Clippings is a photographic series created in response to Ana Mendieta’s Silueta series, in which Mendieta used various techniques to create abstract representations of the female form in the natural environment[1].

          In reference to Mendieta’s work Clippings uses stock photographs to survey the relationship between the subjects of portrait photography and the environments which they are situated within. By reassigning the models as the secondary subject in a series of portrait photographs, Clippings looks to ascertain the significance of the surrounding environment to our understanding and comprehension of portrait photographs/photography.

          Similar to the process of cutting clippings from a magazine, the subjects in each image are cut-out and replaced by a geometric block of color. Whereas Ana Mendieta’s Silueta are impressed into or added upon the landscape, the removal of the models in Clippings causes a compositional compression. By removing the original focal point of each portrait the series looks to refocus the viewer’s attention on the environment that frames the subject and the way in which the subject interacts with this space.

[1] https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/5221