A fascinating overview of the extraordinary diversity of Australia's marine and freshwater fishes, illustrated with Roger Swainston's breathtaking artwork
Roger Swainston is one of the foremost marine-life artists in the
world, with more than 25 years of artistic and scientific
endeavour. His paintings are renowned around the world for their
accuracy and vibrancy.
After training as a zoologist at the University of Western
Australia, Swainston spent several years in the Department of
Ichthyology at the Western Australian Museum, working on the
taxonomy of fishes and the re-cataloguing of the museum's extensive
collection of specimens. In the ensuing years he has taken part in
scientific surveys of a wide range of environments- from the deep
waters off the North West Shelf to the inshore waters of the
southern coast of Australia and the coral reefs of Papua New
Guinea. As expedition artist with a team of international
scientists, he spent two months surveying the fish life of the
remote Clipperton Atoll in the far eastern Pacific. Later he worked
with the Natural History Museum of Paris and Pro-Natura
International, portraying the biodiversity of the marine
environments and freshwater streams of Vanuatu. More recently he
has accompanied scientists surveying the biodiversity of northern
Mozambique and Madagascar.
Swainston has dived, snorkelled and painted fishes right around the
coast of Australia and in many other locations worldwide, including
the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Caribbean, and areas throughout the
Indian and Pacific oceans. For many years he has closely monitored
a number of sites on Ningaloo Reef, off Western Australia, spending
countless hours under water drawing the reefs and observing and
photographing fishes to produce panoramic scenes of the
environments. He has also worked extensively with professional
fishers around Australia, studying their catches and fishing
methods.
His work has been included in many well known field guides to
fishes, including Sea Fishes of Southern Australia, Marine Fishes
of North western Australia, Reef Fishes of New Guinea, Freshwater
Fishes of New Guinea and Fishes of the Eastern Pacific. He has also
illustrated major scientific works, such as Sharks and Rays of
Australia and guides to the Emperors and Snappers of the world, as
well as contributing illustrations to numerous other publications.
His artworks have been used by numerous scientific institutions,
including the Smithsonian Institute, the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Australia's Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and the
Natural History Museum of Paris, as well as many government
environmental and fisheries agencies both in Australia and
abroad.
Swainston has held solo exhibitions in Sydney and Fremantle, and in
France. His paintings are held by private collectors around the
world, and by institutions including the Ministry of the
Environment and the Musee des Arts et Traditions Populaire in
France, the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco, the National
Archives of Australia, and the Western Australian Museum. Several
documentaries about his underwater work in the Red Sea and on
Ningaloo Reef have been widely broadcast internationally.
Roger Swainston presently lives and works in Fremantle, Western
Australia, with his partner Catherine and their three children.
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