What I’ve noticed about my work and career is that it’s a continual mash-up of past and present. My latest work, Home/Body Imaging, an installation/performance/photography piece, is, on the one hand, a big departure from what I’ve done before but, on the other, combines many of my previous concerns.
Home/Body developed out of a group project I was involved in (that already was a variance from my usual practice) that took place in an abandoned health clinic on the Lower East Side of New York. The venue made me realize that doctors and photographers are the only people who can examine people’s bodies at a distance usually reserved for lovers.
All sorts of past experiences kicked in after that. My early studies in architectural history and interior design were prep for the installation, while the strange colors of the clinic reminded me a lot of places I’d photographed in Asia (see my Here & There and In Camera series at www.abbyrobinson.com). Scrutinizing and photographing body parts wasn’t exactly new either.
I’ve been making self-portraits for more than 30 years (see the AutoWorks section of my website) plus there were the images I made in my Perdue series (see Website).
Last and by no means least, I started thinking again about the concept of “public” versus “personal” that I had pondered when I worked with a private investigator. Voilá, the new project made perfect sense in my career continuum.