‘La Terre Vue du Ciel’- Earth from above

The French Embassy and the Singapore Environment Council present the world-renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s exhibition ‘La Terre Vue du Ciel’ or ‘Earth from Above’. It will be held on Orchard Road stretching across Liat Towers, Far East Shopping Centre, Hilton Hotel and Forum Galleria from October 27, 2005 to January 17, 2006. A first of its kind in South East Asia, the exhibition is an aerial portrait of our planet captured in 120 breathtaking photos. The event will be launched in conjunction with the Clean and Green Week of Singapore, which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Yann Arthus-Bertrand will be present at the opening ceremony!


Well, it's already opened. I am sure many have seen his book at shops all over the island. Especially memorable is the one featuring the heart-shaped mangrove.

Reproduced from his website:


HEART IN VOH, NEW CALEDONIA (FRENCH OVERSEAS TERRITORY) (20°57' S, 164°41' E).

A mangrove swamp is a semi-aquatic forest common to muddy tropical coastlines with fluctuating tides. Made up of halophytes (plants that can grow in a saline environment), with a predominance of mangroves, these swamps cover almost one-quarter of tropical coasts and a total of some 56,000 square miles (15 million hectares) worldwide. This represents only half of their original extent, because these fragile swamps are continually shrinking due to the overexploitation of resources, agricultural and urban expansion, the creation of shrimp farms, and pollution. The mangrove nonetheless remains as indispensable to sea fauna and to the equilibrium of the shoreline as it is to the local economy. New Caledonia, a group of Pacific islands covering 7,000 square miles (18,575 km²), has 80 square miles (200 k²) of a fairly low (25 to 33 feet, or 8 to 10 m) but very dense mangrove swamp, primarily on the west coast of the largest island, Grande Terre. At certain spots in the interior that are not reached by seawater except at high tides, vegetation gives way to bare, oversalted stretches called “tannes,” such as this one near the town of Voh, where nature has carved this clearing in the form of a heart.

So today, before dinner, V and I strolled through the exhibition.

It would have been a much more enjoyable experience if it was in air-conditioned comfort. The irony.