Elena Lyakir

As an immigrant, I am perpetually searching for a place that feels like home, and my creative expression stems from this longing. Although my work is not a direct commentary on my experiences as a refugee, it serves as a metaphor for emotions that crystallize within when we search for our place in the world. The ethereal, poetically layered landscapes and bird photographs I create symbolize the complexities that shape and color our perception of reality, as we all perceive the world through a unique and individual lens.
Through my work I explore themes of memory, perception, belonging, and nostalgia, gently unraveling the trauma of displacement. Layer by layer, I seek to rebuild the fragmented soul by filling in the gaps left by upheaval and disruption, restoring a sense of wholeness and continuity aligned with the natural world. I attempt to ignite a dialogue between internal and external landscapes, transcending the boundaries of reality and imagination. My work is a meditation on the poignant duality of beauty intertwined with a sense of nostalgia, which the dislocated, like myself, are destined to inhabit.
My practice is often informed by site-specific work. The preparation for a new project involves immersing myself in a lands...

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS:
2016 Skins, La Maison de la Photographie, Lille, France
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2023 Spring, curated by Marianne L. Barthel, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Arts And Humanities, Lebanon, NH
2019 Quivers Of Spring, curated by Heidi Lee-Komaromi, The Spur, Southampton, NY
2017 Aves, Galerie Claude Samuel, Paris, France
2016 Skins, La Maison de la Photographie, Lille, France
2015 Aesthetic Emotion, Deborah Berke, New York, NY
2013 Punctuated History, Gloria Naftali’s Highline Loft, New York, NY
2013 Visual Poetry, Ochre, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS:
2024 I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, Front Four Gallery, Stowe, VT
2023 Thresholds Of Abstraction, BAM Art, Larchmont, NY
2022 RECLAMATION, curated by Heidi Lee Komaromi, Markel Fine Arts Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
2022 Textures And Abstractions, BAM Art, Larchmont, NY
2022 Juried Group Exhibition, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI
2021 Women Breaking Out, BAM Art, Larchmont, NY
2021 The Naturalists, curated by Katia Herman, Online Exhibition, Berlin Collective
2020 HomeMADE, curated by Brooke Molinaroli, Online Exhibition, BAM Art
2021 Suburban Salon, curated by Brooke Molinaroli, Online Exhibition, BAM Art
2020 The Naturalists, curated by Katia Herman, Berl...