid of climate change. It’s not just about carbon off-setting (though everyone should do that), it’s about sustainability going forwards. For my part, I’m very proud of what Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy is doing around the world in its 41 projects in 20 countries.

LUX: What’s the most recent lesson you’ve learnt?
Geoffrey Kent: That quality is synonymous with luxury has always been my mantra. When I launched the Geoffrey Kent Safari collection of timeless, high-performance, luxury travel apparel and luggage for today’s adventurer, I learned quickly that for me, quality means ‘made in Italy’. I found a manufacturer in Monza, a town just outside of Milan. I like to have a very close relationship with my suppliers and get involved every step of the way. There is such passion and detail put into each and every cut of leather and every stitch made by hand. That same flair and attention to the minutiae has always gone into every bespoke holiday and escorted tour that A&K has created – those are the secret ingredients that clients perhaps can’t put their finger on but always know if they are missing.

Geoffrey Kent and his parents set up Abercrombie & Kent with the intention of hosting safaris around Kenya

LUX: What did you want to be growing up?
Geoffrey Kent: I was obsessed with polo from the time I learnt the sport. When I was 14, Major Digby Tatham-Warter – a family friend – was training in me in three-day eventing at his farm in Eburru. One day he said: “Geoff, you’re excellent in the saddle and you’ve got quick reflexes. Why not try your hand at polo? It’s a much more exciting sport”. And how right he was. Polo excited me wildly and I spent hundreds of afternoons riding ponies with a polo stick in my hand. I became a world-class player and eventually I captained the Windsor Park polo team – which included HRH The Prince of Wales. Together with my US Abercrombie & Kent team, I also won a Cartier Open, World Open Championship, US Gold Cup, and two US Open victories. These victories were dreams come true and more than I could have imagined as a 14 year old learning at Eburru.

Other than that, I would have liked to have been a helicopter pilot or fly fighter jets. I love airplanes and helicopters, plus I’m a bit of an action junkie.

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LUX: So how and when did Abercrombie & Kent begin?
Geoffrey Kent: In February 1960, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan gave his famous ‘Winds of Change’ speech in Cape Town. This address stated that colonial rule could not go on and in 1962, the British government gave Kenya self-governance and determined that the farms in the highlands would be returned to the Kikuyu people. The Kenyan government forced my parents off the farm they’d spent two and a half decades creating in the Aberdares, South Kinangop in Kenya.

Fortunately, my parents – Colonel John and Valerie Kent – had sensed this coming and my father had landed a job as a part-time guide with a local travel company. He had been the first person to map the route from Kenya to Nigeria whilst in the army, so Dad knew the roads and sights of Africa better than any tour guide in the region and thus was able to earn a good wage – especially from American travellers, who tipped generously when they liked a guide.

In 1962, my parents and I made a decision to go in as partners, founding our own travel company (picking the ‘Abercrombie’ out of a phonebook), with the intention of hosting safaris around Kenya, and possibly moving into other areas of Africa.

LUX: And now you’re organising luxury tours across the globe as well as leading your own personal expeditions! What happens next?
Geoffrey Kent: A&K will continue to offer tailor-made luxury holidays and unparalleled escorted-tour experiences. Someone once calculated that I travel 300,000 miles per year. I’d say that was the average. My lifetime total is 17 million miles. When I last counted I had been to 148 countries and there are so many more I still need to see – I have no plans to slow down. I’m currently planning two or three of my Inspiring Expedition by Geoffrey Kent, which are innovative and amazing in every way.

To find out more about Abercrombie & Kent visit: abercrombiekent.com

In Kenya at Sanctuary Olonana, Abercrombie & Kent guests have the opportunity to go on walking safaris and take survival lessons led by Maasai warriors. Image supplied by Abercrombie & Kent

Luxury travel is evolving, but who’s driving the change? Millennials, says Abercrombie & Kent Founder Geoffrey Kent. Welcome to the age of transformational travel.

The first generation of digital natives, millennials, as defined by the Pew Research Center, were born between 1981 and 1996. This age group – which we increasingly need to recognise for their affluence and significant spending power – have led the way in redefining what the term ‘luxury’ itself means.

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Prior to late 2007, luxury was linked to ostentatious spending and opulence. Within the travel industry this equated to first-class flights, five-star hotels, Michelin-starred restaurants and designer souvenirs. After the global recession, a major shift occurred, and luxury has become much more experiential.

‘Experiential travel’, and its evolutionary step of ‘transformational travel’, are the industry’s biggest trends. Millennials have rejected the term ‘tourist’. They don’t want to visit a destination to trod well-worn tourist trails, eat at restaurants that cater to non-residents and have pictures on the menu, or meet the same type of people they see in their local coffee shop on the way to their 9:00 am meeting. Millennial travellers want total immersion in a destination and want to make connections with interesting local personalities.

The Ganden Sumtseling Monastery in the Yunnan Province, China. Image supplied by Abercrombie & Kent

In the last decade, as an industry, we have seen this generation beginning to travel in style despite economic uncertainty. Just-published studies reveal that millennials see travel as more important than buying a home, paying off debt or investing in a car. Wary of investing for the long-term, they spend freely on travel, seeing it as an investment in themselves.

Read more: An aesthetic adventure in India’s chaotic capital Delhi

The next step beyond experiential travel, which is becoming ubiquitous and therefore unappealing to millennials, is transformational travel. In an excellent article, Vogue magazine has called transformational travel, ‘experiential travel, but a step further – defined by a shift in perspective, self-reflection and development, and a deeper communion with nature and culture’. More than memory making, it is the type of travel that inspires an inner journey and leads to life changes when travellers return – and exactly the type of travel worthy of investment by these 20 and 30-somethings.

There is nothing new in the transformative power of travel, or young people looking to step out of their comfort zones as they develop and grow as global citizens. Think of the Grand Tourists (young aristocratic men touring Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries) or the Beat Generation on epic American road trips. Change – through the broadening of one’s horizons – is palpable when one travels.

Geoffrey Kent outside a safari tent in Manyara, Tanzania. Image supplied by Abercrombie & Kent

In 1958, when I was 16, I rode a motorbike from Nairobi to Cape Town. On this 3,000-mile journey of self-discovery along some of Africa’s most dangerous roads, the mantra that I would build my life and business upon came to me: adventure by day, security and luxury by night. More than 55 years after founding A&K, I still like to push my boundaries (by day) and like to encourage travellers to expand their horizons.

In southwest China, A&K guests meet with the ‘Living Buddha’ at the Songzanlin Monastery in Shangri-La in Yunnan province, a Tibetan autonomous region. This exclusive, one-to-one interaction gives A&K guests a profound understanding and insight into this traditional culture.

The Lion King is many children’s first introduction to Africa. At A&K, we’ve arranged for millennials and their young families to watch the film on a large screen in the middle of the bush, followed by walking safaris and survival lessons from Maasai warriors – the live-action version of “the circle of life.”

Do these kinds of experiences have the power to transform a person’s life… I think so.

To find out more about Abercrombie & Kent’s luxury travel experiences visit: abercrombiekent.co.uk