Online Exhibition
CHERYL MEDOW
NEW WORK
July 27 - August 29, 2020
Art photographer Cheryl Medow focuses her lens on the avian world to heighten awareness of the importance of these sublime creatures. Since early childhood, whether tending chickens or mimicking the sound of birds, Medow has always had an affection toward these beautiful and evolutionary prehistoric winged beings.
Medow’s first step in creating images is to put herself in nature, traveling to environments where diverse species of birds live; sometimes as close as her backyard, but more often traveling to places far from home. While waiting for the precise moment to capture the image, she studies the surroundings, allowing her to better understand birds in their home environment, looking for food, balancing on a tree branch, hiding from predators, building a nest, courting and fighting for territory; these moments are fascinating and enable her an opportunity for her curiosity and imagination to find expression.
The next step occurs in her studio where images captured in the field find expression as new, imaginative scenes through the use of photographic technology. Against a backdrop of stormy clouds from the Galapagos, the desert landscape of Tucson, Arizona or the Maasai Mara in Kenya, the heightened color of birds conjured by placing the animal somewhere it's never been, are the tools she uses to composite her imagery.
The beauty Medow sees in nature is realized in the final photographic prints she creates. Once the magnificence of this planet and its amazing creatures is seen, her desire to preserve and protect our world it finds shared beliefs in the viewer. We can all be stewards of the sublime beauty of our extraordinary planet.
“Through my Envisioning Habitat series, I present the beauty and majesty of birds to others. They are part of the world around us and must not be forgotten.
If for a moment, the viewer can be transported through my photographic compositions to a new space, where time stands still and everyday problems are set aside, I have accomplished my calling.” - Cheryl Medow
Lappet-faced Vulture, 2020
CROWNED CRANE CALLING, 2019
Maasai Mara, Kenya
Just outside of Richard’s Camp in the Masaii Mara, we found these beautiful Crowned Cranes calling out to each other. I called back to this one, but he didn’t seem to care.
As you can see, he was clearly focused on someone else.
Since the image was only the single bird in an acacia tree, I needed to find a space for him that befitted his magnificent crown, and the grasses and the meandering river from a trip to the Louisiana bayous seemed fitting. Wouldn’t it wonderful, if they lived there too?
Crowned Crane Calling, 2019
SPARROWHAWK
Maasai Mara, Kenya
While driving along the road in Kenya, we came across this Grand Sparrowhawk eating a bird.
It was strange to see a bird eating another bird, but it’s part of nature.
While I marveled at the sight and was snapping away, another vehicle came onto the scene. They stopped hoping to see a lion or a cheetah, but when they saw it was just a bird, they drove off. My hope is by showing these birds to the world at large, more people will see the beauty and variety of birdlife as I do.
Sparrowhawk, 2020
WHITE IBIS WITH FISH
Sanibel Island, Florida
J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel Island, Florida is where I caught up this White Ibis skipping along the sandy shoreline. But what I didn’t notice until I got home, was that he had a nice sized fish wrapped up in the seaweed he was holding in his beak.
White Ibis with Fish, 2014
INFORMATION
Archival Pigment Prints
Photographs are available in the following sizes:
Paper size: 18 x 14 1/2 in., Edition of 25
Paper size: 26 x 21 in., Edition of 10
Paper size: 37 x 30 in., Edition of 6
Paper size: 44 x 35 in., Edition of 5* (*selected prints only)
Please consult PDNB Gallery with questions about pricing, framing or other inquiries.
