Hoshino and Joseph

I love this pole. It is a master of one art form memorializing a master of another. The figure at the base of the pole is the wildlife photographer Michio Hoshino. Even if you don’t know who Hoshino was, you’ve seen his work; it stands along that of Ansel Adams.

The incomparable Tommy Joseph carved a memorial pole for Hoshino. Hoshino kneels at the base of the pole, camera in hand preparing his next shot. The pole above him is filled with wildlife he photographed. A blue bear, a whale, a caribou and a raven rest on his shoulders as he looks out past Vitskari towards the Pacific.

These creatures that Joseph carved, Hoshino photographed. The two side by side show the same creatures as perceived by different mediums, one a reflection on the other. Both elevated in the process.