Strangler Fig Roots, Everglades National Park, Florida
Eliot Porter American
Not on view
The saturated hues and remarkable sharpness of this photograph emphasize the strangler fig roots’ varied textures, bumps, and grooves. The roots either help to stabilize and anchor the trunk or overpower it to the point where the host tree can no longer survive. The intertwining flora suggests how two entities can come together and successfully thrive as a hybrid or falter as one wields too much power and subsumes the other. Known for his color photographs and their role in galvanizing America’s early conservation movement, Porter had the first single-artist exhibition of color photographs presented at The Met in 1979.
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