This stunning collection of 30 full-color photographs provide a rare view into the unique ecology and amazing invertebrate life of coral reefs. Many of the spectacular images featured in this exhibition were taken in areas around the Philippines, including the marine sanctuary near Batangas, and the Sulu Sea on the Philippines' southern perimeter near Borneo. From ruby red starfish to pale yellow sea squirts, the riot of brilliant color is sure to dazzle. Accompanying this exhibit is a selection of shells, corals, and echinoderms from the Museum’s Collection.
Undersea Oasis: Coral Reef Communities is on display September 27, 2008-January 18, 2009.
About Idell Conaway
Born in New Mexico, Idell Conaway resides in Manhattan for much of the year, as well as traveling throughout the world. Conaway uses a Nikonos camera with a strobe to capture her underwater images on 35mm film. The images are then scanned, digitized, and produced as chromogenic prints on fine archival paper.
Conaway has traveled extensively throughout the remote islands of the Pacific and Southeast Asia, photographing many indigenous groups of people, their children, and their animals. While in Australia, Conaway challenged herself to learn scuba diving, providing her with an amazing new venue for exploration: the oceans. According to Conaway in her artist statement, “The surge and current of the water determines not only my movement as a diver but also directs the rhythm and dance of fish and feeding of soft corals with their long feather-like plumes or small bubble-like rosettes.”
About the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is a regional center of excellence in scientific research, exhibits, and science education.