ARTIFACT
ARTIFACT
CREDITS
Brooklyn-based artist Sophie Kahn (1980) shows a fascinating interpretation of what it means to photograph life by combining 3D-scan technology with ancient bronze casting techniques. Her work speaks to the impossibility of capturing more than a trace of the past, or of a living body.
Kahn’s images originate in light captured by a lens, but are the results of a digital render from 3D scans using software more commonly used in the animation industry. After importing a scan, the software allows Kahn to place virtual cameras and lights and compose her final shots. She then further develops the work into other forms, like video and even sculpture, making 3D printed moulds for metal or clay sculptures. Kahn explains: “The resulting objects bear the artifacts of all the digital processes they have been though.”
Her work, crossing boundaries and media, makes us aware of the fact that a 3D scan or a photograph are just traces of the past. According to Kahn, “This concern with the instability of memory and representation is the common thread that weaves together the ancient and futuristic aspects of my work”. This memorial feeling she desires to evoke is helped along by the fragmentation of her subjects, and the uncomfortable stillness in her imagery.
