With icy blue eyes, the snow leopard pierces the viewer as if it were looking straight through the canvas - alert, dignified, determined. Stefanie Gendera's work plays with strong contrasts: the elegant leopard, painted in a reduced black and white aesthetic, appears almost ghostly, as if it does not belong in this garish, chaotic world. And that is probably precisely the message.
An apocalyptic-looking urban backdrop spreads out in the background: Graffiti walls, colourful splashes of paint, a man in a gas mask - a symbol of environmental destruction, alienation and the consequences of human greed. The clear, stylised depiction of the animal stands in sharp contrast to the gloomy chaos around it. The graffiti tags at the bottom of the picture reveal the year it was created: 2018, but the topic is more topical than ever.
Gendera's image brings the vulnerable beauty of one of the most endangered big cats into a context that is loud and uncomfortable. The snow leopard symbolises the loss of wilderness - and the question: how much space do we still leave for the wild, the free, the untouched?
A work that is both aesthetically captivating and socially stirring - combining animal portraiture, street art and social criticism in a unique way.
I have brought back many photo impressions from my travels. So that you can also enjoy the impressive pictures, I offer selected photos here that can be printed on canvas, as posters, on acrylic glass and even more media. For more travel inspiration, visit my website.. Read more…