Not Sacred
An exhibition commissioned by the Nathan Cummings Foundation
Steed Taylor
War Room |
"I am HIV+ and was recently diagnosed
with AIDS. Reflecting on this information I decided to explore what
this would mean to my life if I was not here, not present for my
life. What would it look like if I was removed from my life?"
Steed Taylor's family photographs show childhood holidays, train trips and formal posed portraits with Mom and Dad - images representative of any American family album, depicting a happy, nostalgic time of childhood innocence and family unity. Except that Taylor has erased his own figure with a marker pen, leaving a shadowy void, a moment of disjuncture and uncertainty. The resulting evocative image has a universal voice, speaking to the parent, the child, the brother, the sister. The blanked out figure allows the viewer to create their own, highly personal reading of the work, referencing their own losses, family sadnesses and childhood memories.
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