The world today has a rather troubling obsession with the future, an impatience towards the effort necessary to understand the spirit of the universe and its intentions. In this feverish impatience, the wisdom of the past is often left ignored. Nature has a way to remind us that one cannot ignore the past without consequences. The nature photographer Lotfi Bouslah of Lolo Pics, whose artist name is Kurt Lolo, shared a photo of his journey to the Algerian desert, a photo of one of the sculptures that nature gave the Tassili 'n Ahaggar, in Tamanrasset, of a volcanic rock that over time and with the winds, has taken the shape of an elephant. The elephant is considered a symbol of power, of dignity, of intelligence and of peace. The elephant is now on the red list of vulnerable species of Africa, and on the red list of animals in danger of extinction in Asia, according to the IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, established in 1948. The African elephant is the most ancient, and goes back to the end of the Paleocene period, from between 66 to 56 million years ago. Now, this ancient animal fights for its survival, which reminds me of the expression " the elephant in the room ", which is a reference to a dismissed reality, to an unpleasant truth, palpable and ignored, which is very appropriate in the case of the elephant, who is very vulnerable as a species right now. A sculpture of an elephant created by the unique beauty of the Tassili, has a poetic significance, as if the past demonstrated a lot of patience to make us think about how sad it would be if the elephant disappeared from the earth, because of our indifference, leaving only sculptures of the animal to remind us of its form, presence and importance. The beautiful sculpture in the photo of Kurt Lolo can inspire us to appreciate not only the artist that nature is, but to also try to appreciate the spiritual efforts nature puts forth in this case to safe those who can be saved of the animals on this planet, that are threatened by profit, cruelty, pollution, destruction of their habitat and their food sources, and by climate change, for which we are also responsible, when it comes to the worst of its origins. The Tassili is famous for the sculptural splendour of its volcanic rock formations, and the sculpture of the elephant touches a sensibility that is not only artistic but also geological. It is a sculpture by nature that imposes reflection. The photograph of Kurt Lolo knows how to evoke the dignity of this grandiose nature sculpture, under an intense blue sky, and the pale golden undulating sand in the foreground. There is a spiritual atmosphere that emanates from the photo, a silence, a respect, that recalls an ancient temple, that refers back to ancient knowledge, secretive, mysterious. We are face to face with time itself, an ancient time, it is estimated that the age of the Algerian desert is 7 million years. Contemplating this sculpture that comes to us form an ancient past, can maybe resuscitate a sense of responsibility, of patience, of wisdom to face up to the problems of our planet, of its animals, its waters, of the quality of its air, its peoples, all its peoples. The desert and its beauty obliges us to affront ourselves, our place on this earth. The silence of the desert breaks down our defenses, our weaknesses, like a place of meditation, of purification, that wants to communicate a message written in the memories of time : life is a gift that needs to be respected, and nature is a treasure that magnifies the sacred quality of life. We have to listen to nature, we have to protect her, to learn from her, to know where exactly is the road to the future, not a dead future, without a soul, and without beauty, but a valuable future, with dignity, charitable and significant. The photo of the elephant of the Tassili of Kurt Lolo has a quality that inspires, with his signature of intimacy for which the nature photographer is so endearing to me, for this ability that Kurt Lolo possesses to communicate a profound truth with his photos, even when faced with the ancient and imposing mysteries of the vast Tassili.
Trudi Ralston
The information on the Tassili and the Algerian desert, courtesy of Wikipedia, as is the information on the elephant ans its symbolism, and its status as both a species listed as vulnerable and endangered.
No comments:
Post a Comment