Cayman Islands-based artist Ellen Cuylaerts photographs aquatic wildlife around the world, highlighting the distinct connections between man, animal, and environment. Abandoning the tradition of straightforward, documentary photography, Cuylaerts chooses to convey her subjective perception of her animal encounters. The resulting images document the fleeting moment in which photographer and animal establish mutual understanding and two worlds connect.

 

Cuylaerts researches and chooses her subjects based on conservation and environmental concerns in an effort to foster awareness regarding climate change and loss of habitat. In images such as In Between Worlds, the artist captures a lone seal amid a snowy landscape, but a fishing ship looms in the background as a reference to the predatory dangers presented by humans. In her underwater photographs, such as Wild, Cuylaerts captures a misunderstood shark with compassion, the dramatic, filtered light mediated and amplified by her lens to capture the emotional affect of the encounter.