Anya Gallaccios first photographic work is an image of an ambiguous landscape scene. The blue sky and sunshine reveal the still body of a woman submerged in a stagnant green pond, surrounded by red flowers and severed tree stumps. The disturbing view is reminiscent of Marcel Duchamp’s final work, Étant Donnés and Millais’ Ophelia, both iconic symbols of lost innocence, sexual longing, voyeurism and death. Gallaccios work is known for its conjunction of natural and cultural materials and ephemeral installations with flowers, fruit and seeds. By including herself as the figure submerged in the marshy ground, Gallaccio contributes to the debate concerning the representation of women in contemporary photography.
Anya Gallaccio
So Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast, 2000
