Product Details
Paperback
104 pages
Thames and Hudson Ltd
Published 2003
From Publishers Weekly
German photographer, eco-artist and devoted friend to the animals Jaschinski offers a tribute to the wild kingdom in this coffee-table book of animal and nature portraits. But she may not trust her pictures to speak louder than words: next to photographs of wild or captive creatures and pristine or eroded landscapes, Jachinski's apology to the animals for mankind's destructive dominion on earth is interjected like the voiceover to a National Geographic Explorer documentary. "Dear animals/once upon a time/nearly four million years ago/earth was devoid of/life," she writes, as photographs reveal a red desert landscape, the night sky and cloud masses above a lake. Big concepts ("life," "motivation," "captivity") appear one to a page, set in huge letters, to punctuate Jaschinski's sorrowful letter. "When life did appear it was first in water/then... /higher organisms appeared which gave rise to more complex life," she continues. Here, proud black and white profiles of a panther and a llama alternate with untouched jungle and desert landscapes. When Jaschinski addresses what she sees as the tragedy of animal captivity, her subjects appear forlorn rather than noble: a caged polar bear glows like a ghost in the corner of the picture; behind bars, an elephant raises its trunk in a silent scream. And, she says, "we do not protect your/habitats/or the ecosystem"-so "where will you/live/when we reintroduce you to the/wild?" Jaschinski's environmentalist point-her celebration of animals' "unrestricted existence" and lamentation of modernity's toxic effects-is well taken, but the unsubtle design of this cri de coeur undercuts the message. 88 four-color photographs.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
Britta Jaschinski's ascent to the top ranks of British photography has been swift. Her first book, Zoo, was a huge success and won her huge critical and commercial acclaim. For her new book she has widened her scope to focus on animals in their natural habitat, and in so doing subtly illuminates the beauty and fragility of our planet. Gorgeous photographs are accompanied by the photographer's own haunting, elegiac poem, which runs the course of the book and which meditates on the origins and... read more
Book Description
A modern and unconventional tale of creation and life force, Wild Things is a tribute to all that remains untouched by human civilization. Openly declaring her love for the wilderness and its inhabitants, Jaschinski celebrates the natural order of the earth's habitats and apologizes to the animals for the havoc wreaked by the dominance of human nature. From the cheetahs, giraffes, and elephants of the wide open plains to the polar bears, whales, and seals of the open seas, Jaschinski's subjects alternatively explode off the page with anger or retreat with sadness at the impending threat of extinction. Juxtaposed with evocative land and skyscapes, her portraits of these amazing animal populations underline the beauty and fragility of our earth's ecosystems. Exquisitely produced with Japanese binding, Wild Things is a lovingly rendered visual poem raising our awareness of the importance of leaving what existed before us as it was intended. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. |
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