marimonda – LookingOutwards

When considering the prompt of this LookingOutwards assignment, my first thought was looking at Brandon Ballengée’s work.

Malamp: Reliquaries (2001 – present)

Disclaimer: I am not someone with a lot of knowledge about “capture” in the first place, but I think biological staining techniques were among the first capturing techniques that gave us insight into structures that were impossible to see, even with magnification.

Brandon uses a variety of biological staining techniques to see into structures of post-apocalyptic creatures. In his statement, he explains that by obscuring direct representation of the organism, he avoids representing these animals as monsters or otherwise exploiting them. But there’s nothing more intimate and revealing than showing your insides to the world, especially as a specimen.

A bit personal but I find this interesting because one of my biggest fears is seeing inside of my body, having every single part exposed. I think a lot about this, because I am very afraid of having aspects of a mutant in places I can’t see.  There’s a certain invasiveness in passive technologies, like MRIs, CTs and Xrays. So it makes me think a lot about when capture becomes invasive, unwelcome, or exposing.