Wild Window is Italian photographer Andrea Ferrari's (born 1970) personal cabinet of curiosities, a collection of photos of taxidermy animals, shells, eggs and coral that explores the gaze as a universal trait shared by both humans and animals. In its format and design, Wild Window recalls a naturalist's notebook, full of wonderful creatures observed on an imaginary journey to exotic lands. The book thus shows our age-old desire to record and classify nature, as well our passion for reliving it through studying specimens of flora and fauna. Yet Ferrari's vision is far from impersonal or scientific. He arranges his photos in a loose grid rich with ambivalence and associations, and colors many images a soft, muted pink that references the familiar hue of human skin. In Ferrari's hands, nature is an interaction where creatures observe us as we observe them, and we weave intuitive narrative connections between all that we see.
