SNEAK PEEK: David Ellingsen

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David Ellingsen, "Hammerhead Shark - family Sphyrnidae" (courtesy the artist)

David Ellingsen captures something of the mystery of the piscine world in his remarkable images at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia. 

Made from solarized negatives on expired Polaroid film, his images, which include a hammerhead, a porcupine fish and a grouping of eels – are an eerie testament to biodiversity. 

The creatures' sinuous bodies appear to thrust against their backdrop, almost aqueous in its dusky pallor, and seemingly become animate once again. The effect is poetic. It's like peering through the window of a bathysphere into cold, dark eyes and gaping jaws. 

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David Ellingsen, "Whiptail - family Macrouridae" (courtesy the artist)

Ellingsen’s choice of medium makes me think of the early days of scientific collecting, while the black-and-white tones, evoked in subtle gradients, sink me into the murky depths. 

The images, part of the online exhibition, Sea/Life, are accompanied by an essay by Greenpeace International co-founder Rex Weyler. 

Weyler notes that Ellingsen’s images are not a taxonomist’s record, but rather “probe some forgotten mystery, a reciprocity of beauty and death that lurks in every living creature.”

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David Ellingsen, "Common Carp - Cyprinus carpio" (courtesy the artist)

The exhibition is a marriage of art and science, with each image accompanied by an extended narrative caption. The white sturgeon, we are told, is the largest freshwater fish in Canada, growing up to some four yards in length. Seahorses, meanwhile, perform a mating dance that culminates when the female inserts her eggs into the male’s pouch. 

Ellingsen, born in 1969, is originally from Cortes Island in the Pacific Northwest, and began his photographic career two decades ago. ■ 

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