Cranes: Beyond the Blue Gate
In 2004, I began photographing local and migratory Sandhill Cranes and became enchanted with this ancient, adaptive, elegant, family-oriented, dancing bird. It is understandable that the crane symbolizes well-being, good fortune and long life in diverse cultures and times.
The Guardian Crane was an early image in the series and is a central one. When we visited London’s National Gallery in 2002, I was taken with a small Hans Memling panel depicting cranes. Watching over family and friends, a crane holds a stone that would drop and wake him, should he doze. The Guardian Crane in my work has come to represent the idea of the delicate/robust Sandhill Crane – part of the oldest avian species – as an environmental and spiritual sentinel. They renewed my delight in photography and engagement with our environment.
Diane Farris
