Bali Chu-Mehrer

For this year’s theme of still life, I want to explore the traditional roots of still life work, with a twist. I am fascinated by the thought of combining high and low art, and putting objects that aren’t considered “pretty” or aesthetically pleasing in a positive light. In my personal practice, I always take purposefully pretty and “perfect” photos, and I want this project to be the opposite of that. My goal for this piece is to let myself go a bit, as I am very rigid and neat normally. For inspiration, I looked at Doan Ly, Irving Penn, and Wonderfully Awful by Chris Amat, who all do still life work in an unconventional way. I used a combination of rotting food and florals and shot in studio with flash, something else I do not usually do normally, to push myself further.