Gregory Colbert has spent thirteen years filming and photographing elephants, whales, birds, and other animals in such places as India, Burma, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Namibia, Egypt, the island of Dominica, Tonga, and Antarctica. Ashes and Snow, Colbert's lifelong project, is a collaboration with animals in their natural habitat as they interact with human beings. His images attempt to remove the boundaries between humans and other species—to re-awaken in us an understanding of our shared animal nature.
The New York exhibition catalog collects more than 190 images from the U.S. debut of Ashes and Snow on Pier 54 in New York City (March 5–June 6, 2005). The books were printed and bound in Italy; the covers are created out of handmade paper from Nepal which is sealed with natural beeswax; interior pages are printed on handmade Italian paper; each book is hand sewn and tied with thread stained with hibiscus tea leaves.
