THE RUG’S TOPOGRAPHY
THE RUG'S TOPOGRAPHY
CREDITS
The Rug’s Topography is a project that began with Rana Young (b.1983, USA) photographing her partner of six years. Young describes how, over time, they began facing an internal conflict, which pitted their individual identities against their roles in the relationship. She says: “As we began to grow apart romantically, our anxieties rose in response to the distance widening between us.” The artist invites the viewer to immerse themselves in their combined world as a voyeur to an unfolding narrative of a world ridden with tension and transition.
In Young’s series, we see a time of lengthened anxiety, widening distances and obscure gender roles. In her abstract exploration of gender and identity, she juxtaposes angular, cold, quiet elements with the round, soft, and coy. Take for example, a cinematic glimpse of a bedroom bathed in warm, red light from a cold, blue hallway, the sultry light bouncing off the varnished floor dispersing some of its glow.
The world she’s created is turbulent and vulnerable, the photographs marking points of personal evolution to navigate both the literal and psychological space. It is an expression of the relation between a past and future self to help the artist, her partner and the viewer make sense of the many dynamic dichotomies that comprise life.
