Product Description
“In these color photographs of art and natural history museums and their holdings, Ross, who teaches at UC Santa Barbara, wields considerable wit in constructing images of the institutions as we don’t usually see them. In some cases, an animal’s spirit is shown to have survived the taxidermist’s art, flouting the authority of the knife (the face of a stuffed rhinoceros peers skeptically through glass, as though once again regnant). Elsewhere, held in suspended animation, victims in display cases seem sustained only by artifice, creating illusions of a perfectly orderly, hierarchical nature brought home to roost. In pure fun, Ross portrays a classical nude sculpture appearing to take cover from onlookers in a museum corner, and offers a delightful closeup of stuffed lions engaged in ferociously kitsch battle. But his thoughtful book, an exhibition catalogue, does more than amuse; it leaves readers with disquieting thoughts of predator and prey in museums and culture at large.”
- From Publishers Weekly, Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
“Ross has swiped the term ‘Museology’ from self-important museum people and given it a shot of irony. His pictures are the ‘ology.’ like anthroppology and archaeology, they portray curious customs and layers of time. In his museum, where everyone has gone home, he finds unintended poetry in the most desolate corners.”
- John Walsh, Director, The J. Paul Getty Museum
Richard Ross
Richard Ross is the Executive Director of www.juvenile-in-justice.com and Juvenile-in-Justice. He is the principal photographer for the Juvenile-in-Justice project and travels frequently throughout the country to photograph and interview incarcerated children. Ross lectures frequently and has spoken at the Vera Institute of Justice, the 7th Annual Models for Change Conference, JDAI conferences, The Justice for Youth Summit, and many more. He is the author of Juvenile-in-Justice the book which received the American Library Association's 2013 Alex Award. He has been the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Fulbright, and the Center for Cultural Innovation. Ross has taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara since 1977.
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