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| © Amy Stein |
| Howl, from the series Domesticated. Click photo for more images. |
Age: 36
Location: New York City
Website: amystein.com
"I'm fascinated by the decline of traditional community."
Photographer Amy Stein's diverse projects range from Stranded, a study of motorists encountered on the sides of roads, to her aptly titled Women and Guns series, to Domesticated, an exploration of mankind's relationship with the natural world and its "wild" creatures. Yet her projects all share a theme of isolation in modern society. "I am fascinated by the decline of traditional community that people like Robert Putnam have documented and how that breakdown has manifested itself through political and social apathy," says Stein, who studied photography at New York's School of Visual Arts. "My fascination with that phenomenon does push my work toward subjects of isolation."
Stein -- whose images have been exhibited in Washington, D.C., New York, Seattle, and London -- says her photos often involve re-creations of found events. "The images in my Domesticated series are staged shots inspired by real stories of human and animal encounters in a small town in Pennsylvania that borders a forest," she says. "It all begins with a story I find either through interviews with members of the community or from news accounts. This is followed by research on the behavior of the animal involved, scouting of locations, casting of people, securing animals, and managing the elements on the day of the shoot. While some details may change, the narrative elements of place, person, and animal remain true to the original story."
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