Empire Falling is artist Elena Dorfman’s most recent series of photographs, conceptual landscape images exploring the abandoned and active rock quarries of the Midwest, in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana using images made over the course of several years and numerous locations, the work presents a contemporary view of an ancient–though evolving–landscape.
“These seemingly ordinary sites, whose aggregate is mined until the earth has nothing left to give, have been a constant source of wonder to me. What began as a sociological exploration of the communities that gather at quarries to jump from rocky precipices into water, evolved into a study of these massive pits, often overlooked and unseen. Manipulating and reconstructing the landscape, I reassemble and layer the images emulating the natural process of stratum on stratum.” As globalization and consolidation continue unchecked, these astonishing landscapes are transfigured –with landfills, golf courses, and exclusive housing communities–wherein the quarry water element has, ironically, been incorporated into the development as a scenic or recreational point of focus. When a quarry is re-appropriated, a landscape is destroyed. The images from Empire Falling present the quotidian rock landscape in an unexpected way, such that the viewers’ perception is challenged not only by the imagery itself, but also by their own personal subjective relationships to industry and the evolving earth.
Landscape is a recent departure from my practice, which has explored the cultural, social, and sexual practices of marginalized communities. Published works from selected exhibitions include The Pleasure Park, photographic stills and 3-channel video, 2009; Fandomania: Characters & Cosplay (Aperture, 2007); and Still Lovers (Channel Photographics, 2005).
Elena Dorfman
Biography
Elena Dorfman, a fine art photographer based in Los Angeles, is known for her intensive portrait series that examine the myriad subcultures that color North America and elsewhere. Dorfman’s highly refined pictures combine searing beauty with atypical subject matter and turn the “documentary” tradition on its head. Identity—sexual, social or cultural—is a root element of her work, a continuing theme being the blurred lines that separate fantasy and reality. Still Lovers, a body of work that brought Dorfman international acclaim, focuses on the domestic lives of men and women who devote themselves to life-size, anatomically correct sex dolls. Dorfman’s intent is not to exploit the obvious deviancy of these sexual surrogates, but rather to reveal the fascinating secret world of intimacy between flesh and silicone.
Exhibition
Elena Dorfman: Empire Falling
From January 17th to March 2nd, 2013
Modernism Gallery
685 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94105
USA
+1 415-541-0461
Book
Elena Dorfman: Empire Falling
Damiani Editions
Hardcover: 96 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 8862082665
ISBN-13: 978-8862082662
50$
