This body of work tests what becomes possible when proximity displaces symbolism.

Working in high-key polar environments, the images approach the polar bear not as icon but as encountered presence—breathing, resting, moving, looking back.

Against near-continuous white, the bear occupies the frame with material weight. Presence here is not uniform: it ranges from the density of direct gaze to the vulnerability of sleep, from the strangeness of a retreating figure to the intimacy of bodies pressed together. High-key rendering doesn't dissolve form but isolates it, stripping context to leave only the animal and what passes between us.

These images step outside wildlife narrative while remaining with the animal. They ask what remains when the bear is permitted to be creature rather than symbol—when the task becomes not representation but encounter.