Malfunction

digital prints

installation view

Malfunction (2024) is a photographic series that depicts nine deconstructed household objects, including a clock, a pair of glasses, a tomato, a tape measure, a hamburger, and a pen. The viewer encounters a series of photographs documenting the separated parts of each object presented on the wall.  For example, glasses have 9 different parts such as lenses, frames, and three types of screws. Each part is photographed separately and displayed in a grid. The parts were photographed in a consistent size, centered against a white background, lit with flash, and printed on standard 8.5” x 11” paper. Malfunction considers the act of observation: how much we can know and understand about an object from looking at it. By breaking and disassembling objects, our awareness of them is heightened. The relationship between looking and knowing is never fixed, it is continuous. As each object was separated into parts, a series of choices were made - for example, when the artist dissected the Big Mac hamburger, she decided to separate the sesame seeds from the bun, but not the cheese attached to the meat. The work is an attempt to present things as they are, without subjective observation. However, it also demonstrates the limits of objectivity by concluding that subjectivity is unavoidable in the imposition of an objective judgment.