Jo Babcock Makes Pinhole Cameras with a Band-Aid Tin, Lucky Strike Pack and Mailbox (Pics)
Boraxo Soap - Harmony Borax Ruins, Death Valley, 2004
With most of the objects having an analogical relationship to the subjects in the photos, this piece, featuring a camera made from Boraxo Powdered Hand Soap and a rusted train carriages a isn't particular easy to decipher. But with some insight from curator Miller, the connection becomes clear. The scene depicts the Harmony Borax Mine (now in ruins) in Death Valley, Calif., which became famous for in the 1890s for its use of Twenty-mule teams, made up of 18 mules and two horses that were attached to large wagons and transported borax out of the area to a railroad in Mojave.
Photo courtesy of Duncan Miller Gallery
Babcock says his work has been characterized as raw, rejected by the establishment because it doesn't flatter, fill a quote or make profit. "A critic described my photographic renderings as a 'punkish hell,' he writes in closing. "In these polarized, Machiavellian times, a punkish hell constitutes an appropriate response."
Jo Babcock - The Invented Camera
Duncan Miller Gallery
10959 Venice Boulevard
310-838-2440
www.duncanmillergallery.com
Runs through April 23, 2011
Hours:Thursday through Saturday
11am - 6pm and by appointment
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