Primates: A Kinship with All Creatures
This stunning black-and-white portrait collection features a foreword by primate conservancy founder and essays from leading gibbon and orangutan experts.
The publication of Primates: A Kinship with All Creatures offers a breathtaking photographic collection by naturalist and photographer Lennette Newell, featuring 187 intimate black-and-white portraits capturing the profound connection between humans and primates, alongside a foreword by Debra Curtin, founder of New England Primate Conservancy, and essays by Gabriella Skollar of California’s Gibbon Conservation Center. The book arrives at a pivotal moment for wildlife conservation, as habitat loss, climate change, and illegal wildlife trafficking push many primate species toward extinction.
Drawing on 20 years of fieldwork across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Newell’s patient observation and technical mastery reveal the individual personalities, complex emotions, and remarkable intelligence of our primate cousins. From the dense forest canopies of Uganda’s Kibale National Park to the breathtaking highlands of Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, from the mangrove ecosystems of Borneo to conservation centers dedicated to protecting endangered species, these portraits transcend documentation to become art—revealing souls behind the eyes, stories within gestures, and the threads connecting all living beings. “At a critical moment for wildlife conservation, this stunning photographic collection documents the beauty, vulnerability, and resilience of the world’s primates, “ the book states. More than a photography collection, Primates is a love letter to our evolutionary family—and a plea for their survival in an uncertain future.
The book features an extensive portfolio organized by region—Africa, Asia, and Latin America—showcasing species from mountain gorillas and chimpanzees to gibbons, orangutans, lemurs, and dozens of monkey species. Newell’s intimate approach, whether photographing wild troops in their natural habitats or working with conservation centers to create studio-quality portraits, captures moments of tenderness between mothers and infants, the commanding presence of alpha males, the playful exuberance of juveniles, and the quiet dignity of elderly primates.
Skollar’s essay on gibbons illuminates the remarkable vocal abilities of these “singing apes,” describing the unforgettable experience of the gibbon choir at the Gibbon Conservation Center. Kanomori’s contribution details the delicate balance between ecotourism and research in Borneo’s rainforests, showcasing how long-term field studies contribute to orangutan conservation.
Additional appendices include primate world distribution maps, IUCN conservation status listings by region, and a comprehensive index, making this volume both a stunning art book and an essential reference for understanding our endangered primate relatives.
Black-and-white photographic process removes time from the context of the work, imbuing it with a timelessness similar to that found in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea," enabling it to be relevant when viewed in any era.
A Celebration of Our Close Kinship with Other Primates by Marc Bekoff Ph.D. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal-emotions/202607/a-celebration-of-our-close-kinship-with-other-primates