The Web

Israel, Summer 2017

Our ecology is fragile, its balance hanging precariously from one moment to the next, even the most temporary stability dependent upon utter constancy.

Last summer colossal pale stalactites appeared spanning among trees along a stream on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Israel. This new, ethereal landscape had been woven into the fabric of existence due to an explosion in the population of long-jawed spiders who inhabit this area where entire trees became covered with giant, glittering cobwebs, a rare sight in the Middle East.

However, the advent of winter and the drop in temperatures entailed certain death for the mosquito population in and around the stream ending the spiders’ abundant food source and making all this gothic beauty disappear with the first winter rain.