Joanna Piotrowska
Untitled
2014
Silver gelatin print
37 x 25 cm
Unframed
Edition of 30 copies numbered and signed by the artist, plus 7 artist’s proofs
Untitled (2014) is unique among Joanna Piotrowska’s works. Although the artist has explored the animal condition through her series of photographs taken in zoos—in which empty cages manifest the structures of control imposed by humans on their fellow animals with a Beckettian theatricality—, this image does not adopt the same approach. An animal leg eaten by butterflies can be seen as a pure representation of nature, of the cycle of birth and death, as a picture of the transience of life emphasized by a subtle chiaroscuro. Here, no human action or institution has intervened (directly). And yet, despite the innocent beauty of such a scene, the photograph ultimately suggests—as if in a forensic report—that it is somehow a crucial piece of evidence.
Joanna Piotrowska’s exhibition took place at Keijiban from October 15 to November 14, 2023