Artist's Statement

Lava Metamorphoses

Photography work by Lenka Holubec

A strong bond with nature inspires and nourishes my photography work to a great extent. It was nature where I would seek a refuge from all kinds of troubles since my childhood, while learning a lot about the world around me and myself. This relationship has become even stronger after my arrival to Canada, more than twenty years ago, when I traveled along the Great Lakes for the first time. The lakes’ powerful magic touched me deeply. It was a feeling of being at home somewhere I have never been before.

Photographing the various elements of nature remains a very intense and revealing experience to me. It involves a process of achieving a unity and harmony between the surrounding environment and myself. The images then echo my pursuit to capture and preserve the meaning of what I see and experience. Perhaps the traces of this meaning can be found embedded in the details of rocks, the world of reflections, water images, landscapes or still life.

The Canadian Shield along the northern edge of Lake Superior, where the images have originated, represents some of the oldest exposed rock formations in the world. These magnificent rocks were formed approximately 3 billion years ago, making them also some of the oldest exposed lava formations on the planet.

Lava Metamorphoses features images revealing lava formations as remarkable manifestations of nature’s creative powers. They truly are unique artifacts, displaying endless variations of shape, colour and texture. Basking in sunlight at one point in time, they can disappear from our sight over a stormy winter, remaining buried under the sand for years or forever.

Lava formations strike me as an expression of the enormous creative force capable of having an immediate, energizing and uplifting effect upon us. Being around them gives me a feeling of both joy and humility, while making me acutely aware of nature’s strength and fragility.