Consisting of images photographed from the pages of antique ornithological volumes, this book is Clark Winter's tribute to the glorious world of exotic birds. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, explorers wandered the planet in search of the unknown, sometimes traveling for years with little communication and guidance. Charles Darwin and his predecessors and contemporaries enjoyed a self-assured sense of purpose, though their actual knowledge during such journeys was often limited. When they returned home with specimens of hitherto unknown species of flora and fauna, all were astounded by such visual extravagance. Of birds in particular, their shapes, intricate color patterns and feathers were overwhelming-alternatively described as divinely inspired or the result of evolution and the battle for survival: a debate that continues to this day. With its intricate hand-colored illustrations, Birds is a testament to this lost sense of awe, one difficult yet not impossible to access in today's connected world. Clark Winter is an artist and photographer with an interest, over decades, in registering cultural transitions and social challenges throughout the world. A specialist in geopolitics, he focuses on humans as objects and instances of nature, and objects, man-made or natural, as vibrant beings. Winter has exhibited in the USA, Latin America and Europe, including at Factum Arte, Madrid, in 2020. He is a trustee of several cultural institutions and the June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation, New York.
