Joyce P. Lopez « Muybridge's Horse

Joyce P. Lopez

I discovered the work of Joyce P. Lopez via Shots Magazine’s Creatures issue, in which a picture from her series, “The Trouble with Birds,” was included. The project features close-up, detailed images of dead birds, and while it is a beautiful series, I chose to post pictures from her project “The Forest Floor,” created in a similar fashion. I have always been partial to “scanogram” (“scannergram?”) or otherwise spotlit-type imagery and these pictures had me looking for a while. They remind me of a series I put together some time ago, Museum of the Wild, and also Mary Jo Hoffman’s Still. (Kimberly Witham, Mark Laita, Debora Samuel, Portia Munson, and Kristen Zellmer also come to mind as past-featured artists who have worked with a similar aesthetic. I should create a tag for this kind of photography…)

From the artist’s statement: I have been a photographer for 20 years, using my photography to illustrate environmental issues that interest me. Taking a traditional approach, using a black background in the manner of Dutch 17th century painters, I strive for a formal “portrait” of botanicals. Objects which were in the periphery are now the subject. These “out of context” subjects are not usually photographed in this way. There is an oddity about them as well as an exquisiteness in the details and rich colors. The 21st century has brought crises of immense proportions that we need to address; the availability of food, the impact of climate, distribution and cost of food.