From the ruins of Beirut to the elephant villages of Nepal, my work is drivenFrom the ruins of Beirut to the elephant villages of Nepal, my work is driven
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Peter Wang
• Jun 17
From the ruins of Beirut to the elephant villages of Nepal, my work is driven by the same question: how do ordinary people live with forces larger than themselves? In Chitwan, those forces happened to weigh five tons and carry a trunk.
In 2024, I joined an international volunteer program in Chitwan, Nepal, where I spent weeks living alongside rescued elephants and the families who care for them. What began as a wildlife experience soon became a human story.
Through documentary photography and field reporting, I explored the complex relationship between elephants and the people whose lives are inseparable from them—mahouts who have dedicated decades to a single animal, young caretakers navigating economic hardship, and local communities caught between conservation, tradition, and survival.
My work documented moments of tenderness and loss alike: the quiet bond between a mahout and his elephant, the daily routines behind sanctuary life, and the funeral ceremony of an elephant whose death drew an entire community into mourning.
Rather than portraying wildlife in isolation, this project examines the emotional, cultural, and ethical realities that exist where humans and animals share the same world. The resulting photographs and written narratives form part of my ongoing documentary work focused on people living at the intersection of history, conflict, environment, and social change.
PhotographyContent CreationJournalismAdobe Lightroom
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