Face to Face Ape Exhibition
April 13th 2008 21:00
Face to Face exhibition
Here’s a shot of an exhibition my sister and I recently attended at the Australian Museum in Sydney. The photographs were taken by James Mollison. Jane Goodall also contributed by helping Mollison develop relationships with each ape on an individual basis.
My sister’s favourite photograph is that of Haidar, which is the one of the left. My favourite is Bonny, the third one. Under each photo is a small sign with the ape’s name, species and history. Sadly, most of the young or orphaned gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orang-utans photographed as part of the exhibition had suffered physical and/or emotional trauma. Most of them were orphaned after their parents had been killed for bushmeat. One of them had been trained to dance for food and even after it was confiscated by the authorities it would still dance if it wasn’t fed when it was hungry.
Mollison has been reported saying most of the apes were deeply scarred from seeing their mothers and family butchered in front of them.
The exhibition made me wonder what it is to be human. Seeing the photographs close up, I could see how close we are to the apes. This is not surprising considering they share over 98% of our DNA. I could appreciate their individual beauty and wish I could be amongst them in the rainforest.
The exhibition is on until 27 April 2008 so if any of you are in Sydney, please check it out.
Australian Museum link
City of Sydney link
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