Wildlife in Archives and Art: Creating Awareness Through Visual Culture

9/2/25

National Wildlife Day, observed on September 4, offers a framework for examining how cultural materials, particularly art and photography, shape public understanding of biodiversity and conservation. Within the Miami-Dade Public Library System’s Digital Collections, representations of wildlife emerge across multiple formats, from documentary photographs to promotional ephemera and contemporary artworks. Together, these materials reveal the evolving role of visual culture in constructing awareness of Florida’s natural environment.

The Tropical Trails magazine covers of the 1980s situate wildlife at the center of local environmental discourse. Produced by the then Metro Dade County Park and Recreation Department (now Miami-Dade Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces), the publication used wildlife imagery to connect environmental themes with public life. The 1983 cover featuring owls and the 1985 cover depicting an egret emphasize birds as symbolic markers of ecological integrity. By highlighting these species in a widely distributed publication, the department integrated wildlife imagery into everyday civic life, effectively merging environmental education with recreation.

Historical photography further contributes to this visual record. Gleason Waite Romer’s 1938 image of wild ducks near the Nautilus Hotel documents a shoreline where urban and natural environments intersected before the intensification of Miami Beach development. Similarly, mid-century promotional ephemera depicting alligator hatchlings underscores how wildlife imagery was mobilized to attract tourism, blending ecological spectacle with commercial interests. Both examples demonstrate how photographic and printed images record ecological conditions while shaping cultural perceptions of wildlife.

Contemporary artistic works within the collection extend this representational tradition into more interpretive registers. Manatees by artist Edwin Villasmil situates marine mammals within seagrass ecosystems, foregrounding their dependence on fragile habitats such as the Everglades. Alex Sanchez’s artwork, in which turtles are juxtaposed against abstract washes of color, further abstracts the relationship between species and environment. Rather than straightforward documentation, these works operate as interpretive gestures that provoke reflection on human responsibility for ecological preservation.