Troubled Waters by Bruce Pearson

 

Forward  by  Proffessor John Croxall CBE, FRS   Preface by Dame Ellen Macarthur

 

Isbn – 978-1-904078-48-7

 

Published by Langford Press, Hardback 136 pages, Published in October  2012, Price £38

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again Langford Press have excelled in their art books with no 35 in a series which takes in themes around the world. Here we travel to the southern oceans  to see the seabirds struggling to cope with modern fishing techniques especially the Albatross with 19 of the 21 species collapsing into a down ward spiral. Not only are the birds losing their natural food but are being caught on ‘long line’ fishing lines threaded out behind commercial trawlers. If that was not bad they are also drawn into deep netting trawlers as they raise the nets causing birds to fly into cables and get entangled in the nets themselves. The author travelled first hand on these fishing boats to record the exact details in his pictures.

Bruce Pearson not only has first hand experience of working with the Albatrosses on ‘Bird island off South Georgia back in 1975 - 1978 but tirelessly worked on bringing the theme ‘Troubled waters’ to the forefront supported by Birdlife International . Art is being used to emphasize the problems down under which Bruce does to perfection. Not only is the book full of his art but the skills of an author come out in the text making a wonderful read of his exploits to gain these amazing images often even from a moving boat with high seas.

Bruce needs no introduction having been around since 1975. His major works seem to be every year with several invites to join the ‘Artists for Nature’ projects from Hula in Israel, Alaska, to deep into the jungles of South America. He has commissions for the Sultan of Oman to writing and presenting a BBC’s Natural World programme and even Channal 4 with a series called ‘Birdscape’. Several books have Bruce’s work in them ranging from zoo animals to ‘An artist on migration’.

Bruce experiences shine through in this book with his work catching Wandering Albatrosses chicks to weighing regurgitated squid to witnessing the new techniques assembled to reduce deaths of sea birds on long line ships. We also learn about new ways of keeping birds away from the deep nets as well. How do you keep paper from blowing away while painting in a gale even if your pencil has been blown from behind your ear! Read and marvel at the work put into this book to find out.