Frans Lanting’s photographic exhibition of LIFE: A Journey Through Time opened with a visit from H.M. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on the occasion of the World Wildlife Fund’s 50th anniversary conference, which was held aboard the SS Rotterdam, in Rotterdam Harbour, the Netherlands. Lanting met Queen Beatrix and gave her a personal tour of his exhibition. “It was truly an honor for me,” he said. In 2001 Lanting was inducted as a Knight in the Royal Order of the Golden Ark, the Netherlands’ highest conservation honor, by the late H.R.H. Prince Bernhard, Queen Beatrix’s father.

 

The LIFE exhibition is based on Frans Lanting’s epic multi-year project, LIFE: A Journey Through Time, a lyrical interpretation of life on earth from its earliest beginnings to its present diversity. The exhibition was staged in connection with the World Wildlife Fund’s annual international conference. At the event, Lanting was appointed as an official Ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund.

 

Lanting’s LIFE exhibition will be on display through August 1 aboard the newly restored SS Rotterdam, known as “The Grande Dame.” Now permanently moored in Rotterdam Harbour as a hotel and museum, the SS Rotterdam was the last great Dutch “ship of state,” employing the finest artisans from the Netherlands in her construction.

 

On August 25, 2012, the World Wildlife Fund Netherlands will host a performance of Frans Lanting’s symphony, LIFE: A Journey Through Time, at the prestigious Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The LIFE symphony features Lanting’s imagery paired with the music of Philip Glass in a one-hour multimedia orchestral production that celebrates the splendor of life on Earth.

 

 

 

Photos courtesy of Rob Doolaard

More photos of Frans Lanting and Queen Beatrix at the LIFE exhibition may be seen at AD Netherlands:

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/2835/planet/photoalbum/detail/3252466/348836/17/Koningin-Beatrix-krijgt-knuffelbeer-cadeau.dhtml