Louise McKissick: New Work

My present body of work concerns itself with bodies and the meanings culturally inscribed onto them. I have used digital imaging technology to map examples of antique cartography onto the soles of a subject’s feet. In this series, I have taken as my departure point multiple repetitions of the same image, shot by candlelight, capturing a rich chiaroscuro image evocative of Renaissance life drawing studies. By inscribing or tattooing 19th century maps from colonial environs on the soles of the feet, I seek to illuminate the complex territories of memory and desire and how these territories play out through the nostalgic mechanisms of colonialism.”