I just bought this book as a gift, but absolutely had to take a look through it first.The portraits are beautiful and expressive and so very human. I try very hard to steer clear of anthropomorphism, but with monkeys it seems like such a natural progression or evolution.
To make them even more human the monkeys all have names and there is a list of each ones resumé in the back. I suppose that when looking for monkeys in the US that will sit still in front of the camera, it makes sense to choose monkey actors. Although I would imagine that she is a very patient photographer as her subjects have also included portraits of bears and wailing children.
While the humanness of the monkey is appealing, I think what really draws me to them is the duality of them. Actions that look so familiar and comedic but very obviously belong to a wild animal. Sweet little faces that contain enormous teeth. Shown so well by the Golden Snub-Nosed monkey from China. Recently photographed by Cyril Ruoso for National Georgraphic 
Hard to fathom that this little creature is related to the ones below. But a healthy reminder that nature is rarely one sided.
Ruoso has had a great deal of experience photographing in the field and photographing teeth much larger those of the wee Snub-Nose.
It's obvious that we are so drawn to monkeys and apes because we see ourselves in them and vice versa, but perhaps this self reflection includes all sides of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment