Arts: Narratives of Unknowability

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Behold Narratives of Unknowability By Alyssa Coppelman Posted Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013, at 04:00 PM ET Saying photographer Anne Hardy has an eye for detail doesn't adequately describe the intricacy of her work. Each one of her photographs gives the viewer a sense of having just stumbled onto an event shortly after humanity has been zapped into oblivion. Hardy, whose next exhibition opens in April at Maureen Paley in London, begins her process with the kernel of an idea for each image. From there, the concept enriches as she begins the process of amassing materials for each set, collected from builders' supply stores, flea markets, previous sets—and the street. Via email, Hardy stated: "I am interested in discarded material and objects that have lost their original purpose. … Sometimes things become interesting with layers of use and damage and take on a new quality. …" In her East London studio, Hardy spends months constructing and arranging each set with items that take on a surreal quality. In Untitled VI, groups of beakers and bundles of test tubes combine with similarly shaped but thematically disparate items in a bunker-like room. In Cipher, a series of numbered ropes dangle from ceiling hooks above sets of weights and trophies in a plastered, decrepit garret. These odd groupings create a rich narrative, the details of which remain perplexingly outside of the viewer's grasp. It is this element of ultimate unknowability that brings such a particular interest to these photographs. About the work that goes into her photographs, Hardy explained: "Originally I began building spaces to photograph them in order ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Ex-Benedict The Most Important Health Care Chart Nobody Is Talking About Slate's Guys Are So Wrong About Girls	Advertisement
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