semi.works

Chase Starr

A mottled emerald case envelops a farm’s rich ecology more honestly depicted than seen before in a photography series. “On the Sixth Day” measures an oversized 12” x 13” with gold foil lettering and a front cover image of two young lambs tied together at the neck; one tugging on the other. Its design is modest with an emphasis on the photographs.

White petaled wildflowers reach upwards to blend with clouds. Horses, hounds, chicks, pigs, ducks stand proudly before the camera lens positioned close to the ground as to be eye level with its subject. The audience views a world unlike our own and compositional choices like camera placement transport us there.

The realities of life and death are presented starkly. In one image a small-beaked bird looks longingly at a rotting mammal head discarded in the soil. While in another image, an outstretched hand offers a pinch of flesh to two scampering cats with a prone sheep bleeding from its neck on the ground. In a particularly striking spread a seemingly dead rabbit lays amongst weeds and grass mirrored by a butterfly floating delicately still in a small pool of water. Nature, or man claims all souls here.

In one sense the book is gruesome but in another it is incredibly forthcoming and honest. Alessandra Sanguinetti pays respects to the lives sustaining this South American community. The book was first released in 2005 and is a canonical publication. I was familiar with this book and needed to view it for myself. I’m pleased to say it did not disappoint.