The Photograph as Evidence of Truth and Artifact of Fiction
The specimen is an ongoing series of photographs that emulates the aesthetic qualities of scientific imagery. The circular crop and inverted colors reference specimens as seen through a microscope. The mundane becomes pseudoscience creations transformed into subjects of study. During this transformation, the everyday objects become more complicated, emulating the look of cells, bodily systems, and other scientific phenomena causing the ordinary to appear alien from our daily experiences.
The images are humorous and playful depictions of the everyday reexamined in a new and disorienting context. This body of work facilitates dialogue regarding the authenticity of the photographic medium, re-contextualization, the concept of originality in contemporary art, as well as science as a tool to understand and categorize the natural world.
The Photo Lark appropriates current photographs taken of endangered species as a means of archiving species before their extinction much like the mission of many contemporary zoos to house species extinct in the wild referred to as “the ark.” Although many photographs of endangered species are created with the intention of promoting preservation, they also exemplify Roland Barthes notions in Camera Lucida of the “trauma of separation, loss, and death” as experienced through photography. These iconic images may one day be nothing more than indexical traces of their extinct referents.
Floral Bits depicts photographic still lifes on canvas inspired by the flower paintings of Odilon Redon. Photography has a history of entanglement with painting as many photographers have referenced the art form's aesthetics. The series is blurred to reduce qualities of realism associated with photography and to further allude to the tradition of romanticized paintings. Simultaneously, the image is transforming into pixels to accentuate the use of technology and to reinforce the departure from material to virtual art forms.
Virtual images no longer need to rely on the exterior allowing artworks more than ever to be creations of imagination. However, one could argue that paintings, photography, and virtual imagery have a cultural history embedded both in the real and in our desires. Floral Bits allows for the contemplation of the relationship of various media to representation. This series alludes to the progression of imagery over time and reminds the viewer that the photograph was never a more authentic interpretation of the world.
The concepts of these images include the romanticizing of the natural world and domestic adornment; the narratives depict attempts to control and manipulate the environment to cater to our desires. Many of the photographs represent an artificial and “flawless” nature, while others focus on the romantic notion of wilderness creating a world where the boundaries between reality and fantasy are blurred. Each narrative is theatrical and staged utilizing factitious props to construct scenes ranging from simple gestures to absurd ritualized tasks. These performances represent our affinity and dissolution with nature and function to lustrate our estrangement with the natural world, coaxing the viewing to contemplate a new perspective on our relationship with nature in even the most mundane of daily routines.