Relics

4x5 film, 2019

Relics is a still life diptych which presents childhood objects as traces of the ideological environment in which two separate individuals were raised. The arrangement on the left is created using objects retrieved from my own childhood bedroom, and the arrangement on the right is comprised of objects supplied by an acquaintance. With dramatic lighting, and velvety pedestals, the formal construction of these images bare similarities to still life memento mori or vanitas, which are meant to draw attention to the shortness of life and mortality. Rather than pointing to the end of life, Relics is focused on the beginning, or developmental stages, and their enduring impact. The images also bare a resemblance to an altarpiece, which often consist of diptychs or triptychs, and display or illustrate sacred saints or objects.