honorable mention
Marina Momboisse
title
Salted Flesh
On the first page, the viewer is faced with a small image on the bottom left of the page, of two partially nude figures with their bodies intertwined. Another image of the same moment within the same frame repeats on every left hand page following it. The images are film stills, functioning as a flipbook from right to left, depicting a physical struggle between the two figures. On the right side of the book is a sequence of imagery depicting a narrative between the same characters. There is a mix of full bleed and medium sized images. Each medium size image is followed or prefaced by another taken within the same moment, a reference to the flipbook on the left, bridging the narrative devices of film and photography.
Towards the end of the book, signifiers and subjects from the beginning return into the sequence. By bringing back key subjects and locations from the exposition, the narrative comes full circle. For the book is cyclical, when finishing the narrative on the right, we end up at the beginning of the flip book sequence on the left, a reference to cycles of nature and time. The left and right side of this photobook are almost two separate books, the left with a direct, straight forward point of view, and the right relying on subtlety of sequence and symbolism to tell a story. They are bound together (in a hand stitched binding with thread and a rubber band) to bring these different points of view together.
Marina's work exists primarily in the form of photobooks. She works with analogue film and manages her own scanning, printing, and constructs her books by hand.
back to gallery
entry description
In Salted Flesh, I am depicting my relationship with my lover through the vehicle of the photobook. This relationship is portrayed through a psycho-sexual, predator-prey photo narrative that examines sovereignty between a couple whose power is equal, but their privilege is not.On the first page, the viewer is faced with a small image on the bottom left of the page, of two partially nude figures with their bodies intertwined. Another image of the same moment within the same frame repeats on every left hand page following it. The images are film stills, functioning as a flipbook from right to left, depicting a physical struggle between the two figures. On the right side of the book is a sequence of imagery depicting a narrative between the same characters. There is a mix of full bleed and medium sized images. Each medium size image is followed or prefaced by another taken within the same moment, a reference to the flipbook on the left, bridging the narrative devices of film and photography.
Towards the end of the book, signifiers and subjects from the beginning return into the sequence. By bringing back key subjects and locations from the exposition, the narrative comes full circle. For the book is cyclical, when finishing the narrative on the right, we end up at the beginning of the flip book sequence on the left, a reference to cycles of nature and time. The left and right side of this photobook are almost two separate books, the left with a direct, straight forward point of view, and the right relying on subtlety of sequence and symbolism to tell a story. They are bound together (in a hand stitched binding with thread and a rubber band) to bring these different points of view together.
about the photographer
Marina Momboisse is a photographer and artist living in Brooklyn, New York. Her work explores the dynamic that arises between photographer and subject through investigating objectification, subjectivity, and power through intimate photo narratives. With the understanding that photography is a medium of projection, especially once presented to a viewer, the images that result from these investigations are sequenced to create a fictional narrative. In each series she turns herself and her subject into characters in a story. With this method, the setting of each story becomes a key component to the narrative as well, for each series is specific to one place. As the narrative unfolds through sequencing, the viewer learns more about subject, photographer, and location, simultaneously through imagery. This can be thought of as a form of cinema, while remaining specific to the medium of photography. When considering the inherent objectification of photography, in conjunction with the decontextualization of personhood in the medium, the world of photography is already one of fiction. For there is always more projected by the viewer than presented by the artist.Marina's work exists primarily in the form of photobooks. She works with analogue film and manages her own scanning, printing, and constructs her books by hand.
back to gallery