Artist Statement

 

In this body of work Melamed explores ways in which colour, light, layering, overlapping and transparency, work as organizing aesthetic principles. The construction of shadows in staged landscapes continues an ongoing and enduring thematic preoccupation of arrangement and composition in her artistic practice. Commissioning a florist to create floral arrangements in the Japanese Ikebana style, these sculptural floral arrangements were then lit with various light sources and photographed resulting in a series of photographs capturing the shadows that were cast Into the walls and ceilings.

​

'beauty is found not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides'. - Junichiro Tanizaki's

​

One of the principles governing the aesthetics of Japanese art, Fukinsei is the idea of controlling balance in a composition via irregularity and asymmetry, transcending the conventional way of looking at things. Fukinsei forms the basis of this body of work where the constructed shadows become the dominant feature in a series of photographs. The usually overlooked shadow is identified with its own beauty and art form, evolving into mysterious abstract landscapes.