America is struggling to hold onto a vestige of its conservation ethos (commentary)
Commentary by Cyril Christo I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being. Abraham Lincoln We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself. Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf It is no coincidence that a poem called...
A Salute to the Angels of the Sea, the Whale Sharks (commentary)
Commentary by Cyril Christo “I salute you ancient ocean. Answer me, ocean do you want to be my brother? wrote Lautreamont, whose incantations about man and the nature of evil in The Songs of Maldorar from 1869 are astounding even today. But even one of the most radical poets of the 19th century, who died at the age of 24, could not have dreamed of what humanity is doing to the original matrix of life on earth, the blood plasma of the...
The Rhinos of the Namib (commentary)
Commentary by Cyril Christo It was dusk when we followed two massive male white rhinos passing in front of our car near Etosha in northern Namibia. Lysander, just nine, was ecstatic, watching a primeval explosion of power ambling in front of our car reminiscent of the times when rhinos ruled the earth. At dusk, in the sun infused dimming amber light, the blackness of an all-presiding night was pressing upon us. Our guide’s red lights...
