Beverly Joubert's photography exhibition "Illuminations of Africa's Wildlife: Its Beauty, Its Struggle to Survive" is not just a collection of stunning black and white color images of lions, cheetahs, elephants and rhinoceros -- it is a call to action.
"What we are dealing with right now is a battle over these animals because we are losing them at an alarming rate," said Joubert's husband, Dereck, during a conference call with The Park Record from their home in Botswana, South Africa. "We lose five lions a day, a rhino every seven hours and elephants at a rate of five an hour. There is a massive decline, and we, at the risk of our lives, do whatever we can about that.
"We thought we need to do a fine-art exhibition about these animals, largely because when these animals disappear, we will lose a lot and we need to illuminate exactly what we will lose when that happens," he said.
The exhibit, which will open at the Kimball Art Center with a member reception on Wednesday, Jan. 20, focuses on the beauty of the animals.
"It is exciting to bring Africa to North America and to enlighten people of what we have," Beverly said. "I think, too often, that people don't realize we have an incredible variety of animals and unfolding stories. This is a way for us to discuss the important and difficult issues."