What Darwin Missed, Teil III

Alfred Ehrhardt was a German nature photographer, filmmaker and author of award-winning works about coral species. In 1938 he was commissioned to integrate a new expedition to the coral reefs that originated Darwin’s theories, but the Second World War truncated his plans. Ehrhardt’s work triggered Fontcuberta’s curiosity. He spent months between the Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation archives in Berlin, European natural history museums (Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Bologna, Granollers), and the waters of Galapagos and Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Everywhere he took pictures of corals, and the results exceeded everyone’s expectations. Fontcuberta’s often provocative and playful views on science focused on recreating that forgotten voyage. Our perception of nature and image have come a long way since Darwin and Ehrhardt, and the magical underwater images of What Darwin missed are the living proof of that. As Joan Fontcuberta says, his interest in photographing nature allows him to reflect on the nature of photography. Joan Fontcuberta “What Darwin missed” was first exhibited in 2024 at the Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung in Berlin. Its book version published by Kominek Books includes texts by Joan Fontcuberta, Rosa Russo and Christiane Stahl, and 60 illustrations. At the same time, the recent collaboration between Fontcuberta and the Kominek Gallery also includes a new edition of his classic projects Herbarium (1982-84) and Fauna (1985-89).