The Pig Roast (Apache Junction, Arizona) 2001

Curator: Justine Kurland’s photograph, "The Pig Roast (Apache Junction, Arizona)", made in 2001, immediately strikes me. There’s a palpable sense of the surreal embedded within its carefully balanced composition. Editor: It does unsettle, doesn't it? The juxtaposition of a young woman kneeling passively with this… rather grotesque image of a roasting pig evokes complicated questions of gendered power and the spectacle of consumption within American culture. Curator: Observe how Kurland structures the image. The strong verticals and horizontals created by the crude wooden spit divide the frame, placing the woman in near symmetry against the harsh landscape. Her placement seems deliberate, an anchoring point amid the unsettling tableau. Editor: Absolutely. Her seemingly docile pose only amplifies the disturbing image of the pig skewered for roasting. We're situated in Apache Junction, Arizona— a place with a long history of exploitation and where the legacies of colonialism and environmental degradation continue to impact marginalized communities. Kurland asks us to consider the normalization of violence. Curator: And I would add, to consider its visual language. The composition, muted color palette, and direct, almost classical gaze of the subject are all highly considered artistic choices. Kurland’s formalism is heightened, particularly in her landscaping. It invites close reading and the overall tonality evokes an almost dreamlike quality. Editor: Dreams that turn into nightmares maybe. This image serves as a stark critique. The pig becomes a potent symbol of systemic violence, ecological recklessness, and the ongoing impact on vulnerable populations and specifically, what kind of a role that the girls and women play within such circumstances. Curator: Her control of the elements leads us back to her meticulous construction, so evocative here. Editor: Leaving us contemplating the ethics of viewing, our complicity, and the necessity for transformative action, certainly. It's quite unsettling, yet beautifully composed and layered.