Garry Venus
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands comprises 29 coral atolls, 5 islands and around 1,200 islets scattered across more than 2 million square kilometres set in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.
The Marshall Islands is a nation shaped by the ocean. Narrow strips of land enclose immense lagoons, while communities remain closely connected to fishing, navigation and the rhythms of the sea. I have lived in and worked on projects there for a decade, travelling between atolls and photographing landscapes rarely seen by visitors. These collections present the country as I experienced it: beautiful, resilient, culturally distinctive and increasingly exposed to a changing climate.
Majuro
Majuro is the capital and commercial centre of the Marshall Islands, where government, commerce and everyday island life are concentrated along a narrow ribbon of land.
From the crowded town centre to the quieter land around Laura, Majuro is a place of striking contrasts. Its lagoon supports fishing, transport and recreation, while the ocean is never far away.
Ebeye
Ebeye is one of the most densely populated island communities in the world, located in Kwajalein Atoll, set beside one of the largest lagoons in the world.
Life on Ebeye is compressed into a remarkably small area. Homes, schools, churches and businesses crowd the shoreline, creating a community defined by strong social connections, limited space and an intimate relationship with the surrounding lagoon.
Arno Atoll
Only 20 kilometres from Majuro, Arno is an outer atoll of scattered villages, coconut groves, broad lagoons and sheltered ocean-side shores.
Arno’s communities are spread across narrow, heavily vegetated islets where fishing, boats and coconut production remain part of everyday life. The short distance from Majuro hides a striking change in landscape and pace.
Mom and Pop Stores of Majuro
Along Majuro’s narrow ribbon of land, mom-and-pop stores are woven into the life of almost every neighbourhood. Many family-owned and some operating from the family home, they provide everyday essentials while also serving as places to meet, talk and watch the world pass.
Photographed over several years, this collection records the owners, workers, customers and children who give these stores their life. It also preserves something of the stores themselves: their colours, serving windows, security grilles, handmade signs and wonderfully individual character.
Together, the photographs form a portrait of everyday Majuro and the people behind one of its most familiar institutions.
A photographic record of the owners, workers, customers and families behind one of Majuro’s most familiar neighbourhood institutions.
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Rongelap Atoll
An atoll of extraordinary beauty, Rongelap remains shaped by the radioactive fallout from the 1954 Castle Bravo nuclear test. Its rebuilt but largely empty settlement reflects a community still caught between displacement and the hope of return.
A village waiting.
Rongelap’s church stands among new homes, paved roads and public infrastructure built to support resettlement. Much of the settlement remains empty, an unfinished response to a displacement that began more than 70 years ago.
Jaluit Atoll
Once an administrative centre and later a Japanese wartime base, Jaluit carries its history in shipwrecks, abandoned buildings and local stories. Around them, life at Jabor remains closely connected to the lagoon and the sea.
Jabor, Bustling hub of Jaluit Atoll
Jabor, Jaluit’s principal settlement, lies along a narrow strip of land between the sheltered lagoon and the open Pacific.
Wotje Atoll
Once a heavily fortified Japanese base, Wotje retains some of the Marshall Islands’ most visible remains of the Second World War. Guns, bunkers and pillboxes endure alongside the church, wharf and everyday life of the modern community.
A Japanese Type 89 twin-mount gun still stands on Wotje, one of six such weapons positioned around the island to defend the wartime base against aircraft, ships and invading forces.
Utrik Atoll
Utrik is a remote northern atoll where village life remains closely connected to fishing, copra production and the surrounding reef. It also shares the nuclear legacy of the northern Marshall Islands. Radioactive fallout from the 1954 Castle Bravo test reached Utrik, forcing the community’s evacuation. Although residents returned after about three months, the experience left lasting questions about health, responsibility and compensation.
At low tide, Utrik’s broad reef flat opens between the village and the lagoon, revealing the narrow margin on which life on the atoll depends.