Xavi Bou’s Ornithographies series captures the fleeting beauty of different bird species in flight and transforms it into a set of fascinating visual narratives. Inspired by the artist’s hikes in nature with his grandfather as a child, and by his lasting passion for birds, Bou’s work records and visualises the invisible flight paths of birds. Using an innovative approach which combines photography, science and art, Ornithographies reveals a series of elaborate flight patterns that pique the imagination while adhering to a sort of realism that eludes us. Using high speed video, he films the unique flight paths of different bird species, then digitally stitches individual frames together to create a composite image (each artwork typically incorporates between 150 and 1,000 frames). The end result resembles an abstract painting, each with its distinct pattern, reflecting the unique flight patterns of flocks of different birds. Contrary to the scientific study of motion, Bou’s approach is poetic and non-intrusive and creates images which inhabit a space in between sensuality and precision, rendering what is visually ungraspable optically legible for the human eye.