Photographer Fernando Rosa exhibits forty large-format panoramic images that portray the animals of the National Zoo with the architecture and landscapes that surround them.
Taco was the last polar bear at the National Zoo. He was born on December 10, 1996 in the Rotterdam Zoo and at the age of two he arrived at the Metropolitan Park where he lived until his death in April 2015. Photographer Fernando Rosa managed to photograph him. Now its white fur is the protagonist of one of the 40 photographs in the exhibition Panorama: The value of animals.
The animals of the National Zoo, the architecture they inhabit, the landscapes that surround them and the city that looms on the horizon were photographed for two years by Rosa. All analog, in black and white and large format, because the photographs on display measure between 1 and 4 meters long.
Panorama: The value of animals is called that partly because of the format of the photos, but also because of the zoo as an urban landmark, as a typical panorama. One who turned 90 last December. "This is not National Geographic nor a denunciatory work, it follows an authorial line. I looked for the value, the beauty of the animals. It is a super personal vision, a small tribute to the animals and a small tribute to the zoo," says Rosa.
Rosa estimates that he visited the zoo about 100 times, accompanied by an animal welfare worker, and entered secure places to which the general public does not have access. He was never in danger. “One can generate questions, but not answers,” he says and adds: “in the end, zoos are today's society, we are the closed ones, we are the misfits, we cannot go out to freedom because we will not be able to live.”
The photographs from the exhibition will be published in a book by G64 publishing house, which will be launched with the presence of Rosa and Gonzalo Leiva, curator of the exhibition.
A selection of the photographs on display will be auctioned off to donate 100% of the proceeds to an organization that works in defense of animals.
Book launch
There are 44 photographs that make up the book “Panorama: The Value of Animals”, which will be accompanied by bilingual texts (Spanish / English) by Gonzalo Leiva Q and the Mexican photographer Gerardo Montiel K, co-founder of Hydra. The text will be presented by Fernando Rosa himself accompanied by Gonzalo Leiva and Pilar Ducci.
Regarding the importance of this publication and the record that is made in it, Fernando Rosa, responds: "for me it is very important, since there is no similar record in the history of the Zoo, nor from the author's photographic point of view, this is a very personal record and the book has a technical challenge with fold-out images that make it very interesting." The book will be available in three edition formats, one in soft cover, another in hard cover, and a third as a collector's item that will include a gift photograph. It will be a limited edition of 50 units. The first two softcover and hardcover editions will be found in the GAM bookstore and the collector's edition will be obtained directly from the author. www.fernandorosa.cl