Still Life, Real Life
I’m interested in all the ways that still life depicts real life, and doesn’t at all relate to real life, ordinary life, everyday life. What even is real life? And then does a stylized or composed representation sometimes hold as much or more meaning as a natural one? How is meaning conveyed in these two types of images?
There is a poem I came across quite a while ago and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. It’s called, simply, still life (as so many poems happen to be) and is by Camille Dungy. It’s about care, illness, and of course, mortality. A very real take on confronting our mortality.
It begins,
“Still life with Ensure, vials of fentanyl, oxycodone, water.
Still life with crackers maybe, hopefully, he will keep down.
Still life with tossed sheets and yogurt cup. Still life
with Sports Illustrated piles in the bathroom, guest room,
on the living room floor, on the dining room table, in recycle bins waiting
near the door.”
When we think of still life, we (at least I) usually think of fruit and flowers, books, glass vases, and painted bowls. But I also like the still lifes of all the stuff we usually stuff in a cupboard when company comes over. I guess this is why I also like fast food still lifes, because who wants to show that off to the world.
So in that spirit, I offer you some of the contents of my bathroom cupboard. More, no doubt, to follow.
