BLUE KAMANDY

These photographs are an exploration of materialism and the idea of 'matter out of place' as explored by anthropologist Mary Douglas. Douglas was interested in phenomena that was anomalous and not easily categorized. Cultures commonly consider such phenomena as 'matter out of place' and view them as either sacred or polluting.

Materialism's meaning is multifold. It is a branch of philosophy in which everything is only matter and energy. It can imply consumerism, and many of the objects I photograph are things one will immediately recognize from any drugstore. It is also a reference to the photographic object, or the transition that an object must go through to become a photograph.

Materialism is always inherently in flux in the medium of photography. Objects are changed in the process through a translation effect. The picture is anchored in the real world, but the photograph carries with it a new set of meanings as well. It amplifies. It distorts. It selects. I see photography as an endless series of steps from the moment the object or view is selected to the final image. Those steps are my possible entry points. The basis of my photographic methodology lies in intervention and material transformation whether it's analog (as in constructing a physical assemblage to photograph), or digital (as in writing a computer program to modify the image). These photographs are my way of exploring materialism's expansive meaning.