aya brackett

One can't help but draw comparisons between new Hey, Hot Shot! Contender Aya Brackett's recent work with that of Laura Letinsky.

From Aya's artist statement:

"The Between Meals project is constantly ongoing simply because I am continually interested in how food still lifes suggest a greater context and a narrative of human life outside the camera frame. These are not really food shots per se, but compositions that happen to employ food; the inspiration derives from the objects humans consume and use in their everyday lives. I am moved by how these mundane objects can be evocative cues of domestic life, but are still aesthetically exciting."

versus Laura Letinsky:

Letinsky on her work:

"The food on the table was like a sub-character, a supporting cast to the main characters. I began to wonder what would happen if I took the main characters out and just had what was left--the table and the atmosphere. So I started to structure some new photographs in that way, thinking about how, in religious paintings, the table and the food play out this biblical and mythological depiction without the characters. I wanted there to be a palpable absence, this feeling of something missing--like it's the end of the play and the curtain has not only fallen, but re-opened, and now they're sweeping out the theater."

I have always been interested in the idea of leftovers and how they can act as clues that mirror their surroundings. Though I love Letinsky's work, and think that Brackett's work is well executed, I feel as if the similarity of intent and appearance to Letinsky's photographs is too great for the work to have any real clout.