Entering the Secret Room

Michiko Kon's work uses diverse biological matter such as fish, plants, and insects that are unexpectedly combined with clothing, shoes, furniture, and even body parts. Kon's photographs explore the transitory nature of existence. I wonder if Marcel Duchamp would have liked her work.

"Kon gathers her objects in a single room, she closes the door and sits, waiting for the tiny fish, the squid, the open pomegranate, the roses in bloom, the chicken carcass to permeate the air with the sweet and acrid scents, to fill her person, before she is moved to work. It is in this room, where life and death cohabit with man-made objects, that Kon executes the choreography of her still lifes, her natures vivantes. " Entering the Secret Room Michiko Kon: Still Lifes

Salmon, Flatfish, HighHeel, 1987

Michiko Kon, Brassiere of Gizzard Shads from the series 'Eat', 1986 - Printed Later#10/75 24 x 20 inchesGelatin Silver Print

Michiko Kon, Sardines and Baby's Breath from the series 'Eat', 1984 - Printed Later#11/75 24 x 20 inchesGelatin Silver Print