Modern Societies I (Series), 2020–ongoing
2021
n/a
Chromogenic print
Overview

Chromogenic prints, 57 x 47". Series of twenty-four images. 2020– ongoing

Modern Societies I (Series), 2020–ongoing

The images in Modern Societies I feature sculptures made from enriched wheat (bleached wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, enzymes, folic acid), water, and salt: a medium that performs symbolically as the earliest material used for modeling as well as a commoditized ‘postnatural’ material that is constitutive of the contemporary staff of life. The series references the history of still life in painting and photography, as well as the relationship between sculpture and photography– what Alina Szpocznikow referred to as 'photosculptures'– as two traditions focused on themes of fixity, ephemerality, economy, and time. Reimagined through this material vernacular, the work considers how processes of modernization have complicated and transformed these themes, in addition to concepts of nature and what is perceived as natural today.