Galerie Claude Samuel proudly presents Aves , an exhibition of work by Ukraine born, New York based artist Elena Lyakir. Aves is the artist's ongoing series of visually poetic images of birds in flight, which serves as an exploration of how we relate to the visual experience emotionally. In edition the gallery will include work from Lyakir’s Skins series p hotographed at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. S kins sheds light on the museum extensive specimen bird collection which is not accessible to the public. These haunting yet beautiful images evoke feelings of nostalgia and intrigue about nature’s course of life and death.

Using nature as her primary subject, Lyakir pushes the photographic medium to suggest the illusion of painterly abstractions by employing tilt-shift lenses which allow room for spontaneity and often help reveal the unseen. Through the medium of photography she examines how emotions and memories are captured in photographs, representing reality in symbols. Each photograph is a visually poetic metaphor for complexities of the human condition. The images involve the viewer through self-reflection by facilitating the sensation of feeling, and confronting the awareness of their own state of being.

“I see nature as the first and most fundamental source of essence and myth, while birds are universal symbols of hope, freedom, and migration. I am inspired by nature’s beauty and nourishment, which is always in despite of its unpredictability and fierceness. The emotional ramifications of my own diaspora closely relate to the sentiments I feel towards nature. I am always in a flux, on a journey to find a place to call home and that constant search is my inspiration.”