Art

Item Description

Flitting About is an archival pigment print, created in 2020, from artist Susan Richman. Number 1 in edition of 10. 

Artist Statement 

My recent series Jenga and Augur are both Environmental Memento Mori. Inspired by Victorian Memento Mori, which were photos that exquisitely posed a deceased beloved family member in their finest clothes and surrounded by their favorite objects, I too pose my subjects in an imagined environment. With each photo, I am honoring and memorializing insects and other small animals whose troubling decline makes their recognition important and poignant.

The alarming decrease of insects, particularly pollinators, motivated the creation of Jenga which was named after the game of stacked blocks that collapse when blocks are removed from the structure. The staggering loss of nearly three billion birds in North America since 1970 compelled me to produce my series Augur, titled for the soothsayer or prophets in ancient Rome who were charged with interpreting omens for the public. Their predictions were often made from observations of bird droppings or flight patterns. Declines in bird as well as insect populations are a warning sign that the very fabric of North America's ecosystem is unraveling.

Creating a permanent record of the impermanence of our world fascinates me. Because of this interest, I've composed and photographed insects, birds and small animals assembled with botanicals in my studio. These images reveal the clash between the beauty and the precarious state of our world. For both series, Jenga and Augur, carefully placed botanical materials, poured colored dyes and the subjects are placed on multiple sheets of glass then stacked to form a tower. The glass layers in the stack are separated by Jenga blocks and can reach a perilous height. Created in camera, the finished assemblage is photographed resulting in an illusion; a fantasy environment that once captured is dismantled and washed away. It's not hard to imagine our world crashing down like the Jenga blocks in the game that ultimately collapse as the supports necessary to sustain our environment are removed one by one.

BIO:
Born in Washington, Pennsylvania, Richman now lives in Hastings on Hudson, NY. After years of photographing other people’s visions as a commercial photographer in Manhattan, she has evolved into an artist and educator. Prior to Covid, she was a teacher at The International Center for Photographer in NYC and is currently a member of the Upstream Gallery in NY.

Richman’s interests lie in exploring the link between existence, decay and loss. For the past decade, she has primarily concentrated on photographing images that focus on the damage to our environment by creating images that capture and preserve the fleeting nature of our world. Through art she hopes to increase awareness and inspire change.

Item Special Note

37" x 26.3"