SSH Gallery Exhibit "A Glimpse of Wild India"

“A Glimpse of Wild India,” photographs by Santa Fe photographer Joan Myers, will be on exhibit Sept. 4 – 21 in the South Santiam Hall Gallery at Linn-Benton Community College, 6500 Pacific Blvd SW, Albany, OR.

A special pre-opening gallery talk and book signing will be held Saturday, Sept. 1, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the gallery. The event is free and open to the public.

The exhibit includes 17 large color photographs from Myers’ latest book, “The Jungle at the Door,” which takes viewers inside India’s last remaining wildlife refuges for glimpses of Bengal tigers, Indian elephants, one-horned rhinoceros and other species, many of which are endangered or threatened. Myers also explores the rural villages and religious shrines on the jungles’ outskirts.

Unlike a traditional wildlife photographer intent on isolating specimens with super-telephoto lenses, Myers’ instead takes her inspiration from Rudyard Kipling’s “Just So” stories, and the result is an exhibit that gives viewers the sense of wandering through the jungle and coming upon animals in their natural habitats.

Over a prolific 40-year career as a photographer, Myers has published six books, many focusing on the American Southwest where she lives, and has been featured in three exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.  

She is perhaps best known for her 2006 book “Wondrous Cold: An Antarctic Journey,” which was the result of a National Science Foundation grant and became a widely-acclaimed, four-year touring exhibit sponsored by the Smithsonian.

The South Santiam Hall Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. The exhibit at LBCC is supported in part by the Willamette PhotoArts Guild.