How the Leopard got its Spots

Kenya

2025

Edition of 6: 30in x 20in (76.2 x 50.8cm)
Edition of 6: 48in x 32in (121.9 x 81.3cm)
Edition of 6: 60in x 40in (152.4 x 101.6cm)
Edition of 6: 75in x 50in (190.5 x 127cm

This piece was created in Segera, a private conservancy in northern Kenya where the ancient rhythms of the African savannah unfold in golden silence. The image captures a solitary leopard sitting alone on an asutere branch—a moment of wild grace that speaks to my desire to bear witness to the poetry of the natural world.

Presented in two editions—one in colour and one in black and white—this work offers dual perspectives on a single truth. The colour print immerses the viewer in the sensory intensity of the place: the gentle warmth of the rising sun, the perfect camouflage of the predator’s coat, the breathless tension of its quiet stare. It is a study in harmony, in how light and form meet to express the fleeting beauty of the now.

In contrast, the black and white edition is a meditation in minimalism. Devoid of pigment, it leans into abstraction, where the negative space and muscular lines of the leopard become pure composition. The image becomes not just a document of an encounter, but a statement of visual philosophy: that nature’s design is its own form of art.

What I was trying to convey with this image is the quiet assertion that art and ecology are inseparable. No ecosystem exists in isolation. Just as the leopard governs balance in the grasslands, so too do its actions ripple outward—to forests, to rivers, and ultimately to the sea.

This photograph is not merely a visual experience; it is an invitation to contemplate the interconnectedness of all life. In owning this piece, one acquires not only a work of art, but a testament to the wild intelligence of Earth itself.