James Mollison, Charles Darwin and Apes
About James Mollison
Born in 1973 in Kenya, James Mollison studied Art and Design at Oxford Brookes
University, and Documentary Photography at Newport School of Art and Design in
the UK. Since 1998, he has lived in Venice, Italy, working with Fabrica,
Benetton’s creative laboratory.
Over four years Mollison visited seven ape sanctuaries in Africa, Asia, Europe
and the USA, photographing gorillas, orang-utans, chimpanzees and bonobos. Most
were orphaned when their parents were killed for food to satisfy the bushmeat
trade.
Aided by Jane Goodall, a leading authority on ape behaviour, Mollison was able
to build relationships with these threatened animals and capture their
individual personalities in a series of extraordinarily moving portraits.
His recent book James & Other Apes (2004) features 50
images of apes, 30 of which have been selected for the Face to Face exhibition.
Other books by James Mollison include:
- Lavoratori (1999), a study of immigrant workers in the Veneto region of Italy.
- iO? Bologna! (1999), a celebration of Bologna Football Club’s ninetieth birthday.
- Kosovars (2000), a study of refugees from the conflict in the Balkans.
Mollison continues to work with Fabrica on campaigns, contributing to Colors
Magazine, The United Nations Refugee Agency, The World Health Organization, i-D
magazine, The Guardian, Arena, Amica and El Pais, among others, and on personal
projects.
Charles Darwin and apes
Charles Darwin was convinced of the close evolutionary relationship between apes
and humans. In 1837 Jenny, an orang-utan, was brought to London Zoo. Her close
resemblance to humans was disturbing and the fact that she could behave so like
a human caused much consternation amongst visitors. Darwin suggested that
humans evolved in Africa from apes as a result of the harsh climate and hunting
behaviour that would encourage natural selection and promote evolution from ape
to biped.
Darwin’s observations of Jenny eventually led to the book Expression
of the Emotions in Man and Animals published in 1872. In the book
Darwin argued that emotions in humans such as love, joy, anger, guilt and
horror share the same evolutionary origins as those of other animals. The
prevailing Christian view at the time was that emotions were a special gift to
humans from God. This concept is still hotly debated in some quarters even
today.
In this section
Back to the top
|
