A new book containing nearly 200 photos and several essays explores the beauty, history and significance of one of the country’s most remote National Parks near Key West: the Dry Tortugas.
The book’s author and photographer captures two especially telling images of the precious area reachable only by boat or seaplane. One image shows a lush, green safe haven for nesting seabirds before Hurricane Ian; another one — after Ian — shows a barren, brown area stripped of its dense foliage.
The shots reveal a dichotomous reality about the Dry Tortugas slowly slipping away: the ecosystem has been both resilient and fragile, once able to grow back after sudden destruction and now subject to stark changes brought on by warming waters, marine disease and intense storms over the years that make recovery increasingly difficult.
READ MORE: A ‘catastrophe’ in the Lower Keys: Summer heatwave wipes out iconic elkhorn coral
The photos were taken by Florida Keys-based professional photographer Ian Wilson-Navarro who says he gets to capture what’s “outside of the gaze of everyday humanity.” They’re included in his book: Dry Tortugas: Stronghold of Nature.
Julia Cooper
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WLRN
Wilson-Navarro first began documenting the Dry Tortugas in 2021 when he embarked on a month-long artist residency funded by the National Parks Arts Foundation. The National Parks Arts Foundation funds residency programs in parks including Death Valley, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, and Big Bend among others.
“I recognized that it might be the best chance for me to step back in time and see what the Keys used to look like,” Wilson-Navarro told WLRN.
Wilson-Navarro, a Florida Keys native, grew up in Key Largo.
Julia Cooper
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WLRN
He spent four years applying for the coveted position before he was accepted. During his month living on Loggerhead Key, he and fellow local artist Austin Armstrong, who practices a Japanese fish printing technique called gyotaku, were able to tag alongside park employees and volunteers on turtle nesting and bird survey endeavors.
The two artists saw and experienced the Dry Tortugas in a way that few across the globe are able to. After the residency, Wilson-Navarro returned to the Dry Tortugas several times.
“I’d like this book to last as a visual legacy for a place that has already changed so much,” he said.
There’s a story behind each photograph, according to Wilson-Navarro, whether it’s swimming off the beach to find a juvenile damselfish finding refuge in the same spot as a spiny lobster, taking photos of the Milky Way with a rum cocktail in hand or coming back to once-vibrant brain and stony coral turned to “gray boulders.”
“What makes the Tortugas special is it’s lucky to be remote,” he said. “I hope that there are more people out there who can look at this book and act more consciously when enjoying these locations, and hopefully help others act with a reinvigorated consciousness of the environment around them.”
Book Events
Saturday, Nov. 2: Key West Bookfest at the Key West Library
Monday, Nov. 4: Book talk and signing at Books & Books Key West
Thursday, Nov. 7: Distinguished Speaker Series from the Key West Art & Historical Society at the Tropic Cinema
Friday, Nov. 15: Gallery show and book signing at Ocean Sotheby’s International Realty Offices in Key West
Sunday, Nov. 24: Book presentation at the Miami Book Fair
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