Explore Chattanooga Spring 2024

Explore | WHAT TO SEE

TENNESSEE AQUARIUM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK EXHIBITION BEGINS MARCH 1 W hen it comes to their names, some animals could use a bet ter publicist because, to the unfamiliar ear, there’s little about “River Chub” or “Least Rasbora” that spurs the imagination or sparks a desire to protect them. That’s where award-winning National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore comes in.

Through this 17-year (and counting) effort, Sartore has archived stunning portraiture of more than 15,000 species across more than 50,000 images. He estimates completing the archive could take another seven to eight years. More than merely ticking each and every box on an exhaustively ambitious list, Sartore hopes these images inspire wonder and a sense of urgency to protect all life on Earth. Presented on plain black or white backgrounds, Photo Ark viewers are given no choice but to consider each animal’s unique qualities in isolation and, hopefully, feel moved to safeguard them. “The Photo Ark is really my last-ditch, desperate effort to get people to care about nature,” Sartore explains in the introduction to a documentary about the project. Beginning March 1 and continuing through the end of the year, the Aquarium will exhibit two dozen images from the Photo Ark throughout its campus.

The chub and rasbora — both freshwater fish species — are two of the dozens of animals Sartore has visited the Tennessee Aquarium to photograph as part of the Photo Ark, his attempt to document all species in human care at zoos, aquariums and wildlife sanctuaries around the world.

Regardless of the setting in which the images were made, the Photo Ark aims to level the playing field and inspire an equal sense of wonder and importance for all animals — whether big or small, world-beloved or largely unknown. “The black and white backgrounds are a great

All images credit: Joe Saratore/National Geographic Photo Ark

Spring 2024