The Habitat Diorama in/a Film - Text 2
In any event, these techniques, whether in the form of the diorama or of moving images shot by the camera (the oxymoron is acknowledged), consist in documentary illustration. While the term “illustration” refers to the graphic act of fabricating and interpreting, the term “documentary,” for its part, is a reference to the idea of taking from reality. Combining the two makes it possible to capture the elsewhere (of both its aura and its physical elements) and to communicate the experience of this elsewhere after the fact.
The accumulation of graphic actions which makes it possible to transform a voyage of exploration and hunting into a study and, afterwards, into a work of visual art, is significant. The Special Collections department in the AMNH research library, accessible in part online, can help us trace some of these actions over time. For example, at the beginning of an expedition there are maps and experimental equipment to be taken along on voyages of exploration to carry out the work of observing, studying and gathering.
