FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 

Media Contact
Laura Jaye Cramer | ljc@FRAMEWORKsf.com

DAVID BROWER CENTER TO PRESENT ONE PHOTOGRAPHER’S

“POLAR OBSESSION”

A young polar bear leaps between ice floes
Barents Sea, Svalbard, Norway (p. 16)
All photos: ©2011 Paul Nicklen / National Geographic

Compelling Images of Polar Wildlife from Lens of National Geographic Photojournalist Paul Nicklen  

February 16, 2017 - July 21, 2017
Opening reception: February 16, 2017 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm, Free - $10 suggested donation
Exhibition Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am - 5 pm; Saturdays, 10 am - 2 pm
David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA | www.browercenter.org

[Berkeley, CA] (December 15, 2016)—“Polar Obsession,” a photography exhibition featuring nearly 40 striking images of the world’s polar regions from National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen, will go on display at the David Brower Center beginning Thursday, February 16, 2017. The images will take visitors underwater and across the ice, delivering a unique close-up of wildlife in the Arctic and Antarctic. Polar Obsession is organized and traveled by National Geographic.

Nicklen, who regards himself as an ambassador for polar life, grew up in a small Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic. From an early age he learned how to survive in the frozen terrain and developed a passion for the wildlife around him. Today his expeditions take him to the ends of the Earth in pursuit of rare, close-up photographs of polar species, their intriguing ways and their environs. Constantly honing his understanding of wildlife behavior in order to approach the animals in their most intimate natural settings, he uses photography to dispel myths, reveal rarely seen behaviors and intensify the world’s interest in the entire polar ecosystem.

The exhibition is drawn from Nicklen’s book “Polar Obsession” (ISBN: 978-1-4262-0511-8; $50; hardcover), which showcases important insights into animal behavior, the fragile polar environment and climate change that threatens the ice and its inhabitants.  

“Polar Obsession” will include roughly 40 images included in the book, which features Nicklen’s most spectacular encounters from the polar reaches. From huge elephant seals, leopard seals, whales, walruses, narwhals and polar bears to penguins, albatrosses, petrels, arctic cod and tiny krill, Nicklen, an underwater photography specialist, captures the beauty of a wide variety of polar animals, large and small, and the icy paradise in which they live. Each scene is bathed in polar light, surreal and breathtakingly beautiful.  

“The polar regions are disappearing quickly, and I want my photo essays to stand as a reminder of what is at stake. It is my mission to bring the rare, remote and threatened to caring people who can enjoy and help protect these lands and creatures,” he writes in his book introduction.

Of Polar Obsession, David Brower Center’s Executive Director Laurie Rich says, "David Brower believed that if you could show people the remarkable beauty of wild places they would be motivated to save them - even if they'd never physically been there. Paul Nicklen's work, which uses evocative imagery of the polar regions to inspire people to action, is a perfect example of this. His personal mission, "to ignite conversation about the future of our planet's natural wonders," aligns perfectly with the mission of the Brower Center's Hazel Wolf Gallery and its art of advocacy theme. I'm thrilled to bring this important exhibition, which marks the first National Geographic show in the Bay Area since 2009, to the Brower Center community, and look forward to the conversations it will inevitably spark around climate change and our planet's future."

About the David Brower Center
Opened in 2009, the nonprofit David Brower Center advocates for the beauty, diversity, and ecological integrity of Earth. The Brower Center offers educational and arts programs, state of the art conference and event facilities and high-quality office space — all in the greenest building in Berkeley. It is named to honor David Brower, a Berkeley native who many consider the father of the modern environmental movement.

##