Inspired by the IUCN Red List with more than 12,000 threatened animal species, Erik Hijweege (b. 1963, The Netherlands) started work on Endangered, a photographic series depicting threatened animal species deep-frozen in ice. For this series, he employed a historic photographic technique; by using the wet plate collodion process, Hijweege has made unique glass prints of animals, including the Sumatran tiger, polar bear, black rhinoceros and whale shark, beautiful but all threatened in their survival. By capturing these vulnerable species in ice and depicting them by means of a process that goes back to the very beginnings of photography, Hijweege creates the feeling as if the animals encased are already extinct.
The book Endangered is released November 2014, and an exhibition of the series runs from 13 December 2014 - 29 March 2015 at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam.