Aquarium

Plot

Aquariums provide us with a seductive window to the magic and mystery of the aquatic world. Acclaimed landscape photographers Diane COok & Len Jenshel take a deep look at this world in these beautiful, surprising, and humorous photographs. Through their remarkable vision we are transported to a surreal and artificial realm where fish and humans meet. In Aquarium we are presented not only with the artists's striking individual visions but also, in pairings of Cook's black-and-white imagery and Jenshel's color, we witness a unique, artistic dialogue. Working for more than three years to complete their ambitious project, the photographers traveled to twenty-five public aquariums around the world. Exquisitely printed in the book are seventy-two photographs capturing the submerged dioramas of sixteen aquariums in North America, as well as others from Europe, the Caribbean, and Japan. The pictures are accompanied by an insightful interview between the photographers and the writer, Lawrence Weschler, author of numerous books about art and culture. Weschler adroitly questions the photographers - weaving a fascinating conversation about art, aquariums, beauty, and nature - as well as discussing their working methods. The book opens with an introductory essay by Todd Newberry, a marine biologist, who describes the idiosyncrasies of aquariums and aquatic life. -- from dust jacket.