K L E A M c K E N N A | Rainbow Bruise | 2023 - Present
Unique photographic relief. Embossed silver gelatin photogram and fabric dye.
Rainbow Bruise consists of large photographic reliefs (embossed B&W photograms) which are cast in light and shadow, developed, and then painted with jewel-toned fabric dye. These pieces are composed from a vocabulary of symbolic feminine forms: breasts, weighty curves and wombs, shapes that are derived from everyday materials like consumer packaging and unfolded cardboard boxes. The accompanying series of intaglio prints titled Life Hack act as studies for the larger photographic reliefs. In them, the tabs, flaps, and holes of a Kleenex box become unexpected orifices and nipples, creating an aesthetic that blends archeological artifacts with the die-cut curves of mass production. By inking the cardboard boxes and printing them on an etching press she finds an index of corporeal shapes and renders them as effigies – transforming these found objects into objects she’d like to find.
