Richard Misrach's Dead Animals Series

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the work of native Californian, photographer Richard Misrach. The controversial nature of some of his photographic works is discusses with specific focus on Misrach's series on dead animals and the controversy that these works have raised. The critical views both for and against his dead animals series are also examined.

From the Paper:

"As a composition, the framing of objects at the right of the picture, the traditionally "strong" side of the image, is undermined by the position of the corpses on an incline. With water at the lower right corner, balancing an indecipherable blot of messy red (our imagination runs riot) at the upper left corner - there seems to be a comparison between the imposition of the unnatural and, at the bottom, what could be the reassertion of the natural. The idea is that despite the intrusion of man, nature will reassert itself in the decomposition of the animals - and yet even that ambiguous equivocation is undermined by the inclusion of a rusted oil barrel, reminding that the stain on the land (and to the extent that it's tied to it, our national spirit) is more than just skin deep."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Athitakis, Mark. "Through a Different Lens". San Francisco Weekly, September 5, 2001.
• De Pastino, Blake. "The Toxic Sense". The Phoenix New Times, September 13, 2001
• Herbert, Martin. "Richard Misrach: Expanding the View". Eyestorm, 2003.
• Raynor, Vivien. "Art; Aldrich Offers Visions of Inhumanity". The New York Times, August 4, 1991.
• Regan, Margaret. "Silver Prints". The Tucson Weekly, September 7, 2000

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• Article Review # 105215 : "Cultural Tourism and the Day of the Dead"

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