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National Geographic photographer to share stories, discoveries of ancient Egypt at Petroleum Museum
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Petroleum Museum presents National Geographic photographer Kenneth Garrett
National Geographic photographer Kenneth Garrett will speak at the Petroleum Museum as part of the Arlen Edgar Distinguished Lecture Series. The event begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Reservations are full, but call 742-7466 to be put on the waiting list. Read about Garrett in Tuesday’s Culture section.
Posted: Monday, May 11, 2015 11:30 pm
The origins of civilization: while many rarely ponder the lives of those who came long before us, it is a topic on which National Geographic photographer Kenneth Garrett has built his career. From Europe to Asia to Africa and the Americas, Garrett has documented the exploration of ancient civilizations around the world.
Tonight, Garrett will share some of his experiences exploring the kingdoms of ancient Egypt — and many of the major discoveries he has photographed — at the Petroleum Club.
“It’s going to be a basic primer on everything you need to know about Egyptology wrapped around the latest discoveries,” Garrett said. “It will be an exploration of the Egyptian world and specifically look at the great new discoveries of the last 20 years in Egypt.”
Garrett began his exploration into Egyptian archeology in the mid-1990s when the idea was proposed for him to do a story on the Old Kingdom in Egypt. Since then, Garrett said he has published 13 stories and six books looking at the area’s history.
Garrett said his role in the archeological process is crucial to preserving the process and documenting each step of the way.
“Archeology is destructive,” Garrett said. “When you dig a site, you destroy the way in, then you pick up what you find and when you’re all done, there’s nothing left. What’s really important to me is that you document that process, you document the moment of discovery.”
From discovery to the cataloging and restoration of artifacts, Garrett said by documenting every part of the process it allows him to tell a complete story about a “person, a king or a civilization.”
Most importantly, however, Garrett said it is crucial for the findings to be shared in an accessible way.
“If you don’t do that documentation and then publish it into popular media, all of that archeologist’s work sort of doesn’t exist,” Garrett said. “It’s just sitting in a file folder on a shelf in a museum somewhere and nobody ever sees it or knows about it. And all the artifacts are in a box somewhere and so documenting and publishing it in the popular press is critical, I think, for everyone to know what’s going on out there.”
Tonight’s presentation will be an opportunity for those who did not get a chance to see his work to catch up on what they have missed, Garrett said. Even for those familiar with the stories he has done, Garrett added that the format of the presentation will allow him to share more behind-the-scenes type stories that didn’t make it into print.
“Too much adventure is the sign of poor planning,” Garrett said. “Sometimes when we do talks we can tell a few more anecdotes about the rigors of getting lost in a jungle and things like that which don’t actually make it into the stories.”
Although Garrett said he has been a photographer since grade school, it was not what he studied in college. Instead, he followed advice given to him by the director of National Geographic who encouraged him to expand his areas of expertise.
“He said to get a good liberal arts education so that when you take pictures, you have something to say,” Garrett said. “So I went off and studied anthropology and I’ve been following that ever since.”
Garrett’s presentation is part of the Arlen Edgar Distinguished Lecture Series at the Petroleum Museum. The event begins at 7 p.m. today. It’s free, but seating will be limited. Before the presentation, the museum will host a “Make Your Own Mummy” event for children and families from 6-6:45 p.m. in the Education Hall.
For more information, go to petroleummuseum.org.
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