Aviary is the latest contemporary photography book from Thames & Hudson, authored by Danae Panchard & William A Ewing. This is a beautiful publication that as usual for T & H expertly navigates the desirable space between simple photographic collections and scholarly reference.
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In Aviary therefore you will find not just a sequence of colourful and eye-catching images but a thought-provoking overview of contemporary bird photography, in an odyssey that captures the splendour of birds whilst highlighting the complex relationship between humans and animals.
Junji Takasago, Heavenly Flamingos, Uyuni, Bolivia 2019
Bird images were rare in early photography when apparatus had shutter speeds measured in minutes rather than micro-seconds, and the resulting images also lacked colour. More recently photographers have taken to the subject with enthusiasm, inspired by modern equipment and an understanding and appreciation of avian complexity.
Paul Rousteau, Colombe, 2020
Aviary therefore carefully, and cleverly, avoids easy photographic typologies such as fashion, wildlife, documentary or street and instead takes a more eclectic viewpoint. It notices that the variety of colour, appearance and behaviour of birds has not gone unnoticed by photographers who have been able to utilise this avian theatricality in a wide variety of ways.
Soren Solkaer Black Sun #127 Houtwiel, Friesland, 2017
We are asked then to think of the book more as an ‘avian theatre’ from which the authors have created six ‘acts’: these have titles such as Sanctuary, Proximity, Encounter and Phantasm.
This is an approach that works delightfully with unexpected juxtapositions and associations. In Sanctuary Junji Takasago’s Heavenly Flamingos and Paul Rousteau’s Columbe - reminiscent of Gerhard Richter's Betty - are almost abstract.
Paul Rousteau, Victoria & La Perruche
In the world of Proximity we are up close and personal - in Mario Cea’s The Blue Trail a Kingfisher’s beak just pierces a silver pond. Alan Walker shows us the courtship of black and white cranes in the snow.
Mario Cea, The Blue Trail
Cast has avian auditions with colourful protagonists preening, posing and performing for the camera, the successful being from Tim Flack’s remarkable portraits.
Tim Flach, Northern Cardinal
In other chapters birds encounter and interact with the human world: a pigeon gazes out at the Empire State building and chickens cross the road whilst budgies and sparrows investigate Kristin Schnell and Hans can Asch’s colourful created environments.
Kimberley Witham, Still life with Goldfinch
In particular we loved Giacomo Brunelli’s avian street photography catching the likes of swans, thrushes and pigeons in atmospheric and grainy black and white, interrupted or captured in passing as they went about their daily routines.
Christine Ward, Connection, 2023
Other birds become guests on the artists stage; a crane poses in an Udaipur Palace for Karen Knorr whilst a goldfinch peeps into a black hole for Hans van Asch. More questionably dead ‘found’ creatures are used by Chloe Bowman who seems to simply use them as colourful props - I dont think our avian cousins would approve.
Aviary is at is best when birds have been captured, in abstract or unflinching detail, in their natural world: from the heat of the Kalahari Desert to the dusky streets of London - rather than in images carefully crafted in a studio or collaged in an artist’s atelier.
Charles Freger, Bortokola Bird, Tiwa Masks, Asaam, India
Could Masahisa Fukase’s iconic Ravens or Martin Parr’s cheeky swans or chip thieving seagulls have been included. Perhaps, but there can be no criticism of this excellent visual celebration of the wonders of nature which also acts as a stark reminder of the fragility of nature.
Aviary is a delightful publication that provides a perfect balance of image and text and that can sit equally well on a sophisticated coffee table or within a photography scholar’s library.
Aviary by Danae Panchard & William A Ewing
Published by Thames & Hudson
272 pages
223 illustrations
29.5 x 24.5cm
Hardback
