Amy Stein at ClampArt

ClampArt, a small but well-curated gallery in Chelsea, is currently home to photographer Amy Stein's fascinating Domesticated series. Set in and around Matamoras, the easternmost town in Pennsylvania, Stein's images, which she describes as "modern dioramas," are reconstructions of reported encounters between humans and animals. Whereas most traditional dioramas try to present animals in a pure and wild state, Stein's photos plumb the sometimes frightening, sometimes beautiful realities of a world in which there isn't really any such thing as wilderness, in which humans and animals warily circle each other in the same environment. They're tremendously compelling pictures, both for their technical skill (how did she do that? you can't help but ask) and for the way they remind us of our uneasy place as the occupying army in a natural world we have only supposedly conquered.

Photo: "Struggle" (Thanks)