These images are of sea creatures that I have handled and eaten recently. These images articulate some aesthetic and political concerns of my own that are partly hidden behind the idea of the still life picture.
When I first confronted my dinner with a camera, I was really wrapped up in the sensual properties of these fish and looking, feeling and smelling what was there in front of me. A taboo word – beauty – repeatedly subverted my understanding of these photographs. Nonetheless; many fish later, although I still have my lusty fascination with these animals my vision of them has changed. Now, the fish all look like victims and I am just another consumer with sharp teeth whose appetite helps to sustain an unsustainable fishing industry.
The fish are beautiful, they are in trouble and they are food.
This portfolio was an exhibition at Carleton University Art Gallery in 2010 and is supported by a hardcover catalogue. The curator of the exhibit was Sandra Dyck and an accompanying essay was written by Dr Lilly Koltun.