Invisible

Invisible, 2011 Wilma Hurskainen

"I admired chameleons very much. I didn’t know yet that not only chameleons but also other lizards and eg many insects, frogs, fish, seahorses and beetles can change their colours. It is commonly assumed that chameleons change their colours according to the background but that is not true. They change their colour mainly for communication purposes or, as I read in a book, to suit their moods. I also used to admire squirrels and European hares and other animals that changed their camouflaging or were otherwise able to hide in their environment such as lions, tigers and zebras. However, from the photographs it seemed that the colouring of zebras did not resemble the colours of the African savannah. Later I found out that lions hunting for zebras are colour blind. Furthermore, zebras in a herd form a striped mass that makes it difficult for lions to spot individual zebras. On the other hand, zebras are also colour blind and cannot tell a yellow lion from green grass…"

Texto y fotografía: Wilma Hurskainen