Heather Cantrell

(lives Los Angeles, CA)

Artist Statement:
I am interested in the idea of undoing the human – the disembodied soul, the ghost, the phantom, and the ectoplasmic apparition. I choose to photograph artists, actors, musicians, collectors, politicians, activists, art dealers, family, and friends. I later find what is compelling about these portraits is the lack of souls these bodies possess. More disturbing, however, is that they lack all capacity for identification and empathy – like zombies. Although some persons are more recognizable than others, the initial humor and comfort in identifying these personalities is overpowered by the strange content of each, allowing the return to disruption. Rather than viewing this disruption as inarticulate, I welcome the open-ended read, along with the idiosyncratic rhythm these images produce. By combining landscapes with portraits, it becomes apparent how relations transform and an element of chance occurs. Potential narratives exist, although there is no direct narrative enforced. It is the obscenity of the visible-- of the all too visible-- which has no secrets and dissolves completely in information and communication. The compulsive urge to want to control human nature seems increasingly tenuous.

Masks, monsters, ghosts, madness, intoxication, dreams – these speak to this instability of identity, and in the broadest sense make a question of our central assumption within identity, and ask: what is human?