A Mother's Balancing Act
Mountain Gorilla with Twins · Rwanda
Rain had driven the mountain gorillas up a steep hillside. Carrying twins, this mother settled to feed on a patch of nettles while keeping both infants close. At the time, they were only the fifth set of twins recorded in mountain gorillas.
The silverback decided he wanted the same nettles. She clearly objected and voiced her displeasure, but ultimately moved to another patch, still managing both babies as she went. In this moment, she looks askance at him after giving up her feeding spot. Her expression—and the two infants gathered against her—is what made the photograph for me.
I had the remarkable opportunity to see the twins again in 2022, when they were eleven years old and well on their way to becoming silverbacks themselves. Years after I made this photograph, their mother was killed when lightning struck during a storm. The twins were unharmed.
Knowing what happened after that brief moment made the photograph even more meaningful to me.
Recognition
This photograph was first exhibited in the 2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History
Museum in London and later traveled with the exhibition to galleries around the world.
In 2021-2022, when the Natural History Museum brought its Unforgettable Behavior exhibition to the Smithsonian's
National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., this photograph was chosen for the large exterior banner
promoting the exhibition.
Seeing it displayed there meant a great deal to me. For a photograph made during one brief encounter in Rwanda
to be seen by millions of visitors at the Smithsonian was something I never could have imagined when I pressed
the shutter.