Fillet

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on May 29, 2012 at 12:53pm

Hi Keri,  Thank you for responding.  This is a highly charged series, and I think it will attract a larger audience because of it's beauty, since it's such an ugly subject.  The work has real staying power. But I readily acknowledge it's a fine line to walk for commercial galleries.  I will keep my ears open for an exhibition venue that may be interested.

Kristen

Comment by Keri Mills on May 27, 2012 at 12:14pm

Thank you Kristen for sharing on my work.  Both series are ongoing and I value your feedback highly.  The series on human trafficking is a bold series for me and difficult to work on.  My own son and daughter model for this series to keep it very real for me.  In the beginning, the early pieces like chicken breast and fillet were thought to be too beautiful to convey the horror of the situation.  That initial critique inspired the butchery and then the transformation piece like Calamari, in which the victim is becoming something unrecognizable, something she is not.  I am in a constant struggle to make the images deceptively attractive, and horrifying at the same time, but it is a challenge worth creating.  

I am hoping to find a gallery or museum to open this series in the month of January (National Human Trafficking Awareness month) as an event to help raise funds for organizations involved in rescuing victims.  I am even currently trying to coordinate a collaboration with an amazing spoken word poet (on this subject) in hopes of making the event more dynamic with her performance.  It is my desire that this event actively fights human trafficking by creating awareness and funds to help stop human slavery.  Thank you again for your comments and I appreciate any further dialogue to help make this a success.

Comment by Resident Curator on May 26, 2012 at 6:55pm

Curator’s Comment:

 

I’m drawn into your grotesquely beautiful works about human trafficking.  They’re stunning in their display of opulent color and deep blacks.  Fillet is especially striking because of the fleshy luminescent skin of the figure- liquid and almost iridescent.  The pink striations in the flesh (fish?) appear abraded and raw, but sensuously conform to the curled position of the body.  Overlapping within the contours of the form, they are organically dispersed, like knots or groupings of muscle. But while some of the other more horrific images may in fact move closer to your intended content, such as Ground Pork or Cutlet, for me the visceral graphics overwhelm the more alluring beauty that (unsuspectingly) pulls me into some of the other images.  The anonymity of the figures is also interesting, for while it allows for open interpretation of subject/victim, they may in turn deny the emotional specificity for the viewer to make a personal psychological connection.  Your Journey series maintains the gorgeous saturation and light in your other images, and I believe without such provocative content they encourage the viewer to linger in the space. YHWH is my favorite in this grouping, because of the elegant figural reflection, and subsequent disruption by another.   The title and heavenly clouds leads me to understanding the large cradling hand is of God, which makes the scene especially interesting.  The female figure on the right, with outstretched arms offers support, or conversely shows fear. Or both.  All of these works suggest there’s more than meets the eye.