Mysterious Decay

For the past few months, I’ve been considering the concept of decay — the process of destruction, death, The End — both figuratively and literally. Relationships sometimes deteriorate, a lot like the bowl of figs that got pushed to the back of my refrigerator and was accidentally forgotten for a month. There is an evolution to decay — the mold on the figs; the distance and communication breakdown in a dying relationship… It grows over time.

I became interested in this process initially in the literal sense after finding and subsequently photographing those figs, hairy with psychedelic mold. I began to photograph them daily until they were just a pile of unrecognizable mush. I’d been doing so much food photography for my food blog Kitchen La Boheme already, this was just a natural twisted extension of what I’d been working on with my recipes. But the process was pretty far along when I’d discovered the figs — I wished I’d noticed them and begun the photography sooner. So I started a little science experiment, purchasing and allowing other fruits and vegetables to rot while photographing the process. Some deflated and shriveled, some oozed and grew strange forms of mold; and I photographed them all in various stages of decay in carefully plated and styled shots, some even in intricately developed tablescapes. In the end, what I’ve created has become an unsettling series of surreal still lifes (and the total opposite of food porn); but it’s only just the beginning.

There is a personal side to decay and the way it develops and continues, or sometimes stops (think aging skin; mummification…). But I’m also thinking of the breakdown that can occur between people. How does it begin, and how does someone document that process? There are many ways to conceptually show deterioration…

Above is one of the initial, very basic, photos of the figs that started it all. Vibrant, dark, mysterious decay. I don’t want to post any of the tablescape photos yet — the ones that are more elaborately styled, much darker and more emotional — at least not until I have a final version of the series pulled together. But for now, I wanted to share the idea behind the project. There will be final photos to come!