Release by Thames & Hudson of Aviary – The Bird in Contemporary Photography, an enthralling odyssey that captures the splendor of birds and highlights the complex relationship between humans and animals through the work of more than fifty contemporary photographers.
Photographs of birds rarely feature in the early decades of photography. Birds were too fast to be captured in flight, and could not be depicted in color, issues that took many years to rectify. Today, however, with superb technical means at their disposal. photographers have taken to the subject with great enthusiasm, inspired by an ever-increasing understanding and appreciation of avian complexity.
With more than 200 extraordinary images, Aviary: The Bird in Contemporary Photography showcases the work of more than fifty internationally recognized photographers. Taking an eclectic curatorial approach, authors and curators Danaé Panchaud and William A. Ewing weave together the diverse fields of art, documentary, fashion, portraiture, ornithology, and wildlife photography, proposing intriguing new dialogues and visual theater between these different modes of photographic expression. Rather than being organized by field of study or species, Aviary surveys the symbiotic relationship between animals and humans through six thematic chapters imagined as “acts” in a colorful, theatrical pageant.
Many of the birds included in this volume have been photographed in their natural habitats—in the heat of the Kalahari Desert, the icy desolation of Atka Bay, or the humid streets of Miami. Other photographs have been carefully crafted in the depths of a studio or collaged in an artist’s atelier. Stefan Christmann’s intimate shots of emperor penguins epitomize the fragile beauty of the polar regions. Mark Harvey’s In Flight series features the common British birds near his Norfolk home, caught mid-air in ethereal compositions. Søren Solkær’s photographs of murmurations show how observation in nature, captured at the right moment, can also seem uniquely surreal.
Both a visual celebration of the wonders of nature and a stark reminder of its fragility, Aviary presents the work of contemporary photographers such as Leila Jeffreys, Sarah Moon, Tim Walker, Karen Knorr, Roger Ballen, Charles Fréger, Vik Muniz, Tim Flach, Viviane Sassen, Robert Clark and Nadav Kander, Massimo Cristaldi among many others.
Aviary – The Bird in Contemporary Photography
Danaé Panchaud and William A. Ewing
Thames & Hudson
Hardcover
272 pp
223 illustrations
ISBN: 9780500029084
$65.00
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
