WRITTEN IN STONE
At the point where Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meet, thin plateaus, or tepuis, of ancient sandstone rise two kilometers above the earth, standing sentry among the clouds. Each tepui has its own ecosystem, and the summits are home to rare, endemic species, including mosses, carnivorous plants, giant tarantulas, and miniscule black frogs. The rock formations found on the summits, some of the oldest such formations on earth, have been carved into fantastical, other-worldly shapes by relentless, lashing storms of scouring wind, battering rain, and sheering hail of rocks and sand.
Lena Herzog visited two of the plateaus, Mount Roraima and Kukenán, during expeditions in 2004 and 2012, to create the photographs of Written in Stone. Not unlike her work devoted to trees in winter, the images portray the most robust, essential, and ultimately elegant underlying structures of the ancient rocks—structures and forms that have been left after billions of years of erosion and tumult by the elements.
