Wild Things

German photographer, eco-artist and devoted friend to the animals Jaschinski offers a tribute to the wild kingdom in this coffee-table book of animal and nature portraits. But she may not trust her pictures to speak louder than words: next to photographs of wild or captive creatures and pristine or eroded landscapes, Jachinski's apology to the animals for mankind's destructive dominion on earth is interjected like the voiceover to a National Geographic Explorer documentary.""Dear animals/once upon a time/nearly four million years ago/earth was devoid of/life,"" she writes, as photographs reveal a red desert landscape, the night sky and cloud masses above a lake. Big concepts (""life,""""motivation,""""captivity"") appear one to a page, set in huge letters, to punctuate Jaschinski's sorrowful letter.""When life did appear it was first in water/then... /higher organisms appeared which gave rise to more complex life,"" she continues. Here, proud black and white profiles of a panther and a llama alternate with untouched jungle and desert landscapes. When Jaschinski addresses what she sees as the tragedy of animal captivity, her subjects appear forlorn rather than noble: a caged polar bear glows like a ghost in the corner of the picture; behind bars, an elephant raises its trunk in a silent scream. And, she says,""we do not protect your/habitats/or the ecosystem""--so""where will you/live/when we reintroduce you to the/wild?"" Jaschinski's environmentalist point--her celebration of animals'""unrestricted existence"" and lamentation of modernity's toxic effects--is well taken, but the unsubtle design of this cri de coeur undercuts the message. 88 four-color photographs.