Rachel Murray Meyer

Cookware treated with Forever Chemicals, marketed as a convenient and low-maintenance option, has been revealed to be a hazardous substance that contaminates the environment and emits toxic fumes when heated. These once-ordinary pans have been transformed into intriguing artifacts, with shadow figures created by using photographic darkroom techniques. The figures appear to be escaping their confinement, potentially leaving behind their reality or defiantly standing their ground. Despite their ethereal and ghostly appearance, these figures exude a sense of energy, as if they are attempting to enter or exit our world, reminiscent of film noir characters navigating their destinies.

Beyond their functional purpose, these humble pans hold profound significance as a deeply personal means of providing sustenance. Enclosed in a rich velvet fabric and imbued with amber shadows, these portraits beckon us to embrace the desire to transcend the mundane and find solace in the pursuit of transcendence.

This work records encounters between constructions that incorporate hard drives that stored my images, and vintage figures that I have collected. The silhouettes and shadows of these figures, against the grain of the painted drives, fascinate me. This limited palette work draws on the paradox of Noir movies, their sense of inescapable destiny combined with momentary optimism. The faces of these figures – some which can be read as having determination or resignation – draws me into their world, which is my world: bathed in the golden glow of the sun, or caught in amber for all time. Images available as archival inkjet prints.