Photographs from "The High Life" at Marie Selby Gardens Downtown Sarasota Campus. Photo by Cecilia Marty.

This Saturday, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens will unveil its latest exhibition at its downtown Sarasota Campus—The High Life: Contemporary Photography and the Birds. The exhibition, a collaboration with the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, pays homage to the organization’s downtown campus as not only a sanctuary for rare and exotic plants, but a home for birds as well. “We have uncovered that more than 160 species of birds can be found at this campus,” says Jennifer Rominiecki, president and CEO of Selby Gardens. “We’re part of a migratory path here, with our lush gardens and waterfront this campus has become an incredible habitat for birds.”

The High Life is part of what Rominiecki refers to as “a museum without walls.” Around 70 works of art from more than 50 photographers are situated throughout the campus, both inside—within the walls of the Richard and Ellen Sandor Museum of Botany & the Arts—and outside throughout the campus’s gardens. Although the photography all centers around birds, the work shown varies just as widely as the different species of birds found in Selby Garden’s downtown campus. Inside, visitors can see Spanish photographer Mario Cea’s The Blue Trail—a streaking image of a kingfisher diving into water in precise detail—next to Xavi Bou’s Orthinagraphies #102. The Blue Trail is the product of a wildlife photographer, whereas Orthinagraphies #102, which saw Bou use high-speed cameras to photograph the flight patterns of birds within an arctic environment, is a far more abstract work of art.

“Cea is a wildlife photographer—he’s one of those people who just disappears into the wilderness in search of his shots,” says William Ewing, one of the guest curators of The High Life. “With Bou, he photographs the flight patterns of these birds and depending on the bird, the patterns they leave behind can be very different from each other. By showing the landscape in which he took the pictures, however, he roots the abstraction in reality.”

Outside in the campus’s gardens, the photographs are printed onto aluminum mounts and nestled amongst the dense flora for which Selby Gardens is best known for, blurring the lines between art and nature. “The artwork itself is very compelling, but there is something about the combination of the work and the environment that makes for an incredibly engaging experience,” says Dr. David Berry, vice president of visitor engagement and chief museum curator at Selby Gardens.

The High Life: Contemporary Photography and the Birds, July 19-September 14, 1534 Mound St, Sarasota, 34236.

Photographs from "The High Life" at Marie Selby Gardens Downtown Sarasota Campus. Photo by Cecilia Marty.

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