The Nature of Imitation – Yola Monakhov Stockton

Looking closely at birds in the fields through the materials of colour film and studio props, The Nature of Imitation considers the physical and metaphorical qualities of the landscape. Like natural history drawings, the photographs reimagine traditions of landscape representation from Renaissance tapestries, the early history of photography, and Modernist painting and sculpture. Collaborating with scientists and naturalists in Massachusetts, New York and Costa Rica, Monakhov Stockton gained access to wild birds caught for banding and release, and those captive in labs. Alongside photographs made in woods, orchards, and gardens, the work cultivates a vocabulary of techniques that attend to the process of picture-making and the emotions and ethics of looking at other creatures.

With a foreword by Elisabeth Biondi.