Karen Azoulay

Influenced by the artifice of Victorian photography and the trickery of theater sets, I employ a mixture of photographic and sculptural techniques to create something akin to a tableaux vivant. Using a performance-based aesthetic, I explore our mythological connection to the natural world. To generate the series Constellation, I asked collaborators to stitch lengths of toilet paper into white bursts reminiscent of the ruffs worn in Dutch portrait paintings. I then hung a large piece of black fabric snipped with holes, instructed them to slip a wrist through, and outfitted each hand with its paper creation and a lit candle. The placement of the flames in these photographs replicates actual astronomical configurations that can been seen in star maps. The variety of candles used (birthday, sabbath) not only provide the primary source of illumination in the image, but like stars, exist as objects to which we direct our wishes and prayers.