Aves Mei

Publisher's presentation :

"Aves Mei is a photographic project by Italian artist Giorgia Valli. Created in the World of Birds exhibit at the Bronx Zoo, each photograph depicts living birds perched in an environment of painted backdrops and synthetic foliage — a recreation of the birds’ natural habitats. These combinations of living creatures against dense layers of artifice result in a collection of striking and surreal images.  

Opening with a text by the artist, excerpted below, Aves Mei presents 10 plates in an oversized format, bound in dark green cloth and limited to 1,000 casebound copies.

« After a period spent in the midst of thousands of sounds, my wish was to photograph silence. Wandering, I reached the Bronx Zoo, where I could walk around freely and photograph for hours. I needed to create friction among my emotions.

Since childhood, I had always refused to visit zoos because they made me feel sad. But here, I experienced a sense of freedom that made me feel serene. I was suspended in a dimension between earth and heaven, where my only connection to reality was through simple and primitive sounds.

No sounds other than cries with which both people and birds make their way into the world; nothing more than simple syllables, such as ‘da-da’ or ‘ma-ma’. Shot after shot, the jingle of baby talk reached my ears. Whether in captivity or in liberty, the mysterious song of birds leaves an indelible trace which, like cages set into a wall, will eternally preserve the lives and voices of those who experience them. »    -- Giorgia Valli  "

32 pages - Hardcover

Nazraeli Press, 2016

Format 25 x 46 cm (10 x 18")

New - Mint condition