This work explores the contradictions of a readymade life from conception to birth – futuristic, convenient, mass-produced and fast. The fundamentals of creation so basic to human existence are externalized, automated & described by the tongue-in- cheek language of logistics and manufacture.

Utilitarian objects including dolls, rubber snakes, plastic boxes and bed sheets, are shown in still life arrangements each representing a part of the cycle of creation.  The images have been captured with a state-of-the-art digital Xray machine as the camera and then coloured, providing modern glimpses of the basic currency of the Pop & Dada movements.

Xrays do not simply record the interaction of light reflected from an object onto a sensor; rather they interrogate the materials and spaces they pass through.  The subject matter is flattened into two dimensions by the rays, losing its external contour and form. There are no shadows. The dolls as protagonists appear totally alien against filmy protoplasmic backdrops made from simple fabric bed sheets. We are given a shiny “high tech” view of inner anatomy and function, and a forensic promise that as a result, we may better understand a fundament of nature. What emerges, however, is the hollow space inside, surrounded by a thin shell, which shapes individual form and identity.  The discovery is empty and shallow.

The images evoke the alienation and pointlessness of a life of ultimate consumerism, without real meaning or individual endeavor.  We are faced with the conundrum of technology; the promise of answers and advancement, at the same time giving rise to more difficult questions about humanity. In spite of this, poetic moments are also evident in the series.  They are anchored partly in the religious and mythical references which remind us of a bygone era when we created everything in our lives without technology and had simple faith that it would work. They are also recognisable in the relationships which are portrayed, and expose the importance of those uniquely human parts of ourselves which differentiate us from machines.

Series

The Annunciate

The Supplier

The Immaculate Fabrication

Factory Seconds

Die Casts

Uterine Replicator

Will That Be Pick-up or Delivery?

Life Line

Twin Pack

Sisters Are Doing It

And Daddy Makes Three

The Madonna And Child