body object series #16, flour 1993

Editor: So, this is "body object series #16, flour" by Ann Hamilton, created in 1993, a gelatin-silver print photograph. It strikes me as very…ethereal. What catches your eye in this piece? Curator: The enduring nature of ritual, both public and private, is definitely at play here. The flour, expelled from the body, is more than mere ingredient, isn't it? What echoes might you perceive? Editor: I see echoes of…breath, almost. Fleeting, transient. The body is present but somehow… distant, the face is neutral, nearly expressionless. The flour dominates. Is there a particular symbolism you see connected to flour itself? Curator: Flour, traditionally, symbolizes sustenance, growth, the potential for transformation – think of bread, the staff of life! Hamilton often uses mundane materials to explore deeper, universal themes. Here, the act of exhaling the flour can be seen as a metaphor for releasing something, perhaps a memory, a burden, or even potential. Does the dispersal, the act of becoming airborne, trigger further associations for you? Editor: It makes me think of ash, maybe? Something that's left behind, remnants of something that's burned. Not necessarily in a destructive way, but more about something ending, being complete. Curator: Exactly! And within that ending is a trace of its origin. Like collective memory embedded in our present. This interplay between presence and absence is characteristic of Hamilton's work. The black and white intensifies the image; a shadow that looms. Editor: I never would have considered how the flour becomes a symbol of something lost and remembered all at once. This was enlightening. Curator: And I, a new appreciation for Hamilton's handling of temporality, the ephemeral frozen into permanence. Thank you.