Educators TOOLBOX
Art & Ecology


Art & Ecology:

Perspectives and Issues



Social Restoration

Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager, North American River Otter

by Elizabeth Garber

Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager work with the help of biologists, ornithologists, herpetologists, botanists, ecologists, animal keepers, a production coordinator, and others to take photographs of species of plants, animals, birds, insects, and reptiles that are endangered in the United States. Middleton began her photographic career documenting objects at the California Academy of Sciences, where she still works; Liittschwager has crossed the world taking photographs that have appeared in National Geographic and the New York Times Magazine. They both worked for fashion and art photographer Richard Avedon. Edward Wilson describes the photographs as "portraits" that have a "wholly different impact" from the scientist's research and statistics. He argues that the art photographs are as important to the environmental movement as science. "The technical quality of the portraiture is so fine, the composition so pleasing, that we gladly contemplate for a few moments creatures as strange as the Furbish lousewort . . .and the American burying beetle. Each species is personalized." (Middleton & Liittschwager, 1991, p. 17) Middleton writes that they approached their plant and animal subjects as "living expressions of a spiritual presence in the world." (1994, p. 12) Goldberg (1991), recalling both photographers' professional experiences, describes their work "as elegant as any portraits by Penn or Avedon." (p. 110)

North American River Otter, one of Middleton and Liittschwager's photographs from their series on endangered species in California, is characteristically photographed close-up and without a background. Middleton (1991) came upon this method while photographing lizards in a re-created natural habitat. Noting that they blended into their own environment so well as to become almost invisible, she tried placing them upon a piece of black velvet. "Toes became visible," she recalls, and colors and patterns on the skin "vibrant." (p. 10) The method worked conceptually because species depend upon their habitats to survive, and changes in habitat (caused by disruption, pollution, overharvesting, and the introduction of exotic species) are the central reason why species become endangered. North American River Otter is a charismatic animal that is attractive and easily arouses empathy in viewers. Most endangered species Middleton and Liittschwager photograph are not charismatic, but in the photographers' close-up presentation, we come to value their personalities and uniqueness.

Change is an ever-present theme in Middleton and Liittschwager's work. The theme involves environmental alterations over time, changes in the relationship humans have to the natural world, and changes in ourselves. The photograph of each animal, bird, reptile, insect, or plant is testament to its endangered status. Wilson offers statistics about environmental change: changes in the life of a species, which used to average between one and 10 million years, have accelerated in the twentieth century by between 1,000 and 10,000 times. Reductions in the populations of a species or subspecies results in loss of genetic variety and a consequent loss of vigor and fertility. Change in one part of an ecosystem or in a "keystone species" (one that has a widespread effect on the remainder of the ecosystem) can mean disruption of the whole system because species are locked into symbiotic relationships and that sort of change can mean that entire ecosystems disappear. The numbers of the North American river otter, first diminished due to trapping in the nineteenth century, are endangered today because of habitat disruption, relentless riverside development, water diversion, and dams in California.

Humans' relationships to the environment have also changed, or, as Wilson eloquently states, "The condor didn't change; we did." (Middleton & Liittschwager, 1994, p. 14) Early humans' lives were fully intertwined with the natural environment. Over the course of human evolution, this involvement has become secondary, particularly in industrial and post-industrial societies.

Middleton says that the project has been one of growth for herself and for Liittschwager. They learned "that every living thing is astonishing in its own right," (1994, p. 12) and they hope that their photographs will encourage change in each of us. "I hope these photographs will encourage a reexamination of our place within the community of life on Earth and suggest one founded on compassion," writes Middleton. (1991, p. 15) Liittschwager comments that, in photographing the different species of flora and fauna, "each creature asserted, by its continuing presence, by its unique way of being, a voice of hope." (Middleton & Liittschwager, 1991, p. 243) Essayist Wendell Berry echoes this hope when he calls the photographs a "plea . . . a way of saying, Look! Look! See how fearfully and wonderfully this creature is made." (Middleton & Liittschwager, 1991, p. 8) In A Continuous Harmony, he writes, "If you are willing to undertake the discipline and the difficulty of mending your own ways you are worth more to the conservation movement than a hundred who are insisting merely that the government and the industries mend their ways." (1970) Middleton and Liittschwager's photographs are a clear call for social reformation.

Questions

References

Berry, W. (1990). A continuous harmony. Berkeley, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Dunphy, M. & Douglas, S. (1995). Witness: Endangered species of North America: A middle school curriculum to supplement Witness: Endangered species of North American exhibition and book by Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences.

Cemblast, R. (1991). "The ecological art explosion." Artnews, 90 (6), 96-105.

Goldberg, V. (1991). "A terrible beauty." Artnews, 90 (6), 106-113.

Middleton, S. & Liittschwager, D. (1991). Here today: Portraits of our vanishing species. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle.

Middleton, S. & Liittschwager, D. (1994). Witness: Endangered species of North America. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle.










© 2006 greenmuseum.org