Kindred Spirits

Aaron Lelito

In my photography and digital art, I am primarily drawn to the patterns and imagery of nature. This subject matter has become a way for me to reflect on the larger themes of environment, climate, and ecology. Along with this macro view, however, there is the micro - my own personal, subjective relationship with nature. There are restorative, therapeutic, and transcendent aspects of interacting with the waves, flowing water, leaves, and branches. To me, these simple patterns have a deep resonance with the transformations that are a part of the human condition.

Naturalist and writer Henry David Throeau emphasized this renewed sense of vision and exploration that is embedded within the world around us: “Nature will bear the closest inspection; she invites us to lay our eye level with the smallest leaf and take an insect view of its plain.  She has no interstices; every part is full of life.”  I’m drawn to pieces that embody this principle and draw inspiration from the seemingly ordinary. The more we look, the more there is to see.  

Aaron Lelito is a visual artist and writer from Buffalo, NY. His images have been published in The Hand Magazine, Peach Velvet Mag, and High Shelf Press, with an upcoming publication in Freshwater Review and About Place Journal. He is editor in chief of the art and literature website Wild Roof Journal and teaches English at a community college. His website is aaronlelito.com.