"AFRICA" par Herb RITTS. Editions Bulfinch Press, New York. 2009. in-4 format oblong, couverture toilée anthracite sous jaquette photo (état d'usage). Non paginé (136p). Texte en anglais de Judith Jamison, illustré de 77 reproductions photographiques noir & blanc, pleine page dont 6 en double page, par Herb Ritts. 

 

"…Humans and animals have always existed side by side - ours is a shared ecology. ln this book, you can almost feel the cool shade of the watering hole where a Thomson's gazelle grazes. It looks like Eden. And as in Eden, the scene changes rapidly when we turn the page and see the gazelle in the clutch and jaws of a great lioness. Flamingos are reflected in the water of Lake Magadi, as if with a turn of the page we can hear and witness the sudden flurry of their flight. The reflection of a lioness gleams, almost shivers in the body of water where she has come to drink. A dark-maned lion looks straight into the eye of the camera, defiant. Another image finds Nangini sitting at the base of a giant fig tree as if she were indeed the fruit of that tree. l'm amazed by the simple elegance of the giant baobab, whose base has been stripped of its bark by elephants, as if its bones have been exposed. ln images both beautiful and haunting, Africa unfolds as a land of birth and rebirth, of desiccation that exists in trembling harmony with fertility. Here are the roots and the bones, the flesh and the blood that is Africa. There's wisdom in the eyes and passion in the hands. The faces of the men and women glow like living masks, It's important to realize, first and foremost, that they're human beings with hearts and souls and minds. They were so gracious to allow Mr. Ritts to become a part of their existence, and they a part of his - a shared experience that is AFRICA." Judith Jamison.

 

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