Baobab

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Beth Moon, a photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has gained international recognition for her large-scale, richly toned platinum-palladium prints. Moon’s work has appeared in over eighty solo and group ­exhibitions worldwide, and has been ­featured in publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Wired. Her prints are held in ­numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego; and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Adrian Patrut, professor of inorganic and radiochemistry at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, leads an international team of researchers who are using radiocarbon dating to study the age, growth, and architecture of monumental baobabs.

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PRAISE FOR BETH MOON’S PHOTOGRAPHY “  A vivid expression of the natural world’s enduring beauty” —Atlas Obscura “ One cannot look at Beth Moon’s images of gnarled, overgrown trees and not feel the intrinsic gravity of time.” —Chicago Tribune

ABBEVILLE PRESS “ Trees are notoriously hard to photograph, but Moon captures their individuality with reverent portrayals.” —Library Journal

Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time By Beth Moon Essays by Todd Forrest and Steven Brown isbn 978-0-7892-1195-8 · $49.95 Ancient Skies, Ancient Trees By Beth Moon Essays by Jana Grcevich and Clark Strand isbn 978-0-7892-1267-2 · $49.95 Literary Chickens By Beth Moon Foreword by Isabella Rossellini Afterword by Jane Goodall isbn 978-0-7892-1309-9 · $35

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ABBEVILLE PRESS

B AO B A B beth moon

photography/nature

BAOBAB Beth Moon

With an essay by Adrian Patrut

Baobabs are one of Africa’s natural wonders: they can live more than 2,000 years, and their massive, water-storing trunks can grow to more than 100 feet in circumference. They serve as a renewable source of food, fiber, and fuel, as well as a focus of spiritual life. But now, suddenly, many of the largest baobabs are dying, literally collapsing under their own weight. Scientists believe these ancient giants are being dehydrated by drought and higher temperatures, likely the result of climate change. Photographer Beth Moon, already responsible for some of the most indelible images of Africa’s oldest and largest baobabs, has undertaken a new photographic pilgrimage to bear witness to this environmental catastrophe and document the baobabs that still survive. In this oversize volume, Moon presents breathtaking new duotone tree portraits of the baobabs of Madagascar, Botswana, South Africa, and Senegal. She recounts her eventful journey to visit these monumental trees in a moving diaristic text studded with color travel photos. This book also includes an essay by Adrian Patrut, leader of a research team that has studied Africa’s largest baobabs and alerted the world to the threat these majestic trees are facing. Baobab is not only a compelling photo book and travel narrative, but also a timely ecological warning.


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