'Hotspots' on display at Hotel Indonesia lobby

JAKARTA (JP): The lobby of the 37-year-old Hotel Indonesia looks slightly different since Wednesday.

The changed look of the interior of the oldest "modern building" in the country is thanks to the display of 35 breath- taking poster-sized photographs of some of the most endangered species on earth. The exhibition, titled Hotspots, is sponsored by Mexico-based Cemex, one of the world's leading cement companies, will adorn the hotel lobby until Thursday next week.

The careful composition of a green and black poison arrow frog (Dendrobates auratus) on red-yellow-green leaves contrasts spectacularly with the atmosphere of the hotel lobby.

Shot by Art Wolfe in the rain forest of Panama, the picture highlights in splendid detail the texture of the animal.

One of the most attractive shots in the week-long exhibition is the photograph of a smiling Jivaro Indian mother and her cute baby boy. The faces of the half-naked woman and her unclothed son remind visitors of similar tribes found in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

But the red horizontal mark on the woman's face and the use of tree bark to help tighten the cloth she wears point to a different culture.

According to the photographer, the Jivaro Indians, also known as the Shuar and Achuar, are one of the indigenous groups living in the foothills of the Andes and the Amozanian lowlands.

Indonesia is represented in photos of the komodo (the giant reptile) and the orangutan.

Unlike the works of many professional nature photographers, the pieces on display are mostly close-ups, giving the impression to some visitors that some of the pictures could have been snapped in a studio.

Most of the portraits provide close looks at the animals, plants and tribes from different continents and give little insight to the various habitats.

The organizers have not designed the exhibition to attract photo enthusiasts but instead have aimed at sending a message to a broader audience about the urgent need to maintain the diversity of life.

"It's our firm commitment to the environment, not only in Indonesia but all over the world," Francisco Noriega, president of Cemex Indonesia, said.

According to Noriega, the same photos have been presented in exhibitions in major cities in countries such as the United States, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela.

The 35 photographs on display at Hotel Indonesia are copies taken from a luxuriously appointed book financed by Cemex and bearing the title: Hotspots: Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions.

The book and the photo exhibitions are evidence of the company's concern and commitment to promote nature conservation. And not wishing to commercialize its concern, none of the pictures in the exhibition are offered for sale.

Similarly, the hard-cover books with 431 pages and weighing almost five kilograms are not for sale.

"We're not doing business. We get no profits from this exhibition and the book publication. We just want to share our concerns for nature and therefore we need to pass the message," Noriega said.

In Indonesia, he added, Cemex would distribute 300 copies of the books for free to certain individuals and institutions, such as public libraries and universities across the country.

"Selling the books would bring money to us but it's not our goal because the books would only be read by a few people and our message wouldn't be passed along," Noriega said.

The book contains 260 photos printed on exclusive glossy paper, 29 centimeters by 35.5 centimeters. In addition to the endangered animals, flora and fauna, there are also pictures of poachers and hunters, and abundant data on the species and their nature.

The photos, taken by several photographers, including Alain Compost who's based in Bogor, Indonesia, appear in different sizes, including 5.7 cm by 4.1 cm and 5.6 cm by 8.8 cm.

The book is jointly written by president of Conservation International Russel A. Mittermeier, independent scientist and a fellow of Oxford University Norman Myers, Mexican nature photographer Patricio Robles Gil, and marine biologist Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier.

Last year, Cemex launched its first book on a similar issue titled Megadiversity: Earth's Biologically Wealthiest Nations, which underlined the biological importance of 17 countries.

Hotspots focuses on 25 countries, mainly tropical and Mediterranean, with high species diversity.

Harrison Ford, now a member of the Board of Conservation International, stated in his foreword of Hotspots: "Happily, this book provides hope and lets some rays of light shine in at the end of the long, gloomy tunnel of extinction."

According to Noriega, the exhibition will travel to other big cities in Indonesia, such as Medan, Makassar, Bandung and Surabaya. (bsr)