Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates
September 17, 2016 - December 31, 2016
Lightcatcher Building
Photographs by Susan Middleton
September 17 – December 31, 2016, Lightcatcher Building
Susan Middleton; Pacific Giant Octopus (juvenile), Enteroctopus dofleini; Archival pigment print, 24 x 36 in. Friday Harbor Marine Laboratories, University of Washington.
The result of seven years of fieldwork across the Pacific Ocean, and showcasing the photographic techniques Susan Middleton has developed over the past three decades, this exhibition presents 50 portraits of rarely or never-before-seen ocean dwellers. Middleton visually isolates each creature she photographs to best capture its individual character and to spotlight the dazzling natural blueprints inherent in the marine invertebrate realm of life. From a juvenile Pacific Giant Octopus, to the Widehand Hermit Crab, Middleton’s images open our eyes to both the fragility and the resiliency of these species.
Susan Middleton is an acclaimed photographer, author, and lecturer specializing in portraiture of rare and endangered animals, plants, sites, and cultures. The recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship in 2009, for many years she was the chair of the Department of Photography at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, where she currently serves as research associate. Her photographs have been exhibited worldwide in fine art and natural history contexts and are represented in the permanent collections of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Gallery of Art. She is the author of Evidence of Evolution and Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, The Backbone of Life.
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