Jocelyn Lee – selections from The Appearance of Things series (2018)
For me, the most obvious way to run with this would be to contextualize this work as being in conversation with Sally Mann’s work.
“But,” you interject: “Sally Mann works exclusively in B&W.”
The word you want instead of ‘exclusively’ is ‘mostly’. There are the sumptuous cibachromes appearing in the last section of Mann’s Still Time–Lee’s semi submerged fruit and sky reflected in presumably staged settings loudly echoes Mann’s use of fabric, fruit/vegetable and plant matter in water.
It would be easy to–by extension–tie that in neatly with Mann’s foundational preoccupation with the intersections between embodiment and memory. In fairness, I do not consider that notion at all misguided; I think there’s probably some pretty illuminating stuff that could emerged from following that thread… it’s just that I’m far more interested in the way this work echoes Rimantas Dichavičius.
Actually, it more than merely echoes–it also (and I’m not sure to what degree Lee may or may not be familiar with him) is a solid critique of Dichavičius’ work as well as pretty stunning improvement upon it which in the process of renovation re-appropriates the women in nature trope from something for voyeurs vs something more bewitchingly empowering.
And some of the stuff she’s doing with color is to my eye moving from photography to painting in an equal but opposite way that Rackstraw Downes moves from painting towards photography.
Acetylene Eyes 